-Caveat Lector-
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=29682
HOMELAND INSECURITY
Doctors: Bill allows forced vaccinations
Physicians' group decries legislation establishing new Cabinet
agency
Posted: November 16, 2002
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Jon Dougherty
� 2002 WorldNetDaily.com
A physicians' group is among a growing number of critics imploring
the Senate to scrap portions of a proposed homeland security bill
they say will seriously undermine civil liberties and grant the federal
government unprecedented � and unconstitutional � power.
The American Association of Physicians and Surgeons said
yesterday that one section of the legislation would allow the head of
the Health and Human Services department to order Americans to
receive potentially deadly smallpox vaccines against their will.
The bill gives "the HHS secretary virtually unlimited powers to
declare an emergency and order smallpox treatment that could
include forced immunizations, detainment and quarantines," said
AAPS.
The 480-page bill passed the House Wednesday night on a 299-121
vote and is currently on the fast track to Senate passage. But as
more details of the bill become known, the number of critics who
oppose all or part of it also increase, including members of both
parties as well as liberal and conservative analysts.
New York Times columnist William Safire, in an editorial Thursday
entitled, "You Are a Suspect," attacked the entire measure, claiming
a provision in the bill that establishes a broad Defense Department-
administered database of information on every American is akin to
author George Orwell's book "1984."
"To this computerized dossier on your private life from commercial
sources, add every piece of information that government has about
you � passport application, driver's license and bridge toll records,
judicial and divorce records, complaints from nosy neighbors to the
FBI, your lifetime paper trail plus the latest hidden camera
surveillance � and you have the supersnoop's dream: a 'Total
Information Awareness' about every U.S. citizen," Safire wrote.
Called the Defense Department's Total Information Awareness
program, it would be administered by a totally new department
called the Security Advanced Research Projects Agency.
AAPS said the dubious medical emergency language is contained in
Section 304, titled, "Administration of Counter Measures Against
Smallpox."
The bill gives HHS authority to declare an actual or potential bio-
terrorist incident while giving the secretary the power to "administer
'countermeasures'" � like forced immunizations � to "a category of
individuals or everyone." Also, the bill gives HHS the power to
"continually extend" the emergency declaration indefinitely, without
Congress' consent.
"Also, if you are harmed" by the countermeasures, "you cannot sue
or take any other civil remedy," AAPS said.
"This section will give the [HHS] secretary unlimited power to define
a real or potential threat, to take any measures he decides and to do
it for as long as he wants," said Kathryn Serkes, a spokeswoman for
the group. "It's 'Alice in Wonderland' time again � an emergency is
just what [the secretary] says it is."
Some lawmakers are also alarmed at the scope of the bill.
The legislation "gives the federal government new powers and
increases federal expenditures, completely contradicting what
members were told about the bill," said Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, on
the House floor before the vote Wednesday.
"Furthermore," he continued, "these new power grabs are being
rushed through Congress without giving members the ability to
debate, or even properly study, this proposal.
"I must oppose this bill and urge my colleagues to do the same," he
said.
Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., also opposes the legislation.
"We're making a huge mistake passing the bill at this time," he said
Thursday. "There has not been a single hearing" on its contents.
Expressing concern about the manner in which the bill was being
fast-tracked, Byrd added: "If necessity is the mother of invention,
then politics is the mother of bureaucracy."
Other problems with the bill, AAPS says, "include centralized
database provisions, airport security, unchecked power to Cabinet
officials, extent of the new bureaucracy, concentration of power in
the Executive Branch, suspension of the rule that prohibits secret
advisory committee meetings, limited public access to information
and failure to address border security and immigration issues, such
as [the] tracking of foreign students."
Serkes said the provision dealing with HHS reminds her of similar
emergency legislation directed at empowering governors.
The Model State Emergency Health Powers Act, WorldNetDaily
reported in January, gives governors the power to order the
collection of all data and records on citizens, ban firearms, take
control of private property and quarantine entire cities, under the
auspices of protecting "the health and safety of citizens from
epidemics and bioterrorism," according to one analysis.
The version of the bill either under consideration or adopted by the
majority of states thus far was drafted in October 2001, just a month
after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, by The Center for Law and the
Public's Health at Georgetown and Johns Hopkins Universities, in
collaboration with several other organizations.
"Just remove 'governor' from the old bill and insert 'secretary' and
magically you have a federal bill that was firmly rejected by voters
across the country," said Serkes.
Of the homeland security measure, Serkes added: "We need an
honest accounting of how this will work. It's too frightening to allow it
to be rammed through."
In response to some of the concerns, Senate Democrats are
proposing amendments to the bill that would eliminate the liability
protections in the House version for vaccine makers. The White
House says it supports the amendments to an extent.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said yesterday there are
provisions in the bill that "still allow people the right to compensation
or the right to sue if they believe they've been harmed by the use of
a particular vaccine." But, he said, the provisions "only require that
individuals seeking compensation begin by seeking resolution
through the Vaccine Injury and Compensation Program."
"If an individual is not satisfied with the award that is offered through
that system, then they always have the right to proceed and sue the
manufacturer," he said. "But, in short, the vaccine manufacturers will
still be subject to liability. We just want to close loopholes, where
people can circumvent that process."
If you'd like to sound off on this issue, please take part in the
WorldNetDaily poll.
Jon E. Dougherty is a staff reporter and columnist for
WorldNetDaily, and author of the special report, "Election 2000: How
the Military Vote Was Suppressed."
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