Bioethical Considerations for Wastewater Surveillance in a Military Context by Hunter Jackson, MD

Wastewater surveillance is an emerging technology that has traditionally been utilized for detecting infectious diseases. However, its potential future uses may bring a staggering and unpredictable amount of information that could be used for a wide variety of purposes, both health and non-health related. Wastewater-based technologies are in a period of development similar to artificial intelligence in that: 1) its potential uses in the near future are staggering; 2) there is uncertainty regarding what is technically feasible vs what is science fiction; and 3) its use is rapidly expanding, with bioethical analysis struggling to keep pace.

Currently, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is beginning to establish wastewater surveillance capacities to support public health, national security, and force health protection. The DoD's presence and potential wastewater surveillance activities also reach far beyond military installations and are global in scale. Furthermore, the military is a unique context. It serves an inimitable role for its country and its citizens, and it exercises significant levels of control over its service members compared to civilian organizations. As such, there arise unique ethical considerations that must be accounted for to ensure militaries such as the DoD implement wastewater surveillance in a manner that is both impactful in supporting public health and appropriate to the scope and population under surveillance.

In this talk, Dr. Smith will explore important ethical features of and offer recommendations for conducting wastewater surveillance that are both specific to the military experience and applicable for wider public health interests. He will conclude by discussing the importance of tailoring bioethics messaging to the intended audience for practical applications and meaningful action.