Pandemics, National Security, & Human Rights

[XNavyNuke]

Do US pandemic plans threaten rights, ACLU asks (http://www.reuters.com/article/asiaCrisis/idUSN14406279)


U.S. policy in preparing for a potential bird flu pandemic is veering dangerously toward a heavy-handed law-enforcement approach, the American Civil Liberties Union said on Monday.

The group, which advocates for individuals' legal rights based on the U.S. Constitution, said federal government pandemic plans were confusing and could emphasize a police and military approach to outbreaks of disease, instead of a more sensible public health approach.

"Rather than focusing on well-established measures for protecting the lives and health of Americans, policymakers have recently embraced an approach that views public health policy through the prism of national security and law enforcement," the ACLU report reads.

XNN

[Iowa4Paul]

Do US pandemic plans threaten rights, ACLU asks (http://www.reuters.com/article/asiaCrisis/idUSN14406279)



XNN

Nice...All I can see now is a scenario where the military rounds up the sick and burns them alive : /

[Corydoras]

You can get the actual ACLU report here:
http://www.aclu.org/pdfs/privacy/pemic_report.pdf

I'm very, very impressed that they got George Annas on this. He's great.

Here's a valiant piece of his from 2002 criticizing the attempts to put together a national bioterrorism legal model:
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/346/17/1337#R27
In case that link doesn't work, it's
Annas GJ. Bioterrorism, public health, and civil liberties. N Engl J Med. 2002 Apr 25;346(17):1337-42.

[youngbuck]

Yea I really believe that it's in their deck of cards to purposely cause a pandemic, and then use that as a pretext to violate our rights, possibly quarantine people just to set the precedence, and maybe even declare martial law.