HealthLawProf Blog

Determinants of Contract Farming in Barley Production – Regression Tree Approach

Sendhil R (ICAR), Randhir Singh (ICAR), Anuj Kumar (ICAR), Ramesh Chand (ICAR), JK Pandey(ICAR), Rajendra Singh (ICAR), Ravindran Singh, (ICAR), AS Kharub (ICAR), RPS Verma (ICAR), Determinants of Contract Farming in Barley Production – Regression Tree Approach, 93 Indian J. Agric. Sci.’s 402 (2021):

Barley, a nutri-rich cereal is gaining momentum among stakeholders owing to multiple health benefits but the concern is its declining area, possibly attributed to lack of market and competitive pricing strategy. Amongst alternatives, contract farming is widely suggested for better price realisation and assured market. In the context, the present study was carried out during 2013–15 in four major barley growing states in India, viz. Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh for identifying the determinants of contract farming from a sample of 400 randomly selected farmers using regression tree approach. Findings indicated that the average yield of farmers enrolled in contract farming was 4791 kg/ha (n=90) against non-contractors with an estimated yield of 3549 kg/ha (n=310), implying a yield advantage of 35%. The practice of enrollment into contracts was popular in Rajasthan as corroborated by regression tree. The analysis also indicated that farm size, seed replacement behaviour, source of seed and area under barley were turned as deciding factors in contract enrollment. Overall, the study indicated that region plays a prominent role in enrollment into contracts despite multiple benefits availed. The study advocates barley growers to take advantage of contract farming, especially small-holders to enroll into contracts for mitigating price risk apart from self-empowerment in barley production.

Study Paper on Health Care Consent and Capacity Assessment Tribunals

British Columbia Law Institute (BCLI), Canadian Centre for Elder Law (BCLI), Study Paper on Health Care Consent and Capacity Assessment Tribunals, SSRN (2021):

A finding of mental incapacity to give informed consent to health care, or to decide whether to accept or refuse admission to a care facility, results in a very significant loss of personal autonomy. A mature legal system must provide a readily accessible means to obtain review of a finding of incapacity by an independent decision-making body. This imperative has been accentuated by Canada’s ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

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Current and Future Protection of Geographical Indications in Australia

Paula Zito (University of Adelaide), Current and Future Protection of Geographical Indications in Australia, 16 J. Intell. Prop. L. & Prac. (2021):

This article discusses the current position in Australia regarding the protection of Geographical Indications (GIs) at both the national and international level. It explains the current difference in the protection offered at the national level to Australian regional names used on wine labels vis-a`-vis on food labels. This article discusses that there is a strong case for the implementation of a dedicated food GI frame- work in Australia at the national level and this is particularly given the current negotiations between Australia and the EU in relation to the Australia– European Union Free Trade Agreement.

Is COVID-19 An Opportunity to Create a New United Nations? A Lesson from World War II

Abbas Poorhashemi, Is COVID-19 An Opportunity to Create a New United Nations? A Lesson from World War II, The Law Gazette (2020):

One of the direct impacts of the spread of the coronavirus COVID-19 is challenging international organizations, specifically the United Nations and its related institutions. The emergence and outbreak of the coronavirus COVID-19 put in doubt the effectiveness and efficiency of world governance during the global crisis. The pandemic has shown the ineffectiveness of international law and the inefficiency of international institutions to solve global crises. Besides, numerous regulations and treatises have been accepted, signed, and ratified by the States regarding global health issues; they remain, however, inapplicable. Therefore, the pandemic has opened a window of opportunity to the modern era of globalization based on the new rules and structures.

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Manipulating Disclosure: Creative Compliance in the Israeli Food Industry

Sharon Yadin (University of Haifa), Manipulating Disclosure: Creative Compliance in the Israeli Food Industry, 66 St. Louis U. L. J (forthcoming 2021):

Front-of-package food labels meant to inform consumers of the food’s nutritional values through simple and easy-to-comprehend graphic rating and warning systems are gaining increasing popularity in regulatory spheres. Around the world, health regulators have adopted front-of-package disclosure systems based on infographics, symbols, logos, colors, numbers, and letters, via both mandatory and voluntary schemes, while others, such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), are considering adopting them. The recent Israeli food-labeling reform reveals consumer misinformation tactics deployed by food companies through various graphic manipulations that can be regarded as “creative compliance.” Adding to the policy and theory of disclosure regulation, this Article discusses the misinformation effect of graphic disclosure and suggests soft law tools for combating this regulatory failure, such as regulatory shaming and voluntary regulatory agreements.

Protection of Indigenous Rice Variety and Agricultural Innovation in India Under GIs Act & PPVFR Act

Vikash Kumar (Galgotias University), Protection of Indigenous Rice Variety and Agricultural Innovation in India Under GIs Act & PPVFR Act, SSRN (2021):

In order to promote agricultural innovation, there are various major steps taken in India. The Government of India has taken many steps and passed legislation for agriculture promotion in India. The two major acts which are passed are (i) the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act 1999 (GIs Act), and (ii) the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act, 2001(PPVFR). Both the acts boost agriculture innovation and help in the protection of farmer’s rights. This research paper is going to do an analysis as to how these two legislations promote agriculture innovation. The previous study shows that the farmers were not aware of legislation and not able to take benefits of this legislation. The research paper finally deals with the need for an awareness program, so that Indian farmers take appropriate benefits of both this legislation. The paper deals with some specific provisions of the GIs Act and the PPVFR Act. Some examples of rice verities from Kerala are also discussed in the paper. The increase in market price values after having GI certification and tag is discussed also.

