Blanket Ban Research Articles

The (Ab)use of Those with No Other Hope?

The idea that all members of a society have a duty to help promote scientific and medical advances has been the subject of debate, 1 and it has recently been suggested that patients should be able to participate in ‘‘research that may be beyond the bounds of current clinical research practice’’ and that ‘‘even when greater-than-usual risks may be present, such research can be both ethically and scientifically justified.’’ 2 This is partly based on the argument that all of us are obliged to participate in research and that where there is ‘‘some reasonable likelihood [of] a beneficial effect’’ it is appropriate for ‘‘‘risky’ research’’ to proceed. 3 Here I do not dispute this contention but draw attention to some of the issues that are raised by involving those with no other hope in experimental procedures. These are important because of the position—desperately ill with no alternatives—such patients are in. The UK’s Nuffield Council on Bioethics has recognized that medical progress has sometimes been made at the ‘‘expense’’ of those who first received a new procedure, and that ‘‘[i]n some cases, it has been cruel to offer a possible life-saving procedure that resulted in a long drawn-out painful death, instead of a relatively peaceful end. The offer of such a procedure in itself puts pressure on patients to accept—and may distort judgement.’’ 4 I am not arguing that there should be a blanket ban on involving those with no other hope in experimental procedures; rather, I argue that, if they are to be involved, then they must be legally protected and that the use of such procedures is scientifically justified and ethically reviewed. In this article I examine international and national ethical and professional guidance on offering experimental procedures to those with no other hope and explore the common law on experimental procedures in England and Wales. The issues highlighted here are not jurisdiction specific; rather, the regulatory framework in England and Wales is used as a lens through which to explore and highlight the protection offered to those with no other hope. In so doing I question whether the existing regulatory structures appropriately protect those with no other hope and draw on ethical guidance from New Zealand that suggests ways to proceed. Care must be taken with involving such patients in experimental procedures because they may be particularly vulnerable and open to exploitation, even if this is not the deliberate or conscious aim of those seeking to perform the procedure for the first time. Despite this risk, selection issues in this context have rarely been considered. This may be because their involvement has been assumed This article is dedicated to Professor David Price, who was an inspirational and supportive academic, colleague, and mentor.

Debating Euthanasia

Debating Euthanasia is a collaborative work authored by Professors Emily Jackson and John Keown, published as part of Hart Publishing's Debating Law series. This series aims to explore topical areas of law and policy by presenting ‘[t]wo essays … written from opposite points of view’ (Series Editor's Preface). In keeping with this premise, Debating Euthanasia comprises two self-contained, 30, 000 word essays which represent the authors' contrasting viewpoints on the question of whether euthanasia could, and indeed should, be legalised. The Debating Law series is designed to cater to a wide readership. Consequently, the essays used to illustrate contrasting viewpoints on the topic in question must be ‘accessibly written and only lightly end-noted’ (Series Editor's Preface), and Debating Euthanasia adheres to these requirements well. Both Jackson's and Keown's contributions are clearly presented and succinct, and provide learned representations of the polarised perspectives taken in the euthanasia debate. As they are canvassing opposing sides of the same debate, their pieces cover similar topics in presenting their arguments for and against legalising euthanasia. The most prominent example of this is the use of the slippery slope argument. Jackson uses it, coupled with evidence from the Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, England and Wales, and Oregon, to allege that it is ‘clearly false that a blanket ban is the optimum response to concerns about a practice's potential misapplication’ (p 62). Keown, on the other hand, argues that in view of evidence from Oregon and the Netherlands the mechanisms the legislation those jurisdictions utilise have already allowed the slide along the slippery slope to occur (p 118–136). Both too have six broad headings which outline the basic shape of their respective theses. Jackson's are Introduction; Why We Should Try; The Status Quo is Indefensible; Why Might Anyone Think We Shouldn't Try?; What Might an Assisted Dying Law Look Like?, and What Are The Consequences of not Trying? Keown's, by comparison, are Introduction; Definitions; Ten Arguments For Decriminalisation; Professor Jackson's Arguments; The Joffe Bill, and Conclusions. This duality does not negatively affect the flow of the book; indeed, it makes the piece a better tool for reference as it allows the reader to easily compare the two contrasting arguments.

