Public Health Policy and Natural Rights: Part 1
“The way to right wrongs is to shine the light of truth upon them.” — Ida B. Wells-Barnett
The only way to enact effective policy that benefits the People is through education. However, shining a light on important truths, almost always means revealing facts the powerful are trying to hide.
It has been said that history is written from the perspective of the victor. Another way of expressing this is to assert that history is what the powerful say it is. One thing that is certain, is that the historical narrative in a truly democratic society should always be contested terrain. Many people lament the messy result of such a framework. Such criticisms are not without merit. However, oftentimes initial histories exclude important voices and information and, as a result, are only marginally reflective of what was objectively true at the time. ‘Hindsight is 2020’ is not a cliche for no reason. However, an honest assessment of the past is made more problematic when the present is flooded with half truths, lies and propaganda. The powerful control the historical narrative and they have a vested interest in keeping the teeming masses ignorant. Sometimes the narrative is distorted, other times it is simply omitted. This has the affect of blinding citizens to much that might aid their present understandings of what is occurring in the world around them.
Philosopher Albert Camus (1913–1960), wrote in his book The Plague;
“The evil that is in the world almost always comes of ignorance and good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence, if they lack understanding. On the whole men are more good than bad. That, however, isn’t the real point. But they are more or less ignorant, and it is this that we call vice or virtue. The most incorrigible vice being that of ignorance that fancies it knows everything and therefore claims for itself the right to kill. The soul of the murderer is blind; and there can be no true goodness, nor true love, without the utmost clear sightedness.”
Public health history is critical to understand. It aids us in examining issues surrounding ethics, treatment and policy. If history teaches anything it’s that we must be vigilant in demanding transparency with regard to health policy. Some of the most grievous of public health crimes against the people are committed covertly. Descend into the archives, as I have done, and attempt to access the files of our nation’s victims of eugenics and you’ll see how opaque our historical record is at the hands of the Gatekeepers. Why? What rational reason can we have for hiding the medical record of victims long dead? Who does that benefit? I’m reminded of Orwell’s dictum.
“He who controls the present, controls the past.” — George Orwell
How does public health policy impact natural rights? Let’s look back at what John Locke calls the “social contract.” This doctrine sees the only legitimate government as one that protects our natural rights, which include life, liberty, health and property. Citizens allow themselves to be governed in exchange for the protection of our natural rights. The only government that is legitimate in a free world, is one which does not violate our natural rights. Is the social contract alive and well, or is it in desperate need of resuscitation?
What follows are brief highlights of important moments in public health history which illustrate clearly how public health policy has failed to protect We the People. By no means are these examples all there is to know. I may write a second series to cover what is not addressed in this writing.
Eugenics
The place of eugenics in public health history has been firmly established by numerous historians. While the term eugenics leads most people to think of the Holocaust during World War II, the history of eugenics goes back much further. A more targeted examination of this history will be provided in another blog post. The important thing to understand is that a century ago, eugenics directed public policy in many areas of society. This pseudo-science was touted as the latest in scientific discovery and upheld by prestigious Americans as unquestioning truth. College courses were taught on eugenics, as it was embraced by liberals, progressives, conservatives and intellectuals alike at the height of the movement. Indeed, it was in America that the first eugenic policies were passed in the Western world. American eugenicists supported Nazi “racial hygiene” policies, (the German term for eugenics). Eugenicist and millionaire Charles M. Goethe visited Germany shortly after the passage of the Nuremberg laws. He lamented in his travel diaries that, “Hitler is surging ahead in eugenics” and that America is “getting behind.” The ruling class in America embrace eugenics in part because it justifies their class position in society and their manipulation of policy to suit their agenda. One hundred years ago, elites propagated eugenics to the middle class through sophisticated print propaganda, often distributed through pastors. Eugenic sermon contests were held. “Better baby” and “Fitter Families” contests were conducted at county fairs. Christian volunteers were used to help print and distribute eugenics propaganda. This toxic pseudoscience meshed well with racial views during the period of Jim Crow. It justified a permanent underclass of minorities, poor whites and the disabled, referred to as the “unfit.”
Eugenic policies enabled the loss of bodily autonomy, sterilization, castration, euthanasia and immigration restriction in American society. Eugenics was codified into American laws.
Tuskegee Experiments
The Tuskegee Syphilis experiments call into question the ethics of research and treatments. This study began in 1932 and was conducted by the U.S. Public Health Service. Hundreds of African American men were allowed to go decades without available treatment so researchers could study the effects of the disease. The justification for conducting this study was fueled by eugenic ideology and the belief that race was a determinant of disease. This view was espoused by intellectuals, academicians and medical and science professionals at the time. One only need read the medical journals of this era to realize how racial eugenics influenced medical and “scientific” thought. The public did not find out about this horrible crime until 1972, despite researchers having published findings numerous times in academic journals. It still took four months after public disclosure before the Public Health Service discontinued the program.
