Lawrence O. Gostin

Lawrence O. Gostin teaches law at Georgetown University and public health at Johns Hopkins University. He directs the Center for Law and the Public’s Health, an institute that is part of both universities. In 2001 he supervised the writing of the Model State Emergency Health Powers Act (MSEHPA), a model piece of legislation sponsored by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The legislation was designed to help state governments reform laws governing their response to bioterrorism and other health threats. In the following viewpoint, Gostin defends MSEHPA and argues that public-health laws in most states are antiquated and need to be drastically reformed to enable state and local governments to respond effectively to a biological attack. Gostin argues that the...