'Iraq Water Treatment Vulnerabilities': a challenge to public health ethics.

A formerly classified US document, 'Iraq Water Treatment Vulnerabilities,' provides evidence that ill health was knowingly induced in the population of Iraq through the ruination of that country's water purification system. We believe that the uncovering of this document should stimulate the public health community to clarify principles of public health ethics and to formulate statements giving voice to these principles. We propose here two statements, one dealing with the broad issue of public health ethics and international relations, and one dealing specifically with public health ethics and water purification.