Hassoun Nicole
Nicole Hassoun, Ph.D., is an associate professor in philosophy at Binghamton University and is affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Bioethics and Health Law. She received her Ph.D. in 2006 from the University of Arizona and has published widely in journals like the American Philosophical Quarterly, Journal of Development Economics, The American Journal of Bioethics, Developing World Bioethics, Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Public Affairs Quarterly, The European Journal of Philosophy, Utilitas, and Philosophy and Economics. Her book Globalization and Global Justice: Shrinking Distance, Expanding Obligations was published with Cambridge University Press in 2012. Professor Hassoun also heads the Global Health Impact project intended to extend access to medicines to the global poor (global-health-impact. org). Her manuscript Global Health Impact: Extending Access on Essential Medicines is under contract with Oxford University Press.
J Law Med Ethics. 2016 Jun;44(2):319-31. doi: 10.1177/1073110516654125.
The problems of global health are truly terrible. Millions suffer and die from diseases like tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and malaria. One way of addressing these problems is via a Global Health Impact labeling campaign (http://global-health-impact.org/). If even a small percentage of consumers promote global health by purchasing Global Health Impact products, the incentive to use this label will be substantial. One might wonder, however, whether consumers are morally obligation to purchase any these goods or whether doing so is even morally permissible. This paper suggests that if the proposal is implemented, purchasing Global Health Impact labelled goods is at least morally permissible, if not morally required. Its argument should, moreover, be of much more general interest to those considering different kinds of ethical consumption.
