When reports leaked in 2011 that the CIA had hired a Pakistani doctor to vaccinate the children of Osama bin Laden in a ruse to capture their DNA, global public health experts were quick to condemn the action. They feared that the tactic, aimed at confirming the terrorist mastermind’s presence through genetic evidence, would undermine legitimate efforts to eradicate diseases. These concerns, reiterated in a Jan. 7 letter to President Obama by 12 public-health school deans including Harvard’s Julio Frenk, are proving prescient. International health workers in Pakistan have come under suspicion, sometimes with deadly consequences.
The deans are right to highlight the “unintended negative public health impacts” of clandestine programs, including the one used to ensnare bin Laden. But it’s crucial to remember that bin Laden had vowed to strike on a massive scale against the United States; normal restrictions shouldn’t necessarily apply when investigators are seeking to prevent potentially catastrophic attacks.
Comments
If they distrust our public health initiatives, then we should end them, and we should return only if invited.
We cannot be insular, incredible1, when it comes to infectious diseases. We could not have eradicated smallpox if we only concentrated on "friendly" regions. Eradication, or even control, has to be done on a global level. So even though our aid may seem to be directed at others, as indeed it is, it also has a beneficial effect for us.
I am unafraid to choose the lesser of two evils as I did in voting for Obama, but he has already shown a willingness to order the deaths of US citizens with no due process of any kind. Requiring his approval for the egregious misuse of medical and public health professionals isn't much of a protection against the grave damage such actions would ultimately cause.
The US government should get out of the health care business alltogether. If you think that this article is bad, wait until you see what ObamaCare will do to your health. And to your wallet. But don't count on the media warning you until it is too late.