Paper short abstract:

The paper presents the case of microbes-mediated biodiversity interventions for allergy control, discussing the transition from human- to ecosystems-centered public health as well as the frictions that ensue when other-than-human actors are enrolled into the service of human health.

Paper long abstract:

An integral part of the proposed greening of the Anthropocene is ecological public health, referred to by several related concepts, such as OneHealth, Planetary Health, and EcoHealth. This paper introduces a case in which microbial biodiversity is enrolled into the service of multispecies health and wellbeing. In focus is a Finnish interdisciplinary research group, which is developing microbes-mediated biodiversity interventions to combat allergies and other autoimmune diseases. The prevalence of allergies has steadily increased in the Global North, which has been linked to western lifestyle and urbanization. The current etiological view highlights the biodiversity loss and insufficient contact with nature, especially with environmental microbes as a key cause. To combat this, the research group has, on the one hand, developed and patented a safe and optimized microbial mixture that can be placed in built urban environment (e.g. kindergarten yards), but also in everyday consumer products (e.g. cosmetics, sheets, clothes). On the other hand, the group wants to increase microbial diversity in cities by rewilding urban green areas. The different goals and pathways of intervention reveal the tensions between ecosystems- and human-centered public health paradigms. The new biodiversity-driven model requires the rethinking of both the hallmarks of healthy and safe urban environment, cleanliness and order, and the characteristics of medical evidence production, isolation of the contributing factor, standardization, and dose-response thinking, while its success relies on meeting these criteria. The paper contributes to our understanding of transitions-in-action and the frictions that ensue when other-than-human actors are enrolled into human service.