Law Commons^™

A Broader Liberty: Js Mill, Paternalism, And The Public’S Health, Lawrence O. Gostin, Kieran G. Gostin

O'Neill Institute Papers

Is the ‘harm principle’, famously propounded by JS Mill and widely adopted in bioethics, an appropriate principle to guide public health regulation? The harm principle limits liberty-limiting interventions to only those instances where the person poses a significant risk of harm to others. However, much of public health regulation is not primarily directed to avert risk to others, but to safeguard the health and safety of the individual him or herself. Think about regulations regarding seatbelts, motorcycle helmets, or the fluoridation of water as illustrations of pervasive public health regulations that are primarily intended to safeguard the individual’s own health …