Ethics, Poverty and Pollution

Ethics, Poverty and Pollution

1. Determine the ethical implications of businesses polluting in a third world country. Explain your rationale.

All businesses should have an operating code of conduct which should be based first and foremost on ethical dilemmas they can face while operating in first as well as third world countries. According to Shaw (2010), ethics can be defined as moral rules which include right and wrong conduct along with our duty and obligations towards the overall society. Looking at scenarios where underdeveloped and poor countries are involved, businesses have even more of a moral obligation to take care of the environmental situation because these countries do not necessarily have the required resources to keep their environment clean (Shaw, 2010).

The government of such third world countries also does not adequately address the environment and pollution problems. Therefore, included in these ethical implications is firstly consideration of the environment; businesses should preserve the environment as a part of their moral obligations. This includes the water, air and earth pollutants that they might release as a part of their production and operational activities.

As outlined by UN (2012), individuals living in such countries therefore do not have the luxury of choosing a clean environment over fulfilling their basic needs like food and shelter which is why businesses operating abroad should consider the problems that these countries already face; rapid growth in population, famine, poverty etc and try to ensure operating procedures which do not further aggravate their pollution and poverty problems. Moreover, due to unethical practices of businesses operating in third world countries, they might also be increasing the prevalent health issues which result from drinking polluted water or breathing in toxins or other harmful gases present in the air (UN, 2012).

2. Suggest the reasons a business may conduct operations in a third world country and disregard any standards of pollution control.

In developed countries like the United States of America, issues like pollution and poverty are not as prevalent in comparison to other third world countries in African and Asian continents. This is because of the different governmental and non-governmental organizations which are working to keep the environment clean and the poverty levels down like the EPA or the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA, 2013). Such agencies carefully monitor the pollution levels found in air and water and dangers to the land like illegal dumping. Moreover, they have strict laws in place which discourage businesses and individuals from creating or spreading pollution. However, such protection laws and agencies are not as effective as they often do not have the resources to enforce the rules. Moreover, third world countries often have high illiteracy rates due to which citizens are not as aware of the harmful effects of air, water and land pollutants and therefore do not take adequate actions to take of the environment. Furthermore, companies operating in the third world country have an advantage of avoiding laws which protect issues like worker safety as these countries do not have ...