Abstract
Simple SummaryApplying assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) to the conservation of endangered species may be the only way to save them from extinction. However, ART application can raise relevant ethical issues and could benefit from a comprehensive ethical assessment. Unfortunately, there is a lack of attention to the topic in the scientific literature and, to our knowledge, there is no tool for the ethical assessment of ARTs in the context of conservation that has been described. In the present paper, we show the effects of applying a dedicated ethical self-assessment tool, the Ethical Assessment Tool (ETHAS), to ovum pick-up and in vitro fertilization procedures performed within the BioRescue project. The BioRescue project is an international enterprise using ARTs to save the northern white rhinoceros from extinction. The situation of the northern white rhinoceros is particularly critical as there are only two individuals of this subspecies still alive and they are both infertile females. The application of the ETHAS to the procedures contributed to the overall acceptability of the project and improved communication among the project’s partners. In turn, the tool itself was also refined through an iterative consultation process between experts (both ethicists and scientists) and stakeholders.Assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) can make a difference in biodiversity conservation. Their application, however, can create risks and raise ethical issues that need addressing. Unfortunately, there is a lack of attention to the topic in the scientific literature and, to our knowledge, there is no tool for the ethical assessment of ARTs in the context of conservation that has been described. This paper reports the first applications of the Ethical Assessment Tool (ETHAS) to trans-rectal ovum pick-up (OPU) and in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures used in a northern white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) conservation project. The ETHAS consists of two checklists, the Ethical Evaluation Sheet and the Ethical Risk Assessment, and is specifically customized for each ART procedure. It provides an integrated, multilevel and standardized self-assessment of the procedure under scrutiny, generating an ethical acceptability ranking (totally, partially, not acceptable) and a risk rank (low, medium, high), and, hence, allows for implementing measures to address or manage issues beforehand. The application of the ETHAS to the procedures performed on the northern white rhinoceros was effective in ensuring a high standard of procedures, contributing to the acceptability and improved communication among the project’s partners. In turn, the tool itself was also refined through an iterative consultation process between experts and stakeholders.
Highlights
In the present global scenario, where an accelerated rate of extinction is paired with a severe decline in populations’ abundance in surviving species [1,2], assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) can make a difference in biodiversity conservation
We present the self-ethical assessment of two Assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) procedures performed in the context of a conservation breeding program aimed at avoiding the extinction of the northern white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum cottoni—NWR)
The only chance to save this iconic subspecies from the brink of extinction is to utilize ART procedures, using in vitro embryos gestated by recipient mothers of the sister subspecies—the southern white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum simum—SWR)
Summary
In the present global scenario, where an accelerated rate of extinction is paired with a severe decline in populations’ abundance in surviving species [1,2], assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) can make a difference in biodiversity conservation. The use of ARTs can raise ethical concerns in human medicine, some of which can be still valid when ARTs are applied to non-human animals, but many of the issues raised by the application of these technologies in conservation breeding projects are more specific [9,10,11]. ARTs need species-specific optimization in order to be successfully employed, and this, in turn, depends on detailed knowledge of the reproductive biology of the species involved [4] Such knowledge may be difficult to obtain in already endangered species, due to the limited numbers of available individuals for research and the potential difficulties in accessing them [15]. From a more theoretical perspective, applying ARTs could be seen as an exemplary case of “technofix” [11,17], that is, the short-sighted use Animals 2021, 11, 312 of technology as a way to sort out the outcome of morally problematic activities instead of addressing their causes, or as an apparently “easy” solution to the decline in wildlife populations, with the risk of inducing complacency in the problem
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