Public Safety Is a Government Responsibility

A newly issued Swedish Government enquiry proposes that the Government would no longer be responsible for the economic damage done by dangerous contagious animal diseases. Instead, the animal owners would be responsible. They would have to get private insurance if they would want to protect themselves against the economic risks of this responsibility.

I believe this is not right. A contagious disease is a risk for the whole society. Government intervention is often needed, because the Government is the only one who can force people to do this or that, or not to do this or that. It may be necessary to use force to defend society from contagious diseases, and Government is the only one who may use force. This is a matter of defending the whole society, just like the police defends us from criminals and the military defends us from foreign threats. This defence is necessary for all tax payers, thus, all tax payers should contribute and the Government should pay.

Of course, in the case where an animal owner is reckless, and this recklessness contributes to spreading the disease, the animal owner should be liable. This is another matter altogether. Animal owners are often unable to stop the spreading of the disease themselves. It is not a coincidence that these diseases are called contageous.

The main issue here is that defending society from contagious diseases is one of the main responisbilities of the Government, therefore, the main economic responsibility should belong to the Government.