Morning Must-Read: Teresa Nielsen Hayden: “If Personal Beliefs Were a Valid Basis for Public Health…

…there wouldn’t be a history of health & hygiene regs being laid down in legal codes around the world since law and writing were invented. They exist because personal preference doesn’t work. Typhoid Mary was sure she wasn’t causing typhoid outbreaks in households where she worked. 19th C. dairy farmers likewise knew that their unpasteurized milk wasn’t a problem. Every law prohibiting open sewers or toxic food adulterants is a monument to the existence of citizens who wouldn’t behave responsibly unless the law compelled them to do so.