Law Commons^™

‘Rounding Up’ Roundup: One Last Hope For Glyphosate Regulation, Gabrielle Argimón-Cartaya

University of Miami Law Review

Since 1974, Bayer’s Roundup remains the world’s most popular herbicide and pervades United States farmland and food production. However, in 2015, Roundup landed centerstage in an international and presently unsettled debate over whether its active ingredient, glyphosate, causes cancer. Environmental groups regularly call for the de-registration of glyphosate due to the plethora of ailments, ecological harm, and weed resistance resulting from glyphosate use. Dissenting experts, however, believe that strict bans would devastate agriculture because of global dependence and the lack of any popular alternatives. Faced with mounting litigation, silence from the highest court, and unreliable regulators, Bayer continues to effect …

Public Health Impacts And Intra-Urban Forced Displacement Due To Climate Gentrification In The Greater Miami Area—Community Lawyering For Environmental Justice And Equitable Development, Theresa Pinto, Abigail Fleming, Sabrina Payoute, Elissa Klein

University of Miami Law Review

Because Miami-Dade County is “ground zero” for such climate effects as sea-level rise and increasingly hazardous, climate-driven Atlantic hurricanes, the coral rock ridge that runs along the Eastern coast of South Florida is a prime target for redevelopment and “climate” gentrification. Through a community and movement lawyering for environmental justice approach, we partnered with local community organizations to contribute to the ongoing work of community-driven equitable development. In partnership, we developed an environmental public health study to understand and document the public health effects on disadvantaged communities in Miami-Dade County from forced intra-urban displacement due to redevelopment that is being …

Cosmetic Crisis: The Obsolete Regulatory Framework Of The Ever-Evolving Cosmetic Industry, Isabelle M. Carbajales

University of Miami Law Review

Cosmetics only first became regulated after a series of tragic events where users were seriously harmed from the use of cosmetic products. These tragic events prompted legislators to enact the Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act of 1938. Before then, law makers feared that regulating the cosmetic industry would lower the tone of legislation because they considered the cosmetic industry to be inconsequential. At present, the regulatory system in place to protect vulnerable cosmetic consumers is nearly identical to when it was enacted over eighty-six years ago—even though the cosmetic market looks nothing like it did back then. The consumer base …

“A Solemn Mockery”: Why Texas’S Senate Bill 8 Cannot Be Legitimized Through Comparisons To Qui Tam And Environmental Protection Statutes, Laura Blockman

University of Miami Law Review

On September 1, 2021, the Texas Legislature enacted the Texas Heartbeat Act, an anti-abortion statute popularly known as Senate Bill 8 (“S.B. 8”). Although many states passed anti-abortion legislation in 2021, S.B. 8 received national attention due to the law’s unusual enforcement mechanism: S.B. 8 empowers private citizens, not state actors, to sue individuals who perform or aid in the performance of an abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected.

Unsurprisingly, the authors of S.B. 8 received extreme back- lash from the public, and many academics and legal scholars viewed the law’s private enforcement mechanism as an effort to evade …

Compassion Fatigue In An Infodemic: A Physician’S Duty To Treat In The Age Of Misinformation, Alessandra Perez

University of Miami International and Comparative Law Review

This Note considers how misinformation has exacerbated the COVID-19 pandemic and the inevitable burden it has placed on the healthcare industry. It explores the intersection between a doctor’s oath of ethics and their right to refuse care by uncovering the obligations that guide their decisions. Justice dictates that physicians provide care to all who seek it, and it is unconstitutional for a physician to refuse to treat patients based on race, ethnicity, gender, religion, or sexual orientation. Even if a patient’s request is antithetical to a physician’s personal beliefs, the unwavering duty to treat generally mandates that physicians treat any …

Taking Care Of Business: An Empirical Examination Of The Top S&P 500 Companies And Their Role As Public Health Regulators During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Megan M. O’Malley

University of Miami Business Law Review

Data from the top 15 constituents by weight on the S&P 500 is assembled to identify trends among the policies these companies implemented in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some policies were fairly consistent across the board, especially in regard to remote work opportunities and health and safety measures for essential and/or in-person employees. Other policies, including vaccination requirements and vaccine incentives, varied across and within industries. Some companies that were examined went beyond the relevant federal, state, or local requirements in effect at the time, while other companies pushed back against public health guidance.

