4/3/2003

AAPS featured in USA Today editorial on April 3, 2003

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1. SARS scare prompts new calls for worldwide emergency health powers.

2. AAPS responds:  health scares come and go – bad laws linger.

3. Not signed up yet? Register for members-only section of website.

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AAPS Executive Director Jane M. Orient’s response to the 4/3/03 lead editorial in USA Today is featured in both the print and electronic version.

Below is an excerpt from both the paper and Dr. Orient.  To read the entire text, click on the links below or to http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/front.htm[

Thursday's debate

Public health threats

When public health officials detained an American Airlines jet from Tokyo for two hours at San Jose's airport Tuesday, they fed fears that a mysterious and lethal virus first identified in Asia just weeks ago could rapidly spread throughout the U.S. But the scare shows that — even in an age of bioterrorist threats — public health agencies here and abroad don't have adequate systems to halt contagious diseases….

• Our view

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Bureaucracy is no cure

By Jane Orient

Avoiding panic is crucial, no matter what the threat. Mass panic can cause more casualties than the hazard itself. And bad laws resulting from overreaction can cause problems for decades to come….

…Disease outbreaks such as SARS will come and go. Bureaucracies with dictatorial powers can't help you if you have respiratory distress. And they seldom, if ever, go away.

• Oppose

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