Posted by alexandra_k on October 20, 2014, at 14:10:03
In reply to Re: White House Ebola: Get a grip. no huge outbreak, posted by alexandra_k on October 20, 2014, at 13:58:43
one thing my law lectures said that really stuck with me...
was how (from a law making point of view) we only really focus on civil liberties / individual rights during times of relative peace. when there is a war or a natural disaster or stuff like that then most of the laws that are passed quickly take those things away.
That it is important to look at history to notice things like this...
That it is worth looking very carefully at the laws that governments rush through in response to perceived crisis.
It then isn't much of a leap to see how manipulating public hysteria (get the people screaming out for government to DO SOMETHING) gives politicians lisence to hurredly pass dodgey laws...
i do really wonder about the pharma thing, quite a lot.
with the laws that are made that give increased powers to defence etc... Those laws (once passed) are there to stay. They aren't only in operation while the perception of threat is high or whatever...
i wonder if laws are being made that are helpful to pharma... that don't just apply to the development of vaccine for perceived potential epidemics... I wonder if more broader laws are being passed to do with the process of human approval...
whether it is about taking samples of peoples blood from developing nations (without appropriate permissions or renumeration or perhaps under something like extortion conditions where treatment is refused unless)... to go on to develop vaccines from that... to human trials (run of shore where things are much cheaper and laws are more relaxed)... to features of the approval process more generally... to... whatever.
I wonder if my lecturer will know anything about this...
NZ got a seat on the security council. Huh. Guess that means we need to tow the party line for a couple of years...
poster:alexandra_k
thread:1072368
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20141012/msgs/1072565.html