Mitigating Zoonotic Disease Threats To Prevent Future Pandemics: A Critical Analysis Of Policy Favoring The Closures Of Wildlife Markets In Latin America, Melany J. Danielson

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

The Preventing Future Pandemics Act was introduced to mitigate zoonotic disease threats around the world by focusing policy efforts on the closure of wildlife markets that gave rise to COVID–19. This Note challenges the efficacy of wildlife market closure policy by considering cultural, socioeconomic, and legal factors for the existence of wildlife market within megadiverse countries in Latin America. Based on scientific research on the animal-to-human interface and zoonotic disease transmission, this Note suggests effective policy should incorporate a targeted species ban for reservoir species, improved sanitary measures and disease surveillance, and wildlife trafficking prevention. Ultimately, this Note calls for …

Maritime Magic: How Cruise Lines Can Avoid State Law Compliance Through Passenger Contracts, Cameron Chuback

University of Miami Law Review

Florida Statutes section 381.00316 prohibits businesses in Florida from requiring consumers to provide documentary proof of COVID-19 vaccination to access businesses’ goods and services. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (“NCLH”) has recently challenged section 381.00316’s applicability to its cruise operations because NCLH believes that requiring its passengers to provide documentary proof of COVID-19 vaccination is the one constant that allows NCLH’s cruise ships to smoothly access foreign ports, which have differing COVID-19 protocols and rules. In Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, Ltd. v. Rivkees, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida ruled in favor of NCLH on this …

Cafo’S Are A Public Health Crisis:The Creation Of Covid-19, Helena Masiello

University of Miami Law Review

Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (“CAFO’s”) are largely unregulated by State or Federal Laws in the United States. As a result of this lack of oversight, they are a breeding ground for deadly infectious diseases. The COVID-19 epidemic has demonstrated the threat that diseases pose to the United State like H1N1, SARS, and Ebola.
The USDA needs to regulate CAFOs under the mandate given to them by congress in the AHPA to ensure that they are not the epicenter of the next wave of deadly infectious diseases. Scientists have been warning about the disease potential of CAFOs for the last decade, …

International Rights Affecting The Covid–19 Vaccine Race, Samantha Johnson

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

The impact of the COVID–19 pandemic has been felt world-wide, and despite having several vaccines in the market at this point, there are still issues of accessibility for certain countries. International intellectual property law has been a breeding ground for the exploration of intellectual curiosity and creation as it provides strong protections to creators. These strong protections have allowed for the monopolization of certain goods, such as vaccines, under the concept of patents. While patents are important to incentivize pharmaceutical companies to create life–saving medicines, these protections have also become a barrier for access to medicines, especially in less–developed countries. …

Why Reproductive Health Rights Should No Longer Be A Partisan Issue: A Call To Invest In Family Planning, Sofia Waterhouse

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

The concepts of family planning and reproductive health rights are often obscured by the controversy that surrounds the topic of abortion. This controversy has substantially impacted the U.S.’s outlook on reproductive health rights and its support toward family planning organizations, often limiting funding and aid depending on each administration’s political views. While international law has recognized the importance of reproductive health rights and the necessity of family planning programs, the U.S. continues to fall be-hind when it comes to promoting such rights. This article calls for a bipartisan effort to end these regressive and harmful anti–abortion policies so that the …

Immunization And Indemnification: Rethinking The Us Approach To Liability Protections For Vaccine Manufacturers During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Samantha Topper Berns

University of Miami International and Comparative Law Review

This note analyzes the legal mechanisms in the United States that provide compensation for vaccine injuries sustained as a result of inoculation against pandemic viruses when a public health emergency has been declared. While the United States has an every-day compensation scheme that deters litigation by providing just compensation yet upholds the right of injured parties to seek damages in court, it has a special compensation scheme applicable to vaccines developed to address public health emergencies that bars litigation by effectively providing vaccine manufactures with complete indemnification and severely restricts the ability of injured parties to receive compensation. Meanwhile, in …

