Bioterrorism and National Security
About the Initiative
Although ensuring the public health has always been a vital government function, study of public health law has been curiously absent from the law school curriculum. The events of September 11 and thereafter, and particularly the threat of a bioterrorist attack, have raised the profile of public health responses, which in turn has revealed the wide range of legal issues that must be resolved as part of addressing this current crisis. In addition to legal issues specific to bioterrorism preparedness and response, the wider range of other public health issues, such as those that spring from emerging biotechnologies, biomedical research, and shifting national and international public health threats call out for the attention not only of those in medical and public health professions, but also lawyers and those training to enter the legal profession.
On March 20 and 21, 2003, a workshop was held at Pacific McGeorge School of Law to create model syllabi for teaching a course in Bioterrorism..
