One of the charges raised against the NYSDH and the Health Commissioner was that the public health establishment would not divulge the details of the studies that led to its decisions, held many closed meetings and even refused to reveal the names of members who served on consultation panels it established. Do you think that there might be an ethical justification for such public agencies to refuse public access to such information? If so does this seem to apply to the Love Canal situation?
Public agencies should inform the public about studies concerning the public in any way. If the studies of the public agency do not concern the public or anyone else, they have a right not to give out information. The ethical decision would not be to withhold information that could prevent problems for others. The NYSDH and the Health Commissioner should not have kept their studies secret. I think that they did not want to admit that they made a mistake because they were embarrassed for not correctly doing their job. They could have prevented a lot of health problems for the people in the Love Canal area and saved a lot of money if they would have taken action with the information they discovered earlier in the situation.
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How many people were actually moved out of the Love Canal area and how big an area was it?
ReplyDeleteI agree with the answer to the "Ethical Concerns: Action to Protect Public Health: answer. The public SHOULD be informed so that they can take action. This is important because people are in danger that could affect their health.
ReplyDeleteTo Ms. LaPlace:
ReplyDeleteThere were 850 homes that were in danger of the chemical toxins (doesn't have a specific number of people that were evacuated- just number of homes).
It also doesn't have the size of the area (again- 850 homes).
i agree with the answer to "Ethical Concers: Witholding information from the public". If the people living in an dangerous area are at risk, they have the right to be told. Many problems could result from the Health Commissioner and NYSDH keeping information a secret.
ReplyDeleteWow! This is just fascinating. I would love to read more about it sometime! Please shoot me an email at 32012@sjamail.net.
ReplyDeleteGreat! Thanks soccer chick:)
ReplyDeleteLet me know if you have any more questions!!
Haha
I agree with Helene, that the people should have been informed that they were living in a hazardous area.
ReplyDeleteI agree because the area that they were living in was not safe, and it could have greatly affected their health.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this. I feel as though the public is often not told exactly what is going on, but if they had been told the affects of what happened wouldn't have been the same. The public should be notified when it has to do with them.
ReplyDelete