AS.280.335 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Safe Drinking Water Act, Climate Change Mitigation, Environmental Health
19 Sep 2016
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A law has to be in place in order for there to be regulations. We gather scientific data, look at social and political factors, and then from there create laws and policies. Example of government inaction: federal government refuses to have any involvement in climate change mitigation. During the reagan administration, the hiv epidemic broke out through america. His surgeon general sent out pamphlets on understanding aids; it was a policy action that pacified a lot of unrest. Changed the population"s behavior through a political outlet and the authority vested in his office. The difference between a law and policy is that if you violate a law, there is the enforceable power of the state that submits violators to a punishment of sort, whereas a policy doesn"t have that enforcement mechanism. Internal conflict: whether laws are going to enforce a societal good at the expense of individual rights.
