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Historical Keynote
Addresses
Stallones
Gives Address at SER
Remarks Are One of
Meeting’s Highlights
“If the decision were mine the
hog farmers of the country could use all of the antibiotics they might
wish to make the pigs grow. The risk to humans looks to me to be so
small, much smaller than riding a train to the top of the mountain, or
boarding the plane at the Salt Lake City airport. Many people do not
agree with this, and I have come to accept, somewhat painfully, that
not everyone who disagrees with me is venal, or prejudiced, or
stupid.” In characteristic disarming style, Reuel Stallones,
Dean of the University of Texas School of Public Health at Houston,
gave the invited address at the 14th annual meeting of the Society for
Epidemiologic Research.
As chairman of a special panel
constituted to design a definitive study on the possible human health
effects of feeding sub-therapeutic doses of antibiotics to animals,
Stallones chronicled his involvement with what turned out to be a very
complex imbroglio between science and politics. The panel concluded
that no adequate studies of the problem could be carried out. “That
came as a revelation to me,” said Stallones. “I have a mystical belief
in the power of epidemiological methods.”
Based on this experience,
Stallones went on to address the group about the use of epidemiologic
or scientific data in the formulation of public policy--an increasing
preoccupation among epidemiologists. That this is not always a
gratifying process was amply documented in his talk, and he had some
insights to offer. “This problem (sub-therapeutic doses of
antibiotics) is being addressed the same way a lot of our other
insoluble societal problems are addressed by collegial actions taken
on our behalf by people who have the responsibility to make decisions
based on ignorance.” Although he urged his listeners to view this fact
with equanimity, he argued against passivity. “A scientist may declare
that the data are inadequate for decision making but the policy maker
has no such fence to straddle.”
The neutral position cannot
exist, he stated: “In this realm of health protection, failure to take
action is not a neutral position, but represents a positive decision
to do nothing.” And in what may well be the most amusing yet
insightful quote from his talk, Stallones jibed, “There is a law, not
often recognized, clearly stated here for the first time, The
Conservation of Public Policy, which states that public policy can
neither be created nor destroyed, but only changed from one form to
another.”
Published July 1981
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