'The Full Face Covering Debate: An Australian Perspective'

The wearing of full face coverings by women in public, such as burqas and niqabs, has become a controversial and hotly debated issue both in Australia and around the world. While some overseas jurisdictions have opted to ban full face coverings Australia, despite some attempts to ban full face coverings, has so far opted for a more nuanced approach. This article examines the Australian debate from the calls for a complete ban of full face coverings by political leaders such as Senators Fred Nile and Cory Bernardi through to the passage of the Identification Legislation Amendment Act 2011 (NSW). In particular the article highlights that more recent debate on the issue has focused on ways in which concerns surrounding security and identity checks can be met without imposing a blanket ban on the wearing of full face coverings.

No Bitin' Allowed: A Hip-Hop Copying Paradigm for All of Us

“I’m a writer not a biter, for myself and others. I say a B.I.G. verse, I’m only biggin’ up my brother.” - Jay Z Copyright law in the United States may be at one of its periodic inflection points. In the past, major technological change and major shifts in the way that copyrightable works were used have led to major changes in the law, from the invention of the printing press prompting the first codification of copyright, to the popularity of the player piano contributing to a reevaluation of how musical works should be protected, to the dawn of the computer age leading to an explicit expansion of copyrightable subject matter to include computer programs (to name but a few examples). Today, owners of copyright face a world where digital technology has made it easy and cheap to reproduce, adapt, distribute, display or perform the works of another. Equally important, a generation of users has grown up expecting to be able to freely usurp the traditional exclusive rights of the copyright owner. If the declining sales and audiences in the music, newspaper and broadcast television industries tell us anything, it is that old legal paradigms regarding copying, and the business models built around them, are in jeopardy. With what do we replace the old approach to copying? The short answer is: something less like a rigid, blanket ban on copying of expression and something more like a flexible approach that distinguishes acceptable, or even laudable, imitation of another’s expression from undesirable copying. Scholars have explored norms-based alternatives to intellectual property law in policing copying in various creative and innovative communities, such as chefs, comedians, research scientists, jambands, and magicians. The community of hip-hop artists employs a norms-based approach to imitation as well. The types of copying, and the consequences of each type, are varied and nuanced. The cultural consequences of imitating in the “wrong” way are such that the formal legal consequences of copying are irrelevant within the community. Even though hip-hop music has become popular music and popular music is largely owned commercially and protected with copyright law, instances of one hip-hop artist (not record company) suing another over copying are exceedingly rare. This paper will explore the lessons that the Copyright Act can learn from Jay-Z and his brethren.

Playing for Time: Prisoner Disenfranchisement under the ECHR after Hirst v United Kingdom

Over five years ago, in Hirst v UK (No. 2), the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights found that the Representation of the People Act 1983 breached the right of prisoners to vote under Article 3 of Protocol 1 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR). Nonetheless, this often misunderstood decision did not require the United Kingdom to enfranchisement of all prisoners, but instead gave it the opportunity to reform its disproportionate blanket ban on prisoners voting. This article examines Hirst, assessing the reasons behind the Grand Chamber‟s cautious approach and the stalled reform process which it set in train. After Hirst, however, the Labour Government relied upon extended consultations to delay law reform for the remainder of its time in office. With the election of the Coalition Government a fresh opportunity arose to proceed with reform, although not one which the Conservative Party, as the senior Coalition partner, was eager to grasp. Conterminously, however, various sections of the Strasbourg Court finally lost patience with the vacillation of several countries, including the United Kingdom, over prisoner voting. In a series of decisions these sections sought to impose a broad measure of prisoner enfranchisement, although not always speaking with one voice as to the limits of the right to free and fair elections in this controversial context. This article considers the importance of these decisions both in terms of the divisions they indicate within the Strasbourg Court regarding the limits upon its supranational role and their implications for the ultimate shape of reform to the UK voting ban.

Playing for Time: Prisoner Disenfranchisement under the ECHR after Hirst v United Kingdom

Over five years ago, in Hirst v UK (No. 2), the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights found that the Representation of the People Act 1983 breached the right of prisoners to vote under Article 3 of Protocol 1 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR). Nonetheless, this often misunderstood decision did not require the United Kingdom to enfranchisement of all prisoners, but instead gave it the opportunity to reform its disproportionate blanket ban on prisoners voting. This article examines Hirst, assessing the reasons behind the Grand Chamber‟s cautious approach and the stalled reform process which it set in train. After Hirst, however, the Labour Government relied upon extended consultations to delay law reform for the remainder of its time in office. With the election of the Coalition Government a fresh opportunity arose to proceed with reform, although not one which the Conservative Party, as the senior Coalition partner, was eager to grasp. Conterminously, however, various sections of the Strasbourg Court finally lost patience with the vacillation of several countries, including the United Kingdom, over prisoner voting. In a series of decisions these sections sought to impose a broad measure of prisoner enfranchisement, although not always speaking with one voice as to the limits of the right to free and fair elections in this controversial context. This article considers the importance of these decisions both in terms of the divisions they indicate within the Strasbourg Court regarding the limits upon its supranational role and their implications for the ultimate shape of reform to the UK voting ban.

Improving the Performance of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil for Nature Conservation

Oil palm (Elaeis spp.) is one of the world’s most rapidly expanding crops. Especially prevalent in Malaysia and Indonesia, oil-palm plantations are also increasing rapidly across tropical regions as diverse as New Guinea, Equatorial Africa, Central America, and the Amazon (Butler & Laurance 2009; Koh & Wilcove 2009). Oil palm is an important driver of tropical deforestation, in part, because plantation owners often use timber revenues from old-growth forests to subsidize the initial costs of plantation establishment and maintenance (Fitzherbert et al. 2008). Expansion of oil palm imperils both lowland rainforests and peat-swamp forests, which are, respectively, among the biologically richest and most carbon-dense ecosystems on Earth (Butler & Laurance 2009; Koh et al. 2009a). The rapid expansion of oil palm seems likely to continue for many years because of its high profitability and the growing global demands for edible oils and biofuel feedstocks. Proponents of palm oil emphasize that its main alternatives, including soy, sunflower, and canola (rapeseed) oils, have production efficiencies just 10–20% as high as palm oil on a per-hectare basis and would therefore require much larger areas of cultivated land to have a similar benefit (Basiron 2009). Nevertheless, from climate-change and biodiversity perspectives, the advantages of palm-oil production are greatly diminished when it contributes either directly or indirectly to deforestation (Gibbs et al. 2008; Danielsen et al. 2009). Growing concerns about the environmental impacts of palm oil helped initiate the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), a nonprofit, industry-led trade organization whose stated mission is to “provide RSPO-certified palm oil to the market in a clear and transparent manner” and to “promote the growth and use of sustainable palm oil” (www.rspo.org/What_is_RSPO@.aspx). As implied by the word roundtable, the RSPO professes to advocate a balanced, multistakeholder approach, with considerable emphasis on environmental sustainability. According to the RSPO, this is evidenced by the fact that four of the 16 members of its executive board are from conservation or social-developmental organizations. The RSPO also takes pains to draw a distinction between itself and industry-advocacy groups, such as the Malaysian Palm Oil Council and Indonesian Palm Oil Producers Association, by emphasizing its efforts to improve the industry’s sustainability and transparency (V. Rao, personal communication). The RSPO has considerable potential to improve the environmental performance of producers and users of palm oil. Although established only in 2004, it is strategically positioned within the palm-oil industry and is particularly influential in Malaysia. The growing membership of RSPO already accounts for approximately 35% of the global production of palm oil, although only about one tenth of this oil is currently certified as sustainable (RSPO 2008). To define sustainability in the oil-palm sector, the RSPO has developed 39 sustainability criteria, organized under eight general principles, which are designed to limit environmental impacts of growing and processing palm oil. These criteria focus on issues, such as reducing herbicide impacts, air pollution, and losses of biodiversity as well as on social and legal concerns (RSPO 2006). Nevertheless, some environmental organizations have repeatedly criticized the RSPO and its members, particularly for enabling tropical deforestation and atmospheric carbon emissions under the guise of stated, but unfulfilled, sustainability criteria (e.g., Down to Earth 2004; Greenpeace 2008; Maitar 2009). Here, we critique the RSPO from an environmental perspective and identify some specific ways it can become more effective in reducing threats to tropical ecosystems.

Should the Joint Provision of Credit Insurance with Unsecured Lending Be Prohibited? An Examination of the UK Payment Protection Insurance Market

This study examines whether the recent UK regulatory decision to introduce a blanket ban on the joint provision of consumer lending and credit insurance was justified. This case has wide regulatory implications following international concerns that the sale of credit insurance has been detrimental to customers due to overpriced credit insurance and a possible cross subsidy from credit insurance to unsecured lending. To explore this issue a theoretical model is developed considering why a cross-subsidy from credit insurance to unsecured loans would develop in these markets and whether the prohibition of joint sales would limit this practice. The presence of cross-subsidies is empirically examined indicating that while many banks do cross-subsidise unsecured lending through high credit insurance costs this behaviour is not a universal practice across all suppliers and at all times. This result is examined for all sample banks and a range of sub-samples to control for possible influences on credit insurance costs.

