[CPEO-MEF] STATE WANTS TO LIMIT PUBLIC INFORMATION

[CPEO Moderator <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

Ohio
HEALTH DEPARTMENT
STATE WANTS TO LIMIT PUBLIC INFORMATION
Saturday, March 15, 2003
NEWS   01A
By Michael Hawthorne
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Ohioans could have been kept in the dark about cancer clusters in Marion
and Marysville, a meningitis outbreak in Alliance and E. coli infections
at several county fairs if fast-moving state legislation already had
been law.

At the behest of the Ohio Department of Health, lawmakers tucked a
secrecy provision into one of the General Assembly's top priorities:
legislation intended to give state officials more power to fight
bioterrorism.

The bill, sent to the House this week by state senators on a unanimous
vote, would give the state health director authority to block public
scrutiny of any investigations into diseases or illnesses, not just
those related to anthrax or other biological agents.

"If I was illegally discharging toxic waste into one of Ohio's rivers or
streams, I would be delighted with this bill,'' said Christine Link,
executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio.

This article can be viewed at:
http://libpub.dispatch.com/cgi-bin/documentv1?DBLIST=cd03&DOCNUM=12097&TERMV=162:9:

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