Digital Commons Network^™

The Public Health Service, Jennifer Jenson

National Health Policy Forum

This document provides an overview of the Public Health Service (PHS) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, including a brief history and discussion of the agencies and offices that constitute the PHS today. Information on the mission, key programs, and budgets of PHS agencies and offices is also included.

Food As A Key Resource For Security And Stability: Implications Of Changes In The Global Food System 1950-2000, Bryan L. Mcdonald

Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs (2012 - Present)

Food security remains an urgent problem affecting the national security and interests of states, as well as the human security of people and communities around the world. This article examines the changing landscape of food security threats and vulnerabilities by examining three sets of concerns that are converging to amplify, disrupt, and transform food relations: nutrition, food safety, and global environmental change. Ensuring food security will require utilization of a range of capabilities from the state, private, and non-state sectors to confront world food problems and build a sustainable and resilient world food network.

Law, Ethics, And Public Health In The Vaccination Debates: Politics Of The Measles Outbreak, Lawrence O. Gostin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The measles outbreak of early 2015 is symptomatic of a larger societal problem–the growing number of parents who decide against vaccinating their children. This failure is causing the resurgence of childhood diseases once eliminated from the United States.

This article explores the legal and ethical landscape of vaccine exemptions. While all states require childhood vaccinations, they differ significantly in the types of religious and/or philosophical exemptions permitted, the rigor of the application process, and available review mechanisms. States with relaxed exemption policies disproportionately experience more outbreaks of vaccine-preventable disease.

Vaccine exemptions are an illustration of the “tragedy of the commons,” …

Business Model Options For Antibiotics: Learning From Other Industries, Ella Jaczynska, Kevin Outterson, Jorge Mestre-Ferrandiz

Faculty Scholarship

As resistance to antibiotics continues to grow, there is a well-recognized misalignment between the clinical need for new antibiotics and the incentives for their development. The returns from investment in antibiotics research and development (R&D) are perceived as too small. Partly as a result, the number of large multinational companies researching antibiotics has fallen drastically in the past 20 years and few high-quality antibiotics have been developed.

In looking at the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) situation, we were aware that other industries have faced conceptually similar challenges and that they might offer helpful lessons and possible solutions that could be adapted …

Repairing The Broken Market For Antibiotic Innovation, Kevin Outterson, John H. Powers, Gregory W. Daniel, Mark B. Mcclellan

Faculty Scholarship

Multidrug-resistant bacterial diseases pose serious and growing threats to human health. While innovation is important to all areas of health research, it is uniquely important in antibiotics. Resistance destroys the fruit of prior research, making it necessary to constantly innovate to avoid falling back into a pre-antibiotic era. But investment is declining in antibiotics, driven by competition from older antibiotics, the cost and uncertainty of the development process, and limited reimbursement incentives. Good public health practices curb inappropriate antibiotic use, making return on investment challenging in payment systems based on sales volume. We assess the impact of recent initiatives to …

Prevention, Not Prejudice: The Role Of Federal Guidelines In Hiv-Criminalization Reform, Sarah J. Newman

Northwestern University Law Review

Thirty-four states and two U.S. territories have criminal statutes that specifically impose criminal liability for HIV transmission, exposure, or nondisclosure. With possible sentences ranging up to thirty years, these statutes have even provided the basis for convicting HIV positive individuals who never actually transmitted the virus. To address the unreasonable prosecutions of these individuals, Representative Barbara Lee of California introduced the Repeal Existing Policies that Encourage and Allow Legal HIV Discrimination Act (REPEAL Act) to the U.S. House of Representatives on September 23, 2011. If passed, the REPEAL Act would require a systematic review of these statutes and the development …

Regulating Cyber-Security, Nathan Alexander Sales

Northwestern University Law Review

The conventional wisdom is that this country’s privately owned critical infrastructure—banks, telecommunications networks, the power grid, and so on—is vulnerable to catastrophic cyber-attacks. The existing academic literature does not adequately grapple with this problem, however, because it conceives of cyber-security in unduly narrow terms: most scholars understand cyber-attacks as a problem of either the criminal law or the law of armed conflict. Cyber-security scholarship need not run in such established channels. This Article argues that, rather than thinking of private companies merely as potential victims of cyber-crimes or as possible targets in cyber-conflicts, we should think of them in administrative …

The Changing Function And Structure Of International Law, Joel P. Trachtman

Florida State University Journal of Transnational Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

International Regionalism And National Constitutions: A Jurimetric Assessment, Philippe De Lombaerde, Liliana Lizarozo Rodriguez

Florida State University Journal of Transnational Law & Policy

This Article considers a large global sample of constitutional texts (i.e. 171 constitutions from 153 countries) and assesses to what extent and how they refer to the increasingly important phenomenon of international regionalism (or regional integration) and how they deal with potential sources of tensions and contradictions between the national legal systems and the emerging regional regulatory universes. A typology of clauses is therefore proposed. In addition, some evidence is presented on the evolution of constitutional references over time and on the relationship between constitutional referencing and the depth of the de facto and de jure regionalization processes.

Health Injustice And Justice In Health: The Role Of Law And Public Policy In Generating, Perpetuating, And Responding To Racial And Ethnic Health Disparities Before And After The Affordable Care Act, Daryll C. Dykes

William Mitchell Law Review

No abstract provided.

Unjust Barriers: Prenatal Care And Undocumented Immigrants, Casey Colleen Lee

Journal of Contemporary Health Law & Policy (1985-2015)

No abstract provided.

A Human Right To Health: Is There One And, If So, What Does It Mean, Carol Castleberry

Intercultural Human Rights Law Review

The human right to health, maybe more than any other right, uncovers disparities in respect for the human dignity of persons, based on race or ethnicity, socioeconomic status, geographic location, gender or sexual orientation, age, mental health, disability, and other characteristics. This article discusses the place of the human right to health in international law: whether a human right to health exists at all and, if so, what that means. It will illustrate that while the right to health is not universally legally enforceable the realization of the right to health is indeed progressing. The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human …

Restoring The Parameters Of Public Health In A Time Of Hobby Lobby And Ebola: The Case For A Wellness Account, John D. Blum

Belmont Law Review

The genesis of this piece lies in two seemingly unrelated events in law and public health, the governmental response to the Ebola crisis, and the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, sparked by religious objections to certain employer mandates under the Affordable Care Act. While this essay focuses on the Burwell v. Hobby Lobby case and not Ebola, its core premise is that health policy is best served when government authorities focus strategies and responses within the parameters of individual and population concern. This piece will propose an alternative approach to women’s health promotion, a wellness account, …

Health Justice: A Framework (And Calll To Action) For The Elimination Of Health Inequity And Social Injustice, Emily A. Benfer

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Ethical, Legal, Social, And Policy Issues In The Use Of Genomic Technology By The U.S. Military, Maxwell J. Mehlman, Tracy Yeheng Li

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

Under Containment: Preempting State Ebola Quarantine Regulations, Eang L. Ngov

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Sharing The Burden Of Ebola Vaccine Related Adverse Events, Sam F. Halabi, John Monahan

Faculty Publications

Based upon past experience with other vaccines, the proposed administration of Ebola vaccines (once testing has been completed) will inevitably result in at least some adverse events that will give rise to legal liabilities of only crudely estimable magnitude at this time. Manufacturers, beneficiary governments (e.g., Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone), supporting governments (e.g. U.S., U.K.), individuals suffering adverse events, and populations benefiting from widespread vaccination against the Ebola virus all have a shared interest in recognizing, understanding, and managing potential liability as effectively as possible within the framework of a global public health response. There are multiple options available to …

Practice What You Preach: Does The National School Lunch Program Meet Nutritional Recommendations Set By Other Usda Programs?, ‘Lizabeth Disiena

Journal of Law and Health

Part II of this Note provides a historical background of the National School Lunch Program,20 specifically analyzing the purpose, implementation, and current state of the program. Part III begins by explaining why consideration of calories plays an important role in achieving proper weight management. It then concludes with a comparison between the caloric intake requirements of the National School Lunch Program,21 and the nutritional recommendations by other USDA government health initiatives,22 and non-governmental programs.23 Finally, Part IV proposes that the National School Lunch Program24 provide nutrition options for students that appropriately consider age, gender, and activity level in determination of …

The Threat Lives On: How To Exclude Expectant Mothers From Prosecution For Mere Exposure Of Hiv To Their Fetuses And Infants, Shahabudeen K. Khan