Inter-Species Embryos and Human Clones:

The United Kingdom's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, introduced into Parliament on the 8th of November 2007 contains a number of controversial proposals inter alia expressly permitting the creation of inter-species embryos for research and destruction and increasing the scope for human cloning also for destructive research. It is supposed that there ought not to be a blanket ban on the creation of human clones, hybrids, cybrids and chimeras because these embryos are valuable for research purposes. The prohibition on the gestation of non-permitted embryos and interspecies embryos is used to generate confidence that embryos with compromised origins would not be gestated and reared. The argument outlined here demonstrates how uncertain are any legal prohibitions on gestation. Accordingly, the practical import of the distinction between compromised embryos for research and the same for live birth is equally dubious. The legislation would not, on this analysis, supply effective controls over this reproductive technology.

The People's Choice: The Prisoner Franchise and the Constitutional Protection of Voting Rights in Australia

The Prisoner Franchise is a perennial issue in Western democracies. This is particularly so in Australia, where for over two decades there has been considerable debate, both legislative and public, on whether and which prisoners should be able to vote. The absence of any express right to vote in the Australian federal or state constitutions has often led the debate to be couched on the assumption that Australian parliaments have an unfettered power to disenfranchise prisoners. The correctness of this assumption was tested in the recent decision of the High Court of Australia in Roach v. Electoral Commissioner.In 2006, the Federal Parliament passed legislation introduced by the Howard conservative government that denied the vote in federal elections to anyone who, on polling day, was serving time for an offense. Prior to this, only prisoners serving three years or more - or any unpardoned of treason - were disenfranchised. In 2007, the High Court, Australia's top court, struck down the blanket ban on prisoner voting in a suit brought by Vicki Roach, an indigenous woman serving a six year sentence, who claimed that the ban was inconsistent with the Australian Constitution. The Court agreed by a majority of 4-2, and instead upheld the prior three year rule.This article examines this decision, both in its implications for prisoner voting rights and its broader implications for electoral democracy. For the first time, a majority of the Australian High Court has held that the requirement in sections 7 and 24 of the Australian Constitution that the Houses of Federal Parliament be directly chosen by the people imposes meaningful limitations on Parliament's ability to delimit the franchise.

Tobacco regulation: autonomy up in smoke?

Over the past few decades, “Big Tobacco” has spread its tentacles across the developing world with devastating results. The global incidence of smoking has increased exponentially in Africa, Asia and...

Should the Joint Provision of Credit Insurance with Unsecured Lending Be Prohibited? An Examination of the UK Payment Protection Insurance Market

This study examines whether the recent UK regulatory decision to introduce a blanket ban on the joint provision of consumer lending and credit insurance was justified. This case has wide regulatory implications following international concerns that the sale of credit insurance has been detrimental to customers due to overpriced credit insurance and a possible cross subsidy from credit insurance to unsecured lending. To explore this issue a theoretical model is developed considering why a cross-subsidy from credit insurance to unsecured loans would develop in these markets and whether the prohibition of joint sales would limit this practice. The presence of cross-subsidies is empirically examined indicating that while many banks do cross-subsidise unsecured lending through high credit insurance costs this behaviour is not a universal practice across all suppliers and at all times. This result is examined for all sample banks and a range of sub-samples to control for possible influences on credit insurance costs.

Stringent regulation of oocyte donation in China

Currently in China, health regulations permit oocyte donation only from IVF/ICSI patients who have 20 or more mature oocytes retrieved from a single cycle, of which at least 15 must be kept for their own treatment. Oocyte donation from non-patients and commercial transaction of human gametes are strictly prohibited by law. Additionally, embryos derived from donated oocytes must be cryopreserved and cannot be transferred to prospective recipients, until donors have been screened to be free of communicable diseases after 6 months. Such overly stringent regulation has in turn led to a severe shortage of available donor oocytes in China. The situation is made worse by a cultural aversion to oocyte donation by the majority of patients, because biological kinship and blood relations are viewed as sacrosanct in traditional Chinese culture. The harsh social stigmatization of childlessness in Chinese society, increasing incidence of age-related female infertility in recent years and growing numbers of bereaved older women who have lost their only child to accidents, natural disasters and suicides would make it imperative to reconsider liberalizing the regulation of oocyte donation in China. In particular, the blanket ban on oocyte donation by non-patients should be lifted, as it is anticipated that there are many young healthy women in China who are generous and open-minded enough to consider altruistically donating their oocytes to childless couples.