Love Canal
From 1947–1952 the Hooker Chemical company used Love Canal, New York as a toxic waste site. The government was aware of these activities. By 1978, the effects on public heath were clear. Citizen protests and activism occurred as cases of cancers and birth defects were exposed and toxic chemicals began oozing up out of the ground. Homes directly adjacent to the the toxic waste dump were purchased by the state. The remaining residents had to fight years before finally being bought out and moved from the area. Years later the area was placed back on the market with claims that the danger had passed. While the homes were sold and the area repopulated, the danger remains. Chemicals have, once again, begun to ooze up from the ground. Residents are worried and this incident is far from behind them, as 20,000 tons of chemicals are still buried in this region. Love Canal was instrumental in assisting with the passage of Superfund legislation to address toxic clean up. However, the Superfund program is largely a failure as only ninety one sites have been remediated and over thirteen hundred remain to be addressed. Lack of funds is the excuse used. Clearly, where we spend our money reflects our values. Our government can spend hundreds of millions daily on war but doesn’t have the funds to clean up toxins dumped by the Department of Defense and industry?
Treating the “Insane”
Which Americans were considered insane one hundred years ago? The labeling of the “mentally ill” has always been an instrument of social control. Once the label of incompetence, feeble minded or mentally ill was applied, citizens were made wards of the state. They lost their freedom and bodily autonomy. They could then be subjected to live experimentation without theirs, or their family’s, consent, The vast majority of wards in institutions were minorities, Eastern European immigrants, the poor, the disabled and women. Additionally, those who had committed offenses against social mores were also institutionalized, like homosexuals and alcoholics. Women were institutionalized for marital issues, menstrual issues, religious fantasies, and any perceived form of depression. Some of these commitments coincided with the deaths of their husbands, conveniently forfeiting assets to the State. As historian Carol Groneman reports in her book Nymphomania, labels were subjective in their application to women. In early twentieth century America, a woman could be labeled “nymphomaniac” simply for exchanging “lustful glances.” This was then used as justification for committing her to an institution and often subjecting her to a clitorectomy.
Mental health patients suffered “treatments,” that were often worse than the ailment. Nurses and other medical workers blindly followed the direction of doctors. These horrific treatments were labeled “science.” Questioning them was taboo.
Bioweapons Testing
At various moments during the course of U.S. history the government has conducted bioweapons testing on its citizens. This is not a “conspiracy theory.” This is well documented in government documents, court records and witness testimonies. At the time these tests were conducted the citizens were not told what was going on. Decades later the truth would come out. The attached video is an interview of Professor Leonard Cole by Amy Goodman of Democracy Now as he discusses his book the Eleventh Plague: The Politics of Chemical and Biological Warfare. In this interview he describes a test that occurred in September of 1966 that released 87 trillion bacterial organisms. Although the government claimed they were harmless, the professor acknowledges that some people, such as the elderly and babies, could be harmed by this.
They also discuss a larger and more well known bioweapons test done by the U.S. military in San Francisco Bay in 1950 where there were deaths recorded due to infection with the bacterium Serratia marcescens. Though a subsequent wrongful death lawsuit was unsuccessful, it did manage to place many of the details in the public record.
Every American should be alarmed at the fact that our government has more than two hundred secret bioweapons labs in the U.S. alone.
These labs have had safety incidents and breaches. This should alarm every thinking citizen. More concerning to me is the thought that any time our government wishes, they could release deadly pathogens. They’ve done it before. What assurance do we have that they won’t do it again?
Co-opting “Science”
Anyone over fifty can remember a time when smoking was not frowned upon, it was recommended. I can remember when people smoked anywhere and everywhere, even in the cabin of a airplane. Offices were teaming with smoke, as well as, bars and restaurants. Commercial airlines allowed smoking. Even when they created “no smoking” sections before banning smoking entirely, it did little to stop the smoke from drifting over to the non-smoking side. Scientists who first discovered the dangers of smoking were up against a public relations machine sponsored by the tobacco industry. This machine created uncertainty where there was none. According to Allan M. Brandt PhD;
“This strategy of producing scientific uncertainty undercut public health efforts and regulatory interventions designed to reduce the harms of smoking. Claims of scientific uncertainty and lack of proof also lead to the assertion of individual responsibility for industrially produced health risks.“
One of America’s leading PR firms Hill and Knowlton, assisted Big Tobacco as they worked to cast doubt on what was really irrefutable proof that smoking cigarettes causes lung cancer and other respiratory illnesses. Instead of denying science they felt a better strategy was to co-opt it. An integral component of this strategy was to channel Tobacco industry funds through academia. Creating questions and doubt about the science where no doubt existed was the goal. By manipulating the research, debate and outcome, they controlled what was reported by the media. In order to maintain information sources they could count on to favor their position they created their own industry sponsored “research” entity, The Tobacco Industry Research Committee (TIRC), which was really a public relations think tank. They announced the creation of this entity publicly in over 400 newspapers which gave the entity legitimacy as a source of viable information on the “science” around the connection between smoking cigarettes and cancer. These brilliant PR strategies became a model for industry to use every time it confronted actual scientific data that threatened their profits. The destruction of scientific research in academia is addressed by Debra Leigh Scott in her analysis of the state of universities in America. She states:
“Corporations donate to departments, and get the use of university researchers in the bargain — AND the ability to deduct the money as donation while using the labor, controlling and owning the research. Suddenly, the university laboratory is not a place of objective research anymore.” — Debra Leigh Scott
Veteran Guinea Pigs?