Comparative Laws In Public Health Unmasked, Christine Chasse

University of Miami International and Comparative Law Review

The COVID-19 pandemic lay bare the vulnerabilities of some countries’ public health responses and praise for others. Comparative law review in public health responses may glean lessons for the United States. For example, the United States had not had a pandemic of this magnitude in over a century and was reluctant to institute early masking policies. Meanwhile, the world raced for a COVID-19 vaccine. This begs the question of who will take the vaccine. Will—or can—governments force their citizens to be inoculated? Global comparisons in personal liberty, freedom, bodily autonomy, and how to parent intersect at the right to (or …

Inoculating The Next Generation Of Lawyers: Mandating Substances Use And Mental Health Education For Law Students, Janet Stearns

Articles

No abstract provided.

Rationing Healthcare During A Pandemic: Shielding Healthcare Providers From Tort Liability In Uncharted Legal Territory, Frederick V. Perry, Miriam Weismann

University of Miami Business Law Review

As the coronavirus pandemic intensified, many communities in the U.S. experienced shortages of ventilators, ICU beds, and other medical supplies and treatment. There was no single national response providing guidance on the allocation of scarce healthcare resources. There has been no consistent state response either. Instead, various governmental and nongovernmental state actors in several but not all states formulated “triage protocols,” known as Crisis Standards of Care, to prioritize patient access to care where population demand exceeded supply. One intended purpose of the protocols was to immunize or shield healthcare providers from tort liability based on injuries resulting from a …

Legal And Ethical Implications Of U.S. And Canadian Vaccine Contracts: The Impact Of Vaccine Nationalism On The Global Pandemic Response, Ryan S. Tahiri

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

This note explores the COVID-19 vaccine contracts between the U.S. and Canada and the impact of these types of agreements on the global pandemic response. These “pre-purchases,” many of which were executed before the development of a vaccine, have afforded a select few nations the opportunity to stockpile vaccines, while other nations with fewer resources are unable to secure any doses. An effective method to counter the effects of the pandemic is the creation of a global vaccine network that provides equitable access to vaccine doses for nations in need. COVAX was launched to ensure that lower and middle-income nations …

Equality And Sufficiency In Health Care Reform, Gabriel Scheffler

Articles

Most Americans believe that health care is a right, not a privilege. Yet debates over health care reform frequently fail to distinguish between two distinct conceptions of the right to health care: one which focuses on sufficient access to health care-what I refer to as the Right to a Decent Minimum-and a second which focuses on equality in access to health care what I refer to as the Right to Equal Access. These two conceptions of the right to health care in turn support two distinct categories of proposals for expanding health insurance coverage. The Right to Equal Access justifies …

How The Covid-19 Pandemic Has And Should Reshape The American Safety Net, Gabriel Scheffler, Andrew Hammond, Ariel Jurow Kleiman

Articles

No abstract provided.

Federal Ignorance And The Battle For Supervised Injection Sites, Ben Longnecker

University of Miami Law Review

From 1999 to 2017, over 400,000 people have died from opioid overdoses. The federal government recognizes the opioid epidemic as a crisis, yet it has failed to slow the surge of overdose deaths. Some states are, therefore, looking at the implementation of supervised injection sites. There are over 100 supervised injection sites around the world in twelve different countries, and these sites have produced hopeful data on counteracting the opioid crisis’s negative societal effects. However, the federal government has seemingly ignored any empirical evidence and continues to threaten state-sponsored supervised injection sites with criminal prosecution. This Note argues that any …

The Neglect Of Persons With Severe Brain Injury To The United States: An International Human Rights Analysis, Tamar Ezer, Megan S. Wright, Joseph J. Wright

Articles

Brain injury contributes more to death and disability globally than any other traumatic incident. While the past decade has seen significant medical advances, laws and policies remain stumbling blocks to treatment and care. The quality of life of persons with severe brain injury often declines with unnecessary institutionalization and inadequate access to rehabilitation and assistive technologies. This raises a host of rights violations that are hidden, given that persons with severe brain injury are generally invisible and marginalized. This article highlights the current neglect and experiences of persons with severe brain injury in the United States, analyzing the rights to …

The Dynamism Of Health Law: Expanded Insurance Coverage As The Engine Of Regulatory Reform, Gabriel Scheffler

Articles

Can law improve the delivery of health care? The predominant view is that law serves as a barrier to reforming the health care delivery system. Health law scholars of all stripes blame regulations for impeding innovation, limiting competition, and exacerbating fragmentation in health care.

I argue that this view neglects an important-but overlooked-feature of health law: the dynamic relationship between laws that expand health insurance coverage and laws that regulate the delivery of health care. By expanding health insurance coverage and increasing the demand for health care, laws such as Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act catalyze policymakers to …

Centering Race At The Medical-Legal Partnership In Hawai’I, Dina Shek

University of Miami Race & Social Justice Law Review

No abstract provided.

Addiction-Informed Immigration Reform, Rebecca Sharpless

Articles

Immigration law fails to align with the contemporary understanding of substance addiction as a medical condition. The Immigration and Nationality Act regards noncitizens who suffer from drug or alcohol substance use disorder as immoral and undesirable. Addiction is a ground of exclusion and deportation and can prevent the finding of "good moral character" needed for certain immigration applications. Substance use disorder can lead to criminal behavior that lands noncitizens, including lawful permanent residents, in removal proceedings with no defense. The time has come for immigration law to catch up to today's understanding of addiction. The damage done by failing to …

Section 1332 State Innovation Waivers: Waiving Goodbye To Cooperative Federalism And Hello To Collaborative Federalism, Brittany Hynes

University of Miami Business Law Review

No abstract provided.

Regulating Sugar-Sweetened Beverages, Tyler Rauh

University of Miami Business Law Review

American waistlines are an international punchline, and United States taxpayers spend hundreds of billions of dollars each year to combat medical complications resulting from obesity. The personal costs are financial, emotional, and mortal. Projections insist that it will become worse. Section I details the obesity epidemic and ponders why the United States is uniquely unhealthy.

The reason could be that America consumes more sugar than any other country. In recent years, some municipal policymakers have attempted to restrain America’s sweet tooth by taxing sugar-sweetened beverages. Initial responses are polarizing. Chicago’s tax did not last three months before its abolishment. Philadelphia’s …

The Dark Side Of The Pharmaceutical Industry: A Compound Of Issues, Geoffrey A. Marcus

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

No abstract provided.

Deploying Mindfulness To Gain Cognitive Advantage: Considerations For Military Effectiveness And Well-Being, Amishi P. Jha, Scott L. Rogers, Eric Schoomaker, Edward Cardon

Articles

Mindfulness involves paying attention to present moment experience without discursive commentary or emotional reactivity. Mindfulness training (MT) programs aim to promote this mental mode via introduction to specific mindfulness exercises, related in-class discussion, and ongoing engagement in mindfulness exercises. MT is being increasingly offered to high-demand, high-stress military/uniformed and civilian cohorts with a wide array of reported benefits. Herein, we begin by discussing recent theoretical models regarding MT’s mechanisms of action from a cognitive training/cognitive neuroscience perspective, which propose that MT engages and strengthens three key processes [e.g., 1]. These are: 1) attentional orienting, which is the ability to select …

Unlocking Access To Health Care: A Federalist Approach To Reforming Occupational Licensing, Gabriel Scheffler

Articles

No abstract provided.

Occupational Licensing And The Limits Of Public Choice Theory, Ryan Nunn, Gabriel Scheffler

Articles

No abstract provided.

Mitochondrial Replacement Therapy: How A Government For The People, Failed The People, Jeffery Mark Sauer

University of Miami Law Review

Despite having the potential to significantly reduce the passage of many lethal diseases and devastating birth defects, mitochondrial replacement therapy—a controversial medical procedure in which mitochondrial RNA from a healthy female replaces the mitochondrial RNA from the intended mother in vitro—will have no place in the United States anytime soon. Under the guise of purported safety concerns and ethical dilemmas, the Republican Congress used its “power of the purse” to halt any and all research furthering mitochondrial replacement therapy, notwithstanding the fact that many leaders in the medical community have advocated for further research. Several developed countries have already implemented …