Abstract
The terrorist attacks launched on September 11, 2001, ignited fear of further aggression with biological weapons, leading to a discourse and allocation of resources for both defensive and dissuasive/ offensive use in order to counteract such threats. Many such measures involved the investigation and production of biological agents, and the public health field has been called upon to participate in these strategic efforts. Participation by health programs is in moral contradiction with military tactics and should be limited to protecting the health of the purportedly threatened population, in itself a difficult task due to the numerous imponderable factors. The additional resources being made available to public health are largely conditioned on their strategic military application, leaving traditional public health care in its chronic state of insufficient funding and non-egalitarian allocation.
Highlights
Resumen A raíz de los ataques terroristas del 11 de Septiembre de 2001, ha aumentado el temor social frente a posibles agresiones con armas biológicas
The terrorist attacks launched on September 11, 2001, ignited fear of further aggression with biological weapons, leading to a discourse and allocation of resources for both defensive and dissuasive/ offensive use in order to counteract such threats
Many such measures involved the investigation and production of biological agents, and the public health field has been called upon to participate in these strategic efforts
Summary
Pánico moral es una reacción social frente a una “condición, episodio, persona o grupo de personas que emergen como una amenaza a los valores e intereses de la sociedad” (Cohen, 1972: 9). A la luz de los recientes sucesos terroristas, puede ser de utilidad distinguir entre pánico moral, que “convencionalmente se concentra en procesos de control ejercidos sobre fallas morales de grupos desposeídos” (Ungar, 2001:277), y las angustias de una “sociedad de riesgo que se constituye por un vasto número de amenazas relativamente desconocidas, detrás de las cuales se agazapan amenazas nuevas” (Ungar, 2001:276). En tanto el pánico moral concita acuerdo de reprimir y castigar a los grupos que desestabilizan la sociedad, hay más controversia e intransigencia hacia las estrategias de reacción más apropiadas frente a los agentes causantes de riesgos. Uno de los asesores militares de las Fuerzas Armadas norteamericanas fue categórico al respecto: “estimo que tenemos una sola obligación moral – y esta obligación moral consiste en desarrollar lo antes posible aquel agente que mate al enemigo del modo más rápido y económico posible” (Crane, 2002:245)
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