Current Issue: Vol.12 No.3 (Summer 2026)
ISSN 2474-2309
article
Pages: 1-17
Anabolic-Androgenic steroids (AAS) are a class of drugs primarily used for hormone replacements; however, many athletes take them to elevate performance and physical capabilities. While previously AAS were primarily used by professional athletes, over time adolescent individuals have begun to use these substances despite the slew of negative side effects. In this paper we will discuss the current state of AAS, specifically what they are and their mode of action, side effects of using various AAS, the ease of use, general opinions of high school students and young adults, potential influencing factors that can lead to abusing AAS, ethical considerations regarding AAS-use and their current status, and a discussion reading how to minimize addiction among the American youth.
In order to gauge public opinion on AAS, we surveyed 111 individuals, ranging from 14 to 22 years of age. We approached public gym-goers and asked them if they wanted to participate in an anonymous survey regarding their opinions on AAS. We collected data from five gyms and three high schools in different parts of Philadelphia, Pa and Boston, Ma. Survey results suggested that sports, especially high-contact sports, can heavily influence a person to use AAS. It was also determined that a large gap in formal education regarding these drugs exists, and a majority of the survey respondents have learned about AAS through social media.
Research ethics
Pages: 18-37
This essay analyses how the concept of ‘privacy’ is construed in determining the U.S. regulatory approach to research involving human subjects. It begins by setting out how the federal policy for the protection of human research subjects – also known as the Common Rule – identifies privacy, showing how the Common Rule’s rendering of the concept is fundamentally incomplete. It then describes how modern technology has expanded the wealth of information that might be considered private, at the same time as it has moved further into the realm of what has been considered private, offering investigators new opportunities to look into various aspects of people’s lives. The essay then uses some key U.S. Supreme Court decisions turning on the idea of a right to privacy alleged to be embedded in the Constitution of the United States to illustrate how the concept has evolved in response to technological developments in the generation and transmission of information. Based on these considerations, I proceed to argue that classifying all information as either ’public’ or ‘private’ is inadequate, and that the regulated research community and the public at large should directly address the challenges of how to use information that is neither public nor private, but rather ‘restricted social information (RSI)’. This in turn implies that there is human behavior that is neither public nor private, which should be classified as ‘restricted access social behavior’ (RASB). And this affects the question of what is left of privacy, and how investigators should approach the investigation of what is truly private. I offer recommendations for regulatory revisions to the Common Rule, considering the views of some of the leading theorists about privacy.
Health organization and ethics
Pages: 38-47
Background: The resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases and declining trust in public health institutions in the United States have coincided with the rise of digital platforms that shape how individuals interpret vaccine-related information.
Methods: A qualitative thematic analysis was conducted using a sample of Reddit posts related to vaccine safety, vaccine mandates, and delayed vaccination from January to February 2026. Data was analyzed through a human-in-the-loop AI-assisted workflow with manual validation.
Results: Four themes emerged: declining institutional trust driven by profit narratives, tension between individual autonomy and collective responsibility, prioritization of personal experience over epidemiologic data, and algorithm-driven reshaping of authority. These themes reflected a broader shift toward protective individualism, fragmented epistemic trust, and the replacement of institutional expertise with digitally mediated personal authority.
Conclusion: Vaccine hesitancy in digital spaces reflects structural and cultural shifts, underscoring the urgent need for adaptive, trust-centered public health communication strategies that account for the rapidly evolving social media information landscape.
Pages: 48-61
This paper evaluates, through an environmental justice perspective, the distribution of benefits and harms of the widely used herbicide glyphosate. It examines not only the toxic and carcinogenic risks of glyphosate, but also the populations who disproportionately bear these effects. Glyphosate is the world’s most widely used herbicide and has been a major subject of regulatory controversy. The International Agency for Cancer Research (IARC) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have reached different conclusions regarding glyphosate’s carcinogenicity, differences that appear to stem from the use of public peer-reviewed studies versus proprietary industry-supplied data. This calls into question the reliability of confidential industry evidence in regulatory decision-making. This paper argues that current regulatory frameworks fail to equitably protect vulnerable populations and instead externalize health risks onto marginalized communities. Glyphosate exposure is disproportionately associated with harm among migrant workers, racial minorities, children, and low-income populations, who often experience elevated exposure levels and reside in high-risk environments. An ethical framework grounded in respect for persons, beneficence, and justice is applied to argue that current regulatory practices fail to protect marginalized populations. By applying an environmental justice lens, this paper proposes two comprehensive practice guidelines, one for farmworkers and one for physicians serving agricultural populations, as structural remedies to these systemic failures.
Pages: 62-67
Healthcare professionals are anchored by moral commitments to compassion, integrity, and fairness. Rapid organizational change—particularly mergers, divestitures, and workforce reductions—can place these commitments in tension with institutional realities, creating conditions for moral injury among healthcare leaders. Drawing on literature in moral psychology and organizational ethics, this article conceptualizes survivor guilt, a specific manifestation of moral injury, in healthcare leadership as an appraisal-driven response to perceived inequity and constrained agency during organizational transitions. This article outlines individual, organizational, and system-level contributors, and proposes practical, leadership-oriented interventions—including modified Schwartz Rounds, ethics rounds, and chaplain-led logotherapeutic support—to mitigate moral distress.
ethic report
Pages: 68-80
Legal protections related to stealthing, the non-consensual condom removal, remain uneven in the U.S. This study applies a legal content analysis to the congressional Stealthing Act, evaluating its provisions through the Availability, Accessibility, Acceptability, and Quality human rights framework. The analysis reveals that the Act advances human rights protections by establishing a federal civil cause of action with clear definitions and broad remedies, enhancing availability of legal recourse nationwide. However, the Act lacks explicit provisions addressing accessibility barriers such as filing fee waivers, trauma-informed procedures, and equity measures, potentially limiting access for marginalized survivors. These findings highlight both the progress represented by the Act and areas requiring further legislative or policy development. By integrating a human rights framework into legal analysis, this study offers an innovative approach to assessing health legislation at the intersection of law, health, and human rights, providing guidance for future policymaking to strengthen survivor-centered justice. The findings further underscore the ethical importance of protecting bodily autonomy, informed consent, and equitable access to justice through federal legislation.
Narrative review
Pages: 81-109
The emergence of carfentanil as a highly potent synthetic opioid circulating in illicit drug markets represents a significant escalation in the ongoing opioid epidemic. Addressing this crisis requires an interdisciplinary approach that synthesizes existing literature while recommending community-based strategies and further methods. Carfentanil has recently been detected in Kensington, Philadelphia and continues to affect communities burdened by poverty, housing instability, and disparities in healthcare, which increase overdose risks. The extreme potency of carfentanil creates unique clinical hazards and complicates overdose response and treatment efforts. Existing toxicology and surveillance methods face limitations in detection and monitoring of this drug effectively. The presence of carfentanil highlights the need for comprehensive harm reduction strategies, including access to naloxone, supervised consumption sites, and drug checking. Ethical considerations related to the responsibilities of the pharmaceutical industry, health equity, and social justice are critical to developing effective solutions. An integrated response aims to reduce the devastating effects of ultra potent synthetic opioids, raise awareness of their risks, and decrease their circulation within communities