Food and Drug Law Commons^™

I Want You To Panic: Leveraging The Rhetoric Of Fear And Rage For The Future Of Food, Iselin Gambert

Journal of Food Law & Policy

"Humanity Is About to Kill 1 Million Species in a Globe-Spanning Murder-Suicide. Only 11 Years Left to Prevent Irreversible Damage from Climate Change." Doomsday headlines like these are terrifying. But are they enough to make us act? The causes of the current climate crisis are many, but the science is clear that the meat and dairy industry shoulders much of the blame. Given the role the animal agriculture industry plays in perpetuating the climate crisis, combined with the harms the industry imposes on the animals and workers within it, politicians and governments—given their degree of power and influence—should ostensibly be …

The Right To Food Comes To America, Wendy Heipt

Journal of Food Law & Policy

The people of Maine recently exercised an opportunity no citizen of this country has ever had before: the ability to vote on whether to enshrine a right to food in their state constitution. This Essay provides an overview of Maine’s experience with food rights in order to explain how the state came to occupy this unique position.

France's Organisme De Défense Et De Gestion: A Model For Farmer Collective Action Through Standard Development And Brand Management, Christopher J. Bardenhagen, Philip H. Howard, Marie-Odile Noziéres-Petit

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Quality-based food production, often with a regional dimension, can provide farmers with new, value added markets. It can also provide consumers with access to place based high-quality products, and may benefit local economies through increased commerce. French Organismes de Défense et de Gestion (ODGs) illustrate a mode of quality-based agri-food business organization. ODGs focus on the development of production standards, as well as management of the intellectual property related to those standards. This mode, which is commonly used in Europe, has not often been used in the United States, despite its potential for regional food system development. The ODG mode …

China's Food Pagodas: Looking Forward By Looking Back?, Yifei Li, Dale Jamieson

Journal of Food Law & Policy

In this Article we provide a close analysis of the Chinese Dietary Guidelines – the Food Pagoda. Our focus on the dietary guidelines is motivated by two main considerations. First, the guidelines represent the most comprehensive, nationwide, state sponsored effort to educate the people of China about food. Like citizens in most countries, Chinese people are presented with numerous, often competing, messages from scientists, food gurus and online influencers. The dietary guidelines are different in that they are backed by an entire suite of governmental resources for nationwide dissemination through hospitals, schools, public billboards, TV and radio ads, among others. …

Agents Of Bioshield: The Fda, Emergency Use Authorizations, And Public Trust, Kirstiana Perryman

Georgia Law Review

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic spurred the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to utilize the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) procedure more than ever before. The pandemic pushed the relatively obscure procedure into public consciousness, making it a frequent topic of discussion and debate. The EUA procedure permits the FDA Commissioner to authorize the introduction of drugs, devices, or biological products into interstate commerce for use in an actual or potential emergency. To issue an authorization, the FDA Commissioner must determine that it is “reasonable to believe,” based on the “totality of the evidence,” that the product “may be effective.” This standard …

A Solution To The Hard Problem Of Soft Law, Keagan Potts

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

Administrative Agencies often rely on guidance documents to carry out their statutory mandate. Over the past few decades, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been criticized for using soft law guidance documents to exercise powers beyond those authorized by Congress. Since attacks on the use of guidance documents persist and agencies need soft law to respond quickly and flexibly to rapid technological growth, it is essential to develop a solution that preserves this crucial regulatory mechanism and prevents its abuse. The most likely alternative to soft law guidance is formal regulation, which must be developed through the notice-and-comment process. …

Environmental Law, Disrupted By Covid-19, Rebecca Bratspies, Vanessa Casado-Pérez, Robin Kundis Craig, Lissa Griffin, Keith Hirokawa, Sarah Krakoff, Katrina Kuh, Jessica Owley, Melissa Powers, Shannon Roesler, Jonathan Rosenbloom, J.B. Ruhl, Erin Ryan, David Takacs

Faculty Scholarship

As we were in the final phases of editing a book on disruption in environmental law, a pandemic swept across the world disrupting daily life and the functioning of society to an extent unprecedented in living memory. The novel coronavirus known as COVID-19 was identified in China in late 2019 and by late February 2020, it had spread to every continent except Antarctica; as of April, 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that over 148 million people had been infected worldwide with over 3 million deaths. Scientists and public health experts have raced to understand the virus—how is it …