Cleveland State Law Review

There is a renewed interest in HIV/AIDS issues given that better treatment is available. The Department of Justice (DOJ), Civil Rights Division, recently published best practice guidelines to reform HIV-specific criminal laws to conform to modern science. The DOJ’s latest guidelines urge states to “reform and modernize” the laws to reflect modern science. There is a lot of unfinished work regarding the ineffectiveness and stigma associated with HIV criminal transmission laws as a whole. These laws are “no good” and counterintuitive in the fight against this unfortunate disease. There have been calls to repeal these laws in their entirety. That …

Regulating Farming: Balancing Food Safety And Environmental Protection In A Cooperative Governance Regime, Margot J. Pollans

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

After providing a brief overview of regulation in each area, Part I of this Article identifies three types of discordance between produce safety and environmental protection on farms. First, because of limited resources, farmers will have to choose between implementing food safety practices and implementing environmental practices. Second, indirect trade-offs between the two regulatory goals result in damaging collateral consequences for the environment. Food safety regulation may exacerbate a range of existing environmental harms. Third, there is at least one direct clash that may make compliance with food safety law incompatible with participation in certain environmental programs. Part I also …

Regulating Life, Disease, And Death: The Legal, Ethical And Moral Implications Of Science, Medicine, And Technology, Jae Yeon Kim

Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy

On March 19, 2015, the Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy hosted a symposium to address the changing landscape of medicine, science, and technology. The Journal made this selection because advancements in these fields pose unique challenges to society’s understanding of the law’s role in regulating and shaping public discourse on life, disease, and death.

Using Gatt-Trips To Improve Development Opportunities: A Proposal For Central America, Cecily Anne O’Regan, Patrick T. O’Regan

UC Law Science and Technology Journal

Given the geographic and natural resource advantages that countries in the Americas have which will likely shape the business and trade climate in the 21st century, accelerating the development process for developing countries in the region takes on new significance for all involved. This work assesses ways in which Central American countries can use compliance with GATT-TRIPs and TRIPs-plus bilateral agreements to promote their economic development. The first section describes current approaches to IP protection in Costa Rica and El Salvador. The final section goes on to propose regional strategies and legal changes, which are GATT-TRIPs compliant that could potentially …

Hospital Breastfeeding Laws In The U.S.: Paternalism Or Empowerment?, Jennifer Bernstein, Lainie Rutkow

University of Baltimore Law Review

No abstract provided.

Prosecuting Women For Drug Use During Pregnancy: The Criminal Justice System Should Step Out And The Affordable Care Act Should Step Up, Erin D. Kampschmidt

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

No abstract provided.

Mad Cow Disease: Is There An App For That?, Sara Gonzalez-Rothi Kronenthal

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

The Incorporation Of Health Impact Analysis Into Land Use Regulation: Using Health Impact Assessments To Promote Sustainable, Healthy Communities, Liz Darling Edmondson

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

Defusing The Bug Bomb: Legal Strategies To Combat Antibiotic Resistant Infections, Andrew Geltman

Journal of Health Care Law and Policy

The overuse of antibiotics has created a potential public health menace—the growth of microbial infections resistant to them. Antibiotic resistance stems from many causes that include the use of antibiotics in animal feed, medical practitioners’ over-prescription, the general public’s misuse of the drugs, and the failure to develop new antibiotics. This has led to the development of so called “super bugs” that are often immune to first line antibiotic therapies, such as penicillin, and to more powerful, broad-spectrum treatments.

The CDC considers the primary source of antibiotic resistant infections in humans to come from our overuse of antibiotics and the …

Independent Drug Testing To Ensure Drug Safety And Efficacy, Marc A. Rodwin

Journal of Health Care Law and Policy

This Article explores a proposal that would preclude biased drug testing by removing all drug sponsor influence on the design and conduct of clinical trials for new drug applications (“NDAs”), a reform that would address the root of institutional corruption. Recently advocated by leading scholars, the idea has a long history, yet was neglected for over half a century due to pharmaceutical industry opposition.

When Is Hiv A Crime? Sexuality, Gender And Consent, Kim Shayo Buchanan

Minnesota Law Review, Vols. 1-106:1 (1917-2021)

No abstract provided.

Anticipating Hiv Vaccines: Sketching An Agenda For Public Health Ethics And Policy In The United States, James M. Dubois, Amanda Hine, Michele Kennett, Kayla Kostelecky, Joseph Norris, Rachel Presti, Kathryn Raliski, Jessi Roach, Adam Ruggles

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

No abstract provided.