Innovative Foods with Transparent Labels that Will Have the Next Pandemic for Breakfast

Danny Friedmann (Peking University), Innovative Foods with Transparent Labels that Will Have the Next Pandemic for Breakfast, Law and Economics of the Coronavirus Crisis (Klaus Mathis & Avishalom Tor, eds., forthcoming):

Continued factory farming makes a new viral pandemic ineluctable. Plant-based and cell-cultured food (together “innovative food”) producers use animal-based food names to signal a similar function, use, and taste, but without the negative externalities of the animal-based foods in regard to health, sustainability and ethicality. In the US and EU, the market share of animal-based products is shrinking. The animal-based food producers in the US have insisted on “Truth in Labeling” measures to exclude innovative foods from using animal-based food names, even though empirical research demonstrates that it does not lead to consumer confusion. The European Parliament has approved Amendment 171 to Regulation (EU) No. 1308/2013 to extend the dairy ban, even though it conflicts with the policy goals in the Farm to Fork Strategy to transition to a system of health, sustainability, clear information, and the implied goal of ethicality.

Compensation or Economic Support for COVID-19 in the Constitution of Japan

Yuichiro Tsuji (Meiji University), Compensation or Economic Support for COVID-19 in the Constitution of Japan, SSRN (2021):

This study analyzes whether the Government of Japan is obligated to compensate the restaurants and bars for losses caused by the COVID-19-induced self-restraint order. This paper notes that compensation for property rights and financial support are two different issues. As a matter of policy, when the government supports the socio-economically vulnerable, it is not a matter of compensation for property rights but social rights and policy.

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Case Western Reserve University School of Law: Law-Medicine Center Presented "Embryo Litigation: A Focus on Unique Legal Issues, Structural Challenges, and Resolution Platforms"

 

Case Western Reserve University School of Law: Law-Medicine Center Presented David J. Elk and Jay M. Kelley III  Speaking on Embryo Litigation in Cleveland, OH: A Focus on Unique Legal Issues, Structural Challenges, and Resolution Platforms on October 28th, 2021 - Watch Presentation Here
In this Maxwell J. Mehlman Lecture, David J. Elk, Senior Partner of Cleveland firm Elk & Elk, introduced Jay M. Kelley III, Managing Partner at Elk & Elk, who discussed the unique aspects presented by the recent Cleveland litigation surrounding the loss of eggs and embryos due to an issue with the cryogenic tank, including the lack of clear laws or precedent regarding the rights and remedies available under Ohio Law, the logistical challenges of pursuing a case with potentially 900 plaintiffs and 87 different firms, and the structure surrounding resolution of these claims in a way that was fair and equitable to each individual claimant and the unique challenges presented by the damaging claims.
David J. Elk, Senior Partner at Elk & Elk	Jay M. Kelley, Managing Partner at Elk & Elk

Do Mandated Health Insurance Benefits for Diabetes Save Lives?

Jinyeong Son (University of Texas at Austin), Do Mandated Health Insurance Benefits for Diabetes Save Lives?, SSRN (2021):

In response to the growing concern over diabetes, state-mandated health insurance benefits for diabetes have become popular since the late 1990s. However, little is known about whether these mandates improve the health of people with diabetes. In this paper, I use data from the Vital Statistics Multiple Cause of Death Mortality and the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to investigate the effects of these mandates on diabetes-related mortality rates, along with underlying mechanisms behind the estimated effects. Using a difference-in-differences framework that leverages variation in the enactment of mandates both across states and over time, I find that about 3.2 fewer diabetes-related deaths per 100,000 occur annually in mandate states than in non-mandate states. The mechanism analysis suggests higher utilization of the mandated medical benefits caused these mortality improvements.

Developing an Innovative Pandemic Treaty to Advance Global Health Security

Lawrence O. Gostin (Georgetown University), Benjamin Mason Meier (UNC Chapel Hill), Barbara Stocking(University of Cambridge), Developing an Innovative Pandemic Treaty to Advance Global Health Security, J. L. Med. & Ethics (forthcoming):

The World Health Assembly will be holding an unprecedented second meeting this year in November, with only a single item on the agenda – the development of a new pandemic treaty. This pandemic treaty provides a path to develop international legal obligations, with the World Health Organization (WHO) overseeing the treaty. Despite strong international political support for such a treaty, there has been little examination of its potential scope, substance, and legal process.

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U.S. 10,960,070: The U.S. Government’s Important New Coronavirus Vaccine Patent

Christopher Morten (Columbia University), Laurel Boman (NYU), Joseph Rabinovitsj (NYU), Celine Rohr(NYU), U.S. 10,960,070: The U.S. Government’s Important New Coronavirus Vaccine Patent, NYU Law Technology Law & Policy Clinic Report on U.S. Patent No. 10,960,070 (2021):

This report presents an analysis of U.S. Patent No. 10,960,070 (the “’070 patent”), an important and new coronavirus vaccine patent owned by the U.S. government, along with two of the government’s academic partners. The report concludes that the ’070 patent appears to be valid, enforceable by the U.S. government, and infringed by Moderna, Inc. (Moderna), because Moderna is currently making and selling a COVID-19 vaccine — mRNA-1273 — that incorporates and relies on technology described and claimed by the ’070 patent. Moderna does not appear to have the U.S. government’s permission to use this patented technology.

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Designing Regulation Across Organizations: Assessing the Functions and Dimensions of Governance

Robert L. Glicksman (George Washington University), