Arizona State University hosted a symposium on “The Intersection of Law, Science, and Policy to Protect the Public’s Health,” published in Jurimetrics, with excellent contributions by Wendy Parmet, David Hymen, Bernie Black, Vickie Williams, and many others. Here is part of the abstract for the foreward by James Hodge:
Revitalization, revolution, renaissance. In the modern era, these three words depict the foundational changes in the role of law to protect, promote, and preserve the public’s health. Since the early 1990s, public health law has transformed into a distinct, identifiable field through the coupling of phenomenal scholarly vision (including from several scholars in this symposium issue) and public health practitioners’ bold experimentation in novel, applied uses of law to improve public health outcomes. After decades of sheer decline, reluctance, and even reversal of known, effective applications, law and policy have emerged as primary tools for making change in public health. Whether via constitutional interpretation, statutory or regulatory enactments, judicial interventions, or policy adjustments within legal systems, the notion that law can effectively contribute to the public’s health in areas as diverse as tobacco control, obesity prevention, and product safety is now relatively well accepted.