Indiana University law professor: Swine flu raises questions of science, policy and law
Broadcast media: To arrange an interview with David Fidler on-camera via the IU Video-Link to Bloomington, please contact Debbie O'Leary at 812-855-2426 or devo99@indiana.edu or Steve Hinnefeld at 812-856-3488 or slhinnef@indiana.edu.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 27, 2009
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- On April 25, the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of swine influenza A (H1N1) a "public health emergency of international concern." The next day, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services declared a national public health emergency because of the swine flu outbreak.
David P. Fidler, the James Louis Calamaras Professor of Law at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law, said that these declarations reflect the emergence of a new influenza virus that might have the potential to trigger a pandemic.
"Public health officials in the United States and globally are very worried about this new influenza virus. The WHO's declaration that this outbreak of swine influenza constitutes a public health emergency of international concern is the first time the WHO has made such a declaration under the International Health Regulations adopted in 2005," Fidler observed. "The virus and the outbreak have raised many unanswered scientific and epidemiological questions, such as why the same virus appears to have more virulence in Mexico than in the United States and Canada. Governments are also beginning to address the swine flu threat by implementing various policies, such as travel and trade restrictions against affected countries, actions that indicate that, as with all previous dangerous outbreaks, politics is competing with science for influence. Legal issues are also multiplying, whether the questions arise from the application of international legal rules on infectious disease outbreaks or how to balance the need for drastic public health measures, such as isolation and quarantine, with an individual's civil and political rights."
Fidler is one of the world's leading experts on global health and international law and has written extensively in this area and consulted widely with governments, international organizations, and non-governmental organizations on global health challenges. His most recent books include Biosecurity in the Global Age: Biological Weapons, Public Health, and the Rule of Law (Stanford University Press, 2008, with Lawrence O. Gostin). His analysis of the swine flu outbreak and international law in the Insights series of the American Society of International Law can be found at http://www.asil.org/insights.cfm.
He can be reached at 812-855-6403 or by e-mail at dfidler@indiana.edu.
