We are releasing the well-poisoning machine, because if we don't do it first, someone else with even worse morals might do it faster.
By being the first people to poison the well, we can know exactly what kind of toxins will be in the water such that we understand the symptoms when we inevitably make the whole village sick from it.
Of course this has prompted our competitors to fire their ethics people and also poison the well even faster, but such is the inevitable march of progress!