Wait - you're saying that a district could legalize prositution and claim to screen for STDs without centralized regulation and oversight? Caveat emptor indeed...
Wait - you're saying that a man should be able to pick up a random street-walker and be right to expect that congress has made sure she's properly tested for STDs? /sarcasm
Such schemes would likely come as "labels" that the district or individual sex workers buy into, provided that they comply with the regulations set up by the label. Some labels might gain a reputation for being stricter and cleaner then others, other might be cheaper and "good enough".
In many places where prostitution is legal, there are certain health-and-safety conditions associated with running a brothel (the same way there are certain health-and-safety conditions involved with running a restaurant) and they include mandatory STD tests.
It's too hard to regulate individual prostitutes, but quite easy to regulate brothels under the banner of existing local planning authorities. There will still be individual prostitutes working outside the legal brothels, but you're ensured much more safety if you go to one of the legit places.
I'm not saying that public health and safety couldn't do this - I'm not even saying they shouldn't. I just find it incredibly disingenuous to assume that only a public institution could conceivably perform this function.
Btw. regarding your argument that brothels could be regulated under local planning authorities - I'm pretty sure that's exactly what the OP was talking about. We just got side-tracked by the minor point of who gets to do the H&S.
Prostitution is legal in my country (Uruguay) provided the sex worker is over 18 years of age.
And they ARE regulated, the Health Ministry does checks, and issues a license. So a "john" that purchases sexual services over here has a reasonable assumption that the sexual worker doesn't have diseases (and they're mandated to use condoms anyways)
See: Public health. The federal government, and even 'world government' have been wildly successful in this area. As a result, the quality of human life has dramatically improved.
there are different ways of pursuing public health.
and just saying public health efforts were successful is not the same as proving that coercion improves health more than cooperation and at a reasonable cost
I can restrict everyone to their homes and stop all disease transmission. yeeaa, we found the correct approach. not
Requiring whores to register and be checked for STD's is not the moral equivalent of quarantining people in their homes. It's more similar to product safety regulations or building codes.
I didn't say they were equivalent. I am just saying that there are many considerations and the individual rights cannot be sacrificed just to achieve some health goal.
Individual rights aren't relevant. This is a public health issue that doesn't infringe on anyone's rights outside of some Libertarian wet dream. We license restaurants based on health inspections, does that infringe on your right to serve or eat filthy shit? I think not ;)
Wait - you're saying that a man should be able to pick up a random piece of meat in a grocery store and be right to expect that congress has made sure it's properly tested for foot-and-mouth disease and other diseases and conditions?
True, but its not that simple. Don't forget about knock-offs. It may be hard to fake an iPhone, but its not too hard to fake clothing, and I can't imagine it will be too hard for a prostitute to fake a "clean" badge to increase her hourly rate, if its worth her while.
I think people know that and wouldn't rely solely on a prostitute's word, especially when there are other legal certification services.
Would you buy a electrical appliance that was not certified by Underwriter's Laboratories? Or buy a car that had no crash test rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety? Would you take the word of a car company that "oh, we don't need that stuff. we done tested it ourself."
It seems humans do know how to solve safety problems without coercion, at least when allowed to. There is no reason to believe prostitution is any different.
no, I said its up to each district what they do. If they wish to avail themselves of some certifying authority they can certainly do that.
And yes its buyer beware. As it always is when you decide to have sex.
When things people want are illegal, they are LESS safe. There is no visibility, no legal liability, very little incentive to build and protect a brand name.
Alcohol was a lot less safe during prohibition. And the crime was very dangerous as well. Legalization is much safer and its rare that people die from the manufacturing and distribution of alcohol today.
centralized decision making is less effective anyway. Human intelligence is distributed for a reason. No central authority has even half the facts you do about your own situation and a tiny fraction of the self interest at stake that you do.
