Whistleblowers
put their lives and the lives of their families at risk to bring attention to
concerns pertinent to the well-being of the public. If a governing body for
technology existed, then it is possible that the severity of consequences
behind whistleblowing could be mitigated. This governing body could manifest
out of the multitude of already existing science advisory boards and committees
dedicated to understanding the progress of technological development.
A
governing body could provide a place for whistleblowers to go to directly to
express their claims and provide evidence for their concerns without being
reprimanded. As it stands, people that have the courage to face their superiors
and admit knowledge of a(n) error/defect/consequence that could potentially
embarrass the entire company put themselves in a weak position within the
company. More frequently than not, the courageous employee is encouraged to forget
about what they know, like in the case of Michael DeKort, project manager for
the Deepwater Project at Lockheed Martin (Greenwald, 2013). After this point,
employees that still feel they have a responsibility to report the information
they discovered usually face legal charges and allegations from the company
they're exposing, such as Franz Gayl in his attempt to demonstrate the need for
more robust military vehicles than the Humvee (Greenwald, 2013). With such
severe repercussions for blowing the whistle on large corporations, it's no
wonder that engineers and scientists generally keep their heads down and simply
continue on with their work. Like Upton Sinclair once said, "It is
difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his
not understanding it". Having a governing body as the middleman to assist
the employee could help provide more credibility to the employee's claim as
well as provide protection for the employee against the company/institution
they're exposing.
When
investigating the ethical and societal impacts of nanotechnology, nuclear
technology, and agribusiness, one comes across plenty of organizations
recommending against the use of certain technologies, however no organizations
or boards actually possess the power to bring action or consequence if
companies/separate entities decide to act of their own accord. For example with
nanotechnology, "only a handful of toxicological studies exist on
engineered nanoparticles, but it appears that nanoparticles as a class are more
toxic than versions of the same compound because of their mobility and
increased reactivity" (Etcgroup, p. 13). Yet the same article states that
the government and scientists only admitting after great hesitations the unique
risks caused by nano-scale particles. The Royal Society and Royal Academy of
Engineering released a statement saying "Until more is known about their
environmental impact we are keen that the release of nanoparticles and
nanotubes in the environment is avoided as far as possible. Specifically we
recommend as a precautionary measure that factories and research laboratories
treat manufactured nanoparticles and nanotubes as if they were hazardous waste
streams and that the use of free nanoparticles in environmental applications such
as remediation of groundwater be prohibited" (Etcgroup, p. 15). Despite
the statements made by several committees and advisory boards, there is no
entity that can exercise power over a company/institution for disregarding
these recommendations or warnings. This ought to be remedied to provide better
protection for society against large corporations that are wield too much
freedom and power without restriction.
While
whistleblowers are appreciated and are important to the protection of the
general public against the unethical and harmful decisions of large
corporations, there ought to be a better system in place to assist these
employees and punish offending companies/institutions. Without a governing body
for technology, companies can continue to act far beyond what is
ethical/socially acceptable since it usually takes a significant allotment of
time to realize that they have done something wrong. With a governing body for
technology existing to protect the employees that have the courage to do the right
thing, more engineers and scientists may be encouraged to stand up for what is
right and voice their concerns when they see something going wrong.
References
ETC Group. "A Tiny Primer
on Nano-scale Technologies and 'The Little Bang Theory'". ETC Group. June
2005. Web. 4 April 2014.
War on Whistleblowers: Free
Press and the National Security State. Dir. Robert Greenwald. Brave
New Foundation, 2013. Film.
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