War is hazardous to public health. That’s an irrefutable fact. The human rights and public health atrocities inflicted upon other nation’s will be addressed in another blog post. Governments claim to care about the veterans who march off to wars for profit, all under the premise of “making the world safe for democracy.” Their efforts enable the heinous crimes of those in power. Do elites really care about soldiers?
Who pays the cost of war? Civilians and soldiers. What happens to our veterans is a public health crisis. Twenty two veterans per day die of suicide. The most highly decorated officer in Marine Corps history, Major General Smedley D. Butler served more than thirty three years and in numerous conflicts on three different continents. He wrote the anti-war classic War is a Racket in 1935. He outlines the way war is used to line the pockets of the profiteers at the expense of the people, especially soldiers. General Butler stated:
“The soldier pays the biggest part of the bill. If you don’t believe this, visit the American cemeteries on the battlefields abroad. Or visit any of the veteran’s hospitals in the United States. On a tour of the country, in the midst of which I am at the time of this writing, I have visited eighteen government hospitals for veterans. In them are a total of about 50,000 destroyed men — men who were the pick of the nation eighteen years ago.
In the government hospital in Marion, Indiana, 1,800 of these boys are in pens! Five hundred of them in a barracks with steel bars and wires all around outside the buildings and on the porches. These already have been mentally destroyed. These boys don’t even look like human beings. Oh, the looks on their faces! Physically, they are in good shape; mentally, they are gone.”
The documentary Winter Soldier chronicles the experiences of Vietnam veterans and should be viewed by all Americans.
A second Winter Soldier was done with Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans. Their voices deserve to be heard.
In addition to the hazards of war, Veterans were also subjected to experimentation. Between 1951–1957 the United States military conducted nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site. There were numerous operations undergone which placed military personnel dangerously close to nuclear weapons testing without knowing the health consequences. Basically, they made soldiers human guinea pigs. There were many operations conducted during the years they did nuclear testing. The attached video is of Operation Desert Rock. In this instance our government exposed troops to dangerous levels of radiation. This video was put out by the Smithsonian channel.
The University of Utah has done in-depth studies of the health effects of these nuclear explosions. Handbills were distributed by the Atomic Energy Commission in 1951 prior to the very first series of test conducted at the Nevada Test Site. Within the handbill, the public is informed that;
“health and safety authorities have determined that no danger from or as a result of AEC test activities may be expected outside the limits of the Las Vegas Bombing and Gunnery Range”.
As their website points out, the nuclear fallout affected many states and the health of citizens throughout the country.
Agent Orange
In addition to nuclear testing, soldiers and civilians were harmed by the use of Agent Orange and other chemicals that were a part of warfare in VietNam. During Operation Ranch hand, which ran from 1962–1971, around 20 million gallons of Agents Green, Pink, Purple, Blue, White, Orange, Orange II, Orange III, and Super Orange were sprayed over South Vietnam. These Rainbow Herbicides were made by Dow and Monsanto. The idea was to deny food and shelter to the Vietcong. Under this program 5 Million acres of forest were destroyed and more than 500,000 acres of crop lands were destroyed.
American Pilots were told it was safe. These herbicides contained the harmful chemical dioxin. Serious health problems resulted from exposure including tumors, birth defects, rashes, psychological symptoms and cancer. The Vietnamese people are still feeling the effects. Vietnam Veterans and their children have also suffered the adverse effects. Though some exposed veterans have received VA assistance, many have not. The Department of Veterans Affairs has a registry for those exposed.
“I probably wouldn’t have had kids, had I known that there would be an impact on them.”- Mike Blackledge Vietnam Vet
There are many more examples that can be cited for the injury of service members but these soldiers and veterans have no legal leg to stand on in court due to the Feres Doctrine. This doctrine was adopted following Feres v. U. S. (1950), in which the Supreme Court ruled that service members were barred from claims against the federal government for injuries sustained during service.
The U.S. has waged perpetual war openly for two decades now. If we include covert operations we can go back the better part of the past century to see how our soldiers have been used by the profiteers. War is the primary component of foreign policy, not diplomacy. If you count sanctions as an act of war, which I do, you’ll see war is often the first resort, not the last. The treatment of soldiers reveals the thinking of those in power. Our soldiers are disposable to them. They are happy to speak platitudes and parade them around bestowing medals to acknowledge their service. Unfortunately, the government most often fails to provide adequate medical care, psychiatric care, housing and many other needs that so many veterans still struggle to obtain.
Part two of this series will review what happens to doctors who refuse to be silent about public health findings which are not in accord with corporate friendly agendas.
Part Three: Life, Liberty and Health
Note to the reader: Many of the links provided in this series will likely disappear. That has been an ongoing and troublesome phenomenon as censorship in the West has increased over the past two decades. As an educator I have been confronted with ‘disappeared’ knowledge every single semester. Julian Assange warned in his 2010 speech at the Oslo Freedom Forum that history was being erased. The world must heed his warnings and free this truth teller, before it’s too late for us all.
