Law Commons^™

Canadian Food Law Update, Patricia L. Farnese

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Provided below is an overview of developments in Canadian food law and policy in 2008. This update primarily analyzes regulatory and policy developments by the federal government. This focus reflects the significance of federal activities in the food policy realm. As this is the first Canadian update to appear in the Journal of Food Law & Policy, it is appropriate to include a brief summary of the Canadian regulatory framework for food. The regulatory framework provides the necessary context to identify trends driving recent changes in Canadian food law and policy.

Crisis At The Pregnancy Center: Regulating Pseudo-Clinics And Reclaiming Informed Consent, Teneille R. Brown

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs) adopt the look of medical practices — complete with workers in scrubs, ultrasound machines, and invasive physical exams — to deceive pregnant women into thinking they are being treated by licensed medical professionals. In reality, CPCs offer exclusively Bible-based, non-objective counseling. Numerous attempts to regulate CPCs have faced political roadblocks. Most recently, in NIFLA v. Becerra, the Supreme Court held that state efforts to require CPCs to disclose that they are not medically licensed are unconstitutional violations of CPCs’ First Amendment right to free speech. In the wake of that decision, pregnant women in crisis — …

A Recent Renaissance In Privacy Law, Margot Kaminski

Publications

Considering the recent increased attention to privacy law issues amid the typically slow pace of legal change.

Tacos, Tequila, And Tainted Alcohol? An Examination Of The Tainted Alcohol Problem In Mexico And What It Means For The American Tourist, Tammy Le

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

The Introduction Of Biotech Foods To The Tort System: Creating A New Duty To Identify, Katharine Van Tassel

Katharine Van Tassel

This Article examines the question of whether an unsuspecting consumer who dies from an allergic or toxic reaction to an undisclosed biotech ingredient in food can recover damages through the tort system. The surprising answer is that recovery is very unlikely. This Article outlines why this is the case, then evaluates the merits of several potential solutions to this problem including the possible creation of a common law 'duty to identify' biotech ingredients in food.

This Article is arranged as follows. First, a brief primer on the nature of biotech foods is provided. For the reader unfamiliar with the regulatory …

Autonomy And Accountability: Why Informed Consent, Consumer Protection, And Defunding May Beat Conversion Therapy Bans, Melissa Ballengee Alexander

Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

Health Care Is Not A Typical Consumer Good And We Should Not Rely On Incentivized Consumers To Allocate It, Lawrence E. Singer

Faculty Publications & Other Works

No abstract provided.

A Consumer Protection Perspective On Regulation For Healthier Eating, Barbara Von Tigerstrom

Dalhousie Law Journal

This article explores the potential for a consumer protection perspective to complement public health approaches in designing and justifying laws that aim to promote healthier eating, such as food labelling regulations or restrictions on marketing and advertising. Consumer protection and public health are distinct perspectives, but they share the goal of protecting health and both accept the need for regulation to protect important interests. Consumer protection objectives could be used to defend public health measures that are challenged as infringing rights or restricting trade. Insights from consumer law and scholarship could also contribute to discussions about when regulatory intervention to …

Buyers In The Baby Market: Toward A Transparent Consumerism, Jody L. Madeira, June Carbone

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This Article assesses the forces on the horizon remaking the fertility industry, including greater consolidation in the health care industry, the prospects for expanding (or contracting) insurance coverage, the likely sources of funding for future innovation in the industry, and the impact of globalization and fertility tourism. It concludes that concentration in the American market, in contrast with other medical services, may not necessarily raise prices, and price differentiation may proceed more from fertility tourism than from competition within a single geographic region. The largest challenge may be linking those who would fund innovation, whether innovation that produces new high …

The Missing Link: U.S. Regulation Of Consumer Cosmetic Products To Protect Human Health And The Environment, Valerie J. Watnick

Pace Environmental Law Review

This article explores these lax regulatory efforts and their connection to risk assessment, and proposes changes to our current toxics regulatory paradigm. Part I of this article explores our current regulatory approach for consumer cosmetics. Part II discusses the specific and dire concerns regarding chemicals that are suspected carcinogens and those suspected of disrupting the human endocrine system. The article argues in Part III that because the framework for our current regulation of consumer cosmetic products is not designed to be protective of human health, our regulatory paradigm must shift dramatically in the future if this is to become our …

Licensure Of Health Care Professionals: The Consumer's Case For Abolition, Charles H. Baron

Charles H. Baron

While state medical licensure laws ostensibly are intended to promote worthwhile goals, such as the maintenance of high standards in health care delivery, this Article argues that these laws in practice are detrimental to consumers. The Article takes the position that licensure contributes to high medical care costs and stifles competition, innovation and consumer autonomy. It concludes that delicensure would expand the range of health services available to consumers and reduce patient dependency, and that these developments would tend to make medical practice more satisfying to consumers and providers of health care services.

Government Tan Lines: Examining The Reach And Effectiveness Of Federal And State Efforts To Protect Consumers From The Dangers Of Indoor Tanning, Michelle Kay Pulley

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

An Essay On Torts: States Of Argument, Marshall S. Shapo

Faculty Working Papers

This essay summarizes high points in torts scholarship and case law over a period of two generations, highlighting the "states of argument" that have characterized tort law over that period. It intertwines doctrine and policy. Its doctrinal features include the tradtional spectrum of tort liability, the duty question, problems of proof, and the relative incoherency of damages rules. Noting the cross-doctrinal role of tort as a solver of functional problems, it focuses on major issues in products liability and medical malpractice. The essay discusses such elements of policy as the role of power in tort law, the tension between communitarianism …

Off-Label Drug Promotion Is Lost In Translation: A Prescription For A Public Health Approach To Regulating The Pharmaceutical Industry's Right To Market And Sell Its Products, Mariestela Buhay

Journal of Health Care Law and Policy

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Arguments In Favor Of Modifying The Hcqia To Allow The Dissemination Of Physician Information To Healthcare Consumers, Laura A. Chernitsky

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

To Preempt Or Not To Preempt: Hmo Liability Pre And Post Pegram V. Herdrich , Adam D. Glassman

Journal of Law and Health

Should consumers have the right to sue their HMOs (health maintenance organizations) for the way they deliver medical care? In recent years, the federal courts have focused their attention upon, inter alia, the issue of whether HMOs have a duty to reveal financial incentive provisions contained in contracts between the HMO plan physicians to plan members and beneficiaries under a health plan. In fact, on June 12, 2000, the United States Supreme Court, in Pegram v. Herdrich, pondered whether HMO physicians and administrators are fiduciaries under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), and if so, must they exercise their …

Pushing Drugs: Genomics And Genetics, The Pharmaceutical Industry, And The Law Of Negligence, Heidi Li Feldman

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This article presents a piece of a larger, ongoing project on the phenomenon of market-driven manufacturing (MDM) and how tort law should address it. In contrast to the larger project, this article provides a relatively brief overview of the general phenomenon of MDM, but zeros in on how pharmaceutical manufacturers specifically practice MDM. MDM is a well-documented, much practiced activity, although American courts do not recognize MDM as a discrete category of conduct. The basic idea of MDM is that marketing considerations should continuously control every aspect and stage of a product's lifecycle. When a company engages in MDM, it …

Consumer Protection In A Managed Care World: Should Consumers Call 911, David A. Hyman

Villanova Law Review

No abstract provided.

Defining The Limits Of Federal Court Jurisdiction Over States In Bankruptcy Court., Patricia L. Barsalou

St. Mary's Law Journal

Sovereign immunity jurisprudence has always been a confusing jumble of assumptions which seem incomprehensible. Despite the confusion, understanding sovereign immunity has become more important in the wake of the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Florida. The constitutional issues raised in Seminole Tribe amount to a reinterpretation of the fundamental balance of power between federal and state governments and the power of Congress to affect that balance. Not all sovereign immunity is sovereign immunity. Many courts use the term to identify both the common-law doctrine and the “immunity” granted to the states through the Eleventh …

Home Equity Reform In Texas Forum., Jerry Patterson

St. Mary's Law Journal

Texas citizens should vote on home equity reform to be able to decide for themselves whether they desire the benefits of home equity borrowing. Texas is the only state in the nation that prohibits homeowners from using their home equity as they see fit such as to educate their children, to start or expand small businesses, or to enjoy their retirement years. Critics to home equity reform in Texas do not fully understand the scope of the amendments or the benefits that come with reform. The myth that equity loans would trigger an increase in foreclosure rates cannot be documented …

Recognizing An Implied Warranty That Professional Services Will Be Performed In A Good And Workmanlike Manner., Mark L. Kincaid

St. Mary's Law Journal

Although the Court received a deluge of amicus curiae briefs after its initial ruling in Melody Home ushering the Court to reevaluate the consequences of its decision, there is no sound basis for excluding professional services from the implied warranty recognized by the Texas Supreme Court that services will be performed in a good and workmanlike manner. The issue of what is properly considered a “professional” service or what definition is to be applied to distinguish “non-professional” and “professional” services if the latter were to be excluded from the implied warranty. Instead of differentiating between “non-professional” and “professional” services in …

Informational Regulation Of Consumer Health Risks: An Empirical Evaluation Of Hazard Warnings, W. Kip Viscusi, Wesley A. Magat, Joel Huber

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

On the basis of data from a survey of almost 400 consumers, this article assesses whether consumer behavior is responsive to information about product hazards that is provided in response to regulation. We find that the extent to which consumers take precautions is consistent with the level of risk indicated, the amount of risk information, the specific risk and precaution indicated, and the economic benefits of safety precautions. We also use the patterns of precautionary behavior to analyze the implicit value of the morbidity effects and to assess the consistency of consumer choices. Our findings support the use of product-hazard …