Health Promotion and the First Amendment: Government Control of the Informational Environment

Government efforts to protect public health often include controlling health information. The government may proscribe messages conveyed by commercial entities (e.g., false or misleading), recommend messages from commercial entities (e.g., warnings and safety instructions), and convey health message...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Milbank quarterly 2001-01, Vol.79 (4), p.547-578
Main Authors: Gostin, Lawrence O., Javitt, Gail H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Advertising as Topic - legislation & jurisprudence
Advertising campaigns
Advertising restrictions
Behavior Control
Bioethics
Civil Rights - legislation & jurisprudence
Commerce - legislation & jurisprudence
Commercial courts
Commercial regulation
Commercials
Communication
Constitution
Control
Ethics
First Amendment
First Amendment-US
Freedom
Freedom of speech
Government
Government Regulation
Health
Health care
Health Education
Health Education - legislation & jurisprudence
Health information
Health promotion
Health Promotion - legislation & jurisprudence
Humans
Information
Information Services - legislation & jurisprudence
Information Sources
Original
Paternalism
Policy studies
Political speeches
Private Sector - legislation & jurisprudence
Public Health
Public Health Administration - legislation & jurisprudence
Social problems and social policy. Social work
Sociology
Supreme Court Decisions
Truth Disclosure
U.S.A
United States
USA
Wellness programs
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Description
Summary:Government efforts to protect public health often include controlling health information. The government may proscribe messages conveyed by commercial entities (e.g., false or misleading), recommend messages from commercial entities (e.g., warnings and safety instructions), and convey health messages (e.g., health communication campaigns). Through well-developed, albeit evolving, case law, government control of private speech has been constrained to avoid impinging on such values as free expression, truthfulness, and autonomous decision making. No simple legal framework has been developed for the government's own health messages to mediate between the legitimate goals of health protection and these other values. Nevertheless, government recommendations on matters of health raise difficult social and ethical questions and involve important societal trade-offs. Accordingly, this article proposes legal and ethical principles relating to government control of the health information environment.
ISSN:0887-378X
1468-0009
DOI:10.1111/1468-0009.00221