Quarantines, hospital seizures: Powergrab 2001
Tuesday October 30 3:35 PM ET Proposed New Bioterrorism Law Prepares for Worst By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A model bioterrorism law being distributed to U.S. states and territories would help them prepare for the worst by clearing up a confusing mass of antiquated rules and powers, legal experts said on Tuesday. Drafted at the behest of the Department of Health and Human Services (news - web sites) and with the help of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news - web sites), the new law proposes ways to legally quarantine people, confiscate hospitals and get quick information to doctors in case of a bioterror attack. States are being urged to use the law, published on the Internet at http://www.publichealthlaw.net, either as a template or to patch holes in their own measures. <snip> http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011030/sc/attack_anthrax_law_dc_1.html
At 01:13 PM 10/30/2001 -0800, Khoder bin Hakkin wrote:
Drafted at the behest of the Department of Health and Human Services (news - web sites) and with the help of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news - web sites), the new law proposes ways to legally quarantine people, confiscate hospitals and get quick information to doctors in case of a bioterror attack.
Oh, it goes far beyond that - it creates a system where, upon a governor's declaration of a public health emergency, the public health authorities get control of all food, guns, medicine, fuel, clothing, medical facilities, doctors, and human beings within the affected area - they're entitled to immediate possession of whatever useful private property they want, which can be redistributed, held, or destroyed as they see fit - and they're empowered to use public safety agencies to force doctors perform examinations, tests or vaccinate/immunize similarly uncooperative individuals, and to create quarantine or exclusion areas as they consider useful. It's pretty much a police state implementation act. -- Greg Broiles -- gbroiles@parrhesia.com -- PGP 0x26E4488c or 0x94245961 5000 dead in NYC? National tragedy. 1000 detained incommunicado without trial, expanded surveillance? National disgrace.
It would be interesting to compare the provisions you describe in this bill (I have not yet read it) with existing powers that federal and state authorities have when an "emergency" is declared. Seems to me that much if this authority is already on the books. -Declan On Tue, Oct 30, 2001 at 09:56:10PM -0800, Greg Broiles wrote:
Oh, it goes far beyond that - it creates a system where, upon a governor's declaration of a public health emergency, the public health authorities get control of all food, guns, medicine, fuel, clothing, medical facilities, doctors, and human beings within the affected area - they're entitled to immediate possession of whatever useful private property they want, which can be redistributed, held, or destroyed as they see fit - and they're empowered to use public safety agencies to force doctors perform examinations, tests or vaccinate/immunize similarly uncooperative individuals, and to create quarantine or exclusion areas as they consider useful.
It's pretty much a police state implementation act.
-- Greg Broiles -- gbroiles@parrhesia.com -- PGP 0x26E4488c or 0x94245961 5000 dead in NYC? National tragedy. 1000 detained incommunicado without trial, expanded surveillance? National disgrace.
participants (3)
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Declan McCullagh
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Greg Broiles
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Khoder bin Hakkin