EXTERNAL VALIDATION AND TRANSFERABILITY OF NIRS MODELS DEVELOPED FOR DETECTING AND QUANTIFYING MBM IN INTACT COMPOUND FEEDING STUFFS

ABSTRACT The ban on the use of animal‐origin by‐products such as meat and bone meal (MBM) in compound feeds was one of the measures implemented in the European Union to stop the spread of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and to prevent its reoccurrence. It is now clear that the blanket ban will only be lifted if reliable analytical methods are available that ensure the detection of animal by‐products. Near‐infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is likely to be the most rapid method for testing feedingstuffs, enabling a substantial increase in the number of samples tested and providing instant detection of adulteration, especially when samples are analyzed in intact form. This study aimed to demonstrate the feasibility of NIRS predictive models for detecting and quantifying MBM in intact compound feedingstuffs, and to demonstrate the transferability of calibration models between two NIRS instruments. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONSThis study shows the potential of near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) as a fast screening method for detecting the adulteration of compound feedingstuffs with animal‐origin meals, useful for the feed industry and the inspection bodies. NIRS could provide the first line of defense of the food chain, allowing a large‐scale analysis and making more costly methods to be used more productively on suspect specimens.

Prisoners as Citizens in a Democracy

Abstract: This article looks at voting rights for sentenced prisoners in the UK. A number of approaches are adopted by governments of the Council of Europe and the UK is one of 13 member states which operate a blanket ban on prisoners voting. Following a European Court of Human Rights judgment in 2006, the UK is now obliged to review this policy which has been held to breach an individual's right to contribute to free elections. The options open to the UK are to retain prisoner disenfranchisement or enfranchise certain serving prisoners based on criteria such as sentence length and offence seriousness.

Injection of hope through China's stem-cell therapies

Injection of hope through China's stem-cell therapies

Judicial Independence in Australia and South Africa: Comparative Lessons

This article criticises the approach of the South African and Australian courts to the exercise of non-judicial functions by judges. These courts take the view that conferral of non-judicial functions on judges is permissible provided that the functions are not 'incompatible' with judicial office. It might seem that only those who elevate form above substance would think otherwise. I, however, argue against this approach, suggesting that the flexible concept of incompatibility is ill-suited to protect the rule of law interests served by the separation of judicial power. I argue that if we attend to the fact that there may be good reasons for rigidly following rules, we will be led to a blanket ban on judges exercising non-judicial functions as a more effective way to protect the constitutional role of the courts as independent and impartial arbiters of disputes.

Environmental Ethics and Proportionality: Hunting for a Balance

A challenge to the validity of the Hunting Act 2004 in human rights and EC law was recently rejected by the Court of Appeal on the ground that the Act's ethical purpose required judicial deference to the legislature. We argue that the variety of ethical perspectives engaged by the blanket ban on hunting and the traditions of liberalism demand that the courts ensure that Parliament has properly taken into account all competing perspectives. Although the proportionality principle is crucial in this regard, its application in both human rights and EC contexts gives rise to significant uncertainties and difficulties.

News

Stub it out: banning smoking while driving would help reduce pressure on nurses working in emergency care, according to experts. From July 1, it is unlawful to smoke in enclosed public places across England. The Local Authority Road Safety Officers Association has called on the government to introduce a blanket ban on smoking at the wheel as well. Mental health nurse David Harding-Price agrees: 'If there is a multiple pile up because someone has dropped a cigarette butt and is not concentrating, it affects nurses right across the board. Those in A&E and theatre have to deal with the casualties and mental health nurses may have to deal with bereaved relatives'.

UC Balks at Campus-Wide Ban on Tobacco Money for Research

RESEARCH FUNDINGConcerned about academic freedom, the University of California (UC) has delayed voting on a plan to impose a blanket ban on research funding from tobacco companies. ([Read more][1].) [1]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/315/5811/447a