Caso Venezuela: Reflexiones desde la bioética / Venezuela Case: Reflections from Bioethics / O caso da Venezuela: reflexões da bioética

Resumen: En este artículo se presenta el caso de Venezuela, país que, luego de haber tenido el mayor potencial de desarrollo de Latinoamérica, sufre una debacle política, económica y social que lo ha llevado a convertirse en el más pobre de la región, con la inflación más elevada, y a ser calificado en "emergencia humanitaria compleja". También se describen las graves violaciones a los derechos humanos: civiles, políticos, económicos, sociales, culturales y ambientales que ocurren allí sobre la base de la Declaración Universal sobre Bioética y Derechos Humanos, de la Unesco (2005). Además, se proporciona información sobre el desarrollo y la enseñanza de la bioética en Venezuela. El artículo concluye con el análisis de la situación del país desde otras perspectivas bioéticas enfocadas en Latinoamérica: bioética social y bioética de intervención; las repercusiones del problema en la región y la descripción de los esfuerzos realizados a nivel nacional e internacional para solventar la emergencia humanitaria y recuperar el país.

Abstract: This article presents the case of Venezuela, a country that, after having had the greatest development potential in Latin America, suffers a political, economic and social debacle that led it to become the poorest in the region, with the highest inflation, and to be qualified as a country in a "complex humanitarian emergency". It also describes the serious violations to human rights -civil, political, economic, social, cultural and environmental - that occur there based on the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights by Unesco (2005). Additionally, information on the development and teaching of bioethics in Venezuela is provided. The article ends with an analysis of the country situation from other bioethical perspectives focused on Latin-America: social bioethics and intervention bioethics; the repercussions of the problem in the region and the description of the efforts made at national and international level to solve the humanitarian emergency and to recover the country.

Resumo: Este artigo apresenta o caso da Venezuela que, depois de ter o maior potencial de desenvolvimento da América Latina, sofre um desastre político, económico e social que a levou a se tornar o país mais pobre da região, além de apresentar a mais alta taxa de inflação e estar sob "emergência humanitária complexa". Também há relatos de graves violações dos direitos humanos (civil, político, económico, social, cultural e ambiental), com base na Declaração Universal de Bioética e Direitos Humanos, da Unesco (2005). Além disso, algumas informações sobre o desenvolvimento e ensino da bioética na Venezuela são fornecidas. O artigo é concluído com a análise da situação desse país, a partir de outras perspectivas bioéticas que estão enfocadas na América Latina, como a bioética social e a bioética de intervenção, as repercussões do problema na região e a descrição dos esforços realizados, em nível nacional e internacional, para solucionar a emergência humanitária e recuperar esse país.

1,4-Dioxane drinking water occurrence data from the third unregulated contaminant monitoring rule.

This study examined data collected from U.S. public drinking water supplies in support of the recently-completed third round of the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR3) to better understand the nature and occurrence of 1,4-dioxane and the basis for establishing drinking water standards. The purpose was to evaluate whether the occurrence data for this emerging but federally-unregulated contaminant fit with common conceptual models, including its persistence and the importance of groundwater contamination for potential exposure. 1,4-Dioxane was detected in samples from 21% of 4864 PWSs, and was in exceedance of the health-based reference concentration (0.35µg/L) at 6.9% of these systems. In both measures, it ranked second among the 28 UCMR3 contaminants. Although much of the focus on 1,4-dioxane has been its role as a groundwater contaminant, the detection frequency for 1,4-dioxane in surface water was only marginally lower than in groundwater (by a factor of 1.25; p<0.0001). However, groundwater concentrations were higher than those in surface water (p<0.0001) and contributed to a higher frequency of exceeding the reference concentration (by a factor of 1.8, p<0.0001), indicating that surface water sources tend to be more dilute. Sampling from large systems increased the likelihood that 1,4-dioxane was detected by a factor of 2.18 times relative to small systems (p<0.0001). 1,4-Dioxane detections in drinking water were highly associated with detections of other chlorinated compounds particularly 1,1-dichlorethane (odds ratio=47; p<0.0001), which is associated with the release of 1,4-dioxane as a chlorinated solvent stabilizer. Based on aggregated nationwide data, 1,4-dioxane showed evidence of a decreasing trend in concentration and detection frequency over time. These data suggest that the loading to drinking water supplies may be decreasing. However, in the interim, some water supply systems may need to consider improving their treatment capabilities in response to further regulatory review of this compound.