The Slate | March 21, 2022
Too much open politicking, some argue, will even undermine the field. “Public health gains credibility from its adherence to science, and if the field strays too far into political advocacy, it may lose the appearance of objectivity,” Georgetown University law professor Lawrence Gostin has written. Gostin phrased the central tension of public health this way: “If it conceives of itself too narrowly, it will be accused of lacking vision…If it conceives of itself too expansively, it will be accused of overreaching.”