clipka <ano### [at] anonymousorg> wrote:
> I tell you something sick:

> Here in Germany, some decades ago there was a huge campaign pro Iodine: 
> To fight hypothyreosis, people were encouraged to use salt with added 
> Iodine, companies were encouraged to add Iodine to their food products, 
> and farmers were encouraged to add Iodine to the food of their 
> livestock. All for the good of the people, especially (but not limited 
> to) those suffering from undiagnosed hypothyreosis.

Surely you can now point out how the polio vaccine is likewise dangerous,
and should therefore not be administered worldwide?

Do you see your "thing X is dangerous, therefore thing Y probably is too"
fallacy here?

> Sacrificing people's freedom to reject some medical procedure, in order 
> to try achieving some greater medical benefit for all, opens up a can of 
> particularly ugly worms we've seen crawling across Europe before.

There's a big difference between your iodine example and things like
smallpox and polio: These latter things are contagious, and by not
taking a vaccine, you are potentially spreading the disease to others.
You are, thus, not responsible only for your own wellbeing, but of other
people as well.

There's another difference: Smallpox and polio can be completely
eradicated. Once they are gone, they will are gone for good, and nobody
ever will have to suffer from them or need any further vaccinations for
them.

By not removing those diseases from the Earth when we have the means to,
we are responsible for all the lives that are lost or ruined. Many of
them will be people who would most certainly have wanted to live and be
healthy. The blood is in our hands if we allow people to suffer and die
when we are sitting on the cure because of our moral sensibilities.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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