High Time For A Change: How The Relationship Between Signatory Countries And The United Nations Conventions Governing Narcotic Drugs Must Adapt To Foster A Global Shift In Cannabis Law, Alexander Clementi

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

Since the early 1970’s, the inclusion of cannabis and its byproducts in the United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs has mandated a strict prohibition on cultivation and use of the substance, which has led to a largely global practice of criminalization and imprisonment of anyone found to be in its possession. Yet recently, mostly in response to growing public health concerns, countries like Uruguay, Portugal, The Netherlands, Canada, and the United States have enacted laws which seek to decriminalize or even legalize cannabis use and possession. Yet, cannabis remains classified as a Schedule IV narcotic under the Single Convention, …

An Analysis Of The Patent Linkage System And Development Of The Biosimilar Industry In Taiwan, Jerry I-H Hsiao

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

In 2019, as an effort to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement (now Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP)), Taiwan has implemented the patent linkage system which covers both small molecule generic drugs and large molecule biosimilar into the Pharmaceutical Affair Act. The system modeled after the U.S.’s patent linkage system designed for small molecule drugs under the Hatch Waxman Act (HWA). Based on the experience of the patent linkage system under the HWA, biosimilar industry representatives in Taiwan contended that the adoption of the patent linkage system will be detrimental to the development of local industry. By …

Copying Copyright: Adopting A Fair Use Defense In Patent Law In Times Of Public Health Crisis, Kellie C. Van Beck

Brooklyn Law Review

Epidemics have devastated humankind for centuries. Given the simultaneous rise of advanced disease prevention and treatment and the great potential for mass public uptake, it is unsurprising that the U.S. pharmaceutical industry has grown to $775 billion in annual sales revenue. It is clear that the commercialization of important public health measures is not without controversy. Of particular debate is that vaccine and other drug manufacturers monopolize their products and control them through patent laws. Yet there is a strong dichotomy between the importance of patents and the need for public access to innovations. This is not to say that …

The Dope On Marijuana Consumption And Impaired Driving, Samuel D. Hodge, Jr., Lauren Williams

Cleveland State Law Review

Marijuana is the most frequently used psychotropic drug in the United States, following alcohol consumption. Its use is becoming socially acceptable as more and more states legalize recreational consumption. Nevertheless, marijuana is still a drug, and individuals must understand that it has adverse health effects and potential therapeutic benefits.

Marijuana can influence a user’s judgment and impair a person’s driving abilities. A significant problem with its consumption and driving is that there is no statistical link to show what level of marijuana in the blood causes impairment. Roadside tests for the appropriate blood alcohol content to show intoxication are well …

Medicare Coverage Of Aducanumab - Implications For State Budgets, Rachel E. Sachs, Nicholas Bagley

Articles

Aducanumab (Aduhelm), the controversial $56,000-per-year Alzheimer’s disease drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in June 2021, has the potential to cost the federal government many billions of dollars — more, by one estimate, than it spends on agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency or the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The drug’s extraordinary price tag helps explain why, soon after its approval, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) opened a national coverage determination to decide whether and under what circumstances Medicare would pay for it.1

The Public Health Turn In Reproductive Rights, Rachel Rebouché

Washington and Lee Law Review

Over the last decade, public health research has demonstrated the short-term, long-term, and cumulative costs of delayed or denied abortion care. These costs are imposed on people who share common characteristics: abortion patients are predominantly low income and disproportionately people of color. Public health evidence, by establishing how law contributes to the scarcity of services and thereby entrenches health disparities, has vividly highlighted the connections between abortion access, race, and income. The contemporary attention to abortion law’s relationship to inequality is no accident: researchers, lawyers, and advocates have built an infrastructure for generating credible empirical studies of abortion restrictions’ effects. …

Blood In The Water: Why The First Step Act Of 2018 Fails Those Sentenced Under The Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act, Lauren R. Robertson

Washington and Lee Law Review

For some, the open ocean is prison. The Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act (MDLEA) prohibits individuals from knowingly or intentionally distributing a controlled substance or possessing it with the intent to distribute. Empowered by the MDLEA, the United States Coast Guard arrests and detains foreign nationals hundreds of miles outside of U.S. territorial waters. After months shackled to Coast Guard ships, these individuals face the harsh reality of American mandatory minimum drug sentencing, judged by the kilograms of drugs on their vessels. But the MDLEA conflates kilograms with culpability. More often than not, those sentenced are fishermen-turned-smugglers due to financial …

Alternative Solutions For Government Intervention In Climate Crisis Markets: Price Gouging And The Pandemic Egg Market Case Study, S. Byron Frazelle

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run.

The incredible, edible egg.

Fires in California, hurricanes along the Gulf, a worldwide pandemic—it is evident that the year 2020 was defined by great crises, most of which were direct results of or exacerbated by climate change. The effects of these crises on broader American society, in particular that of the COVID-19 pandemic, are just beginning to be realized. Nearly every aspect of American life has been impacted by the pandemic and …

Intellectual Property Exhaustion And Parallel Imports Of Pharmaceuticals: A Comparative And Critical Review, Irene Calboli

Faculty Scholarship

This Chapter addresses the topic of intellectual property (IP) exhaustion in the context of the parallel trade of pharmaceuticals. These imports, which are controversial in general, are more complex with respect to pharmaceuticals, which require additional marketing and import authorizations. Nevertheless, individual countries remain free to accept these imports under the flexibility of Article 6 of the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects to Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement). This Chapter reviews several national approaches—in developed, developing, and least developed countries (LDCs)—from the perspective of the exhaustion of patent rights as well as other IP rights. Through this review, it highlights …

Estate Planning For Cannabis Business Owners: An Introduction, Bridget J. Crawford, Jonathan G. Blattmachr

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

As more states legalize cannabis sales, estate planners may increasingly be called upon to advise clients with interests in cannabis-related businesses. This essay seeks to assist estate planners in two ways. First, it aims to raise general awareness of cannabis business owners' unique concerns. Second, the essay provides an overview of some of the fundamental issues about which cannabis business owners are likely to seek estate planning advice: business formation matters, wealth transfers, the ability of trusts to own cannabis-related businesses, and gift, estate, and income tax considerations.

In most states that permit legal cannabis sales, there is limited (or …

Freedom Without Opportunity: Using Medicare Policy And Cms Mechanisms To Anticipate The Platform Economy’S Pitfalls And Ensure Healthcare Platform Workers Are Fairly Paid, Kim A. Aquino

Brooklyn Law Review

The rapidly aging population, along with the demand for innovative Medicare delivery models such as bundled payment programs have incentivized the use of technology in healthcare because of its potential to cut costs and improve quality of care. Like many industries embracing technological strides to automate and digitize services, the healthcare industry has welcomed new labor markets like the platform economy to facilitate connections between patients and workers with ease. Along with streamlining connections, the platform economy also promises workers flexibility and autonomy over their own schedule. The platform economy’s promise of freedom, however, is not enough to prevent the …

The Fight Over Frankenmeat: The Fda As The Proper Agency To Regulate Cell-Based “Clean Meat”, Zoe A. Bernstein

Brooklyn Law Review

In recent years, concern over the environmental, animal welfare, and human costs of animal agriculture has spurred an increased demand for nonanimal sourced protein. This has led to significant innovation in food technology. As part of this trend, food scientists have developed a process for in-vitro cultivation of meat cells to produce protein that is biologically and nutritionally identical to meat from traditionally raised and slaughtered animal sources, but that involves neither animal agriculture nor animal slaughter. This lab-grown “clean meat” represents a new era in food technology and is already having an effect on the existing meat industry. In …

Food For Thought: Intellectual Property Protection For Recipes And Food Designs, Kurt M. Saunders, Valerie Flugge

Duke Law & Technology Review

As any chef will tell you, cooking and food preparation is a creative, sometimes innovative, endeavor. Much thought and time is invested in selecting ingredients, developing the process for preparing the dish, and designing an interesting or appealing look and feel for a food item. If this is true, then it should come as no surprise that recipes, food designs, and other culinary creations can be protected by various forms of intellectual property, namely: trade secrets, design and utility patents, trade dress, but usually not copyright. This article considers how intellectual property law has been applied to protect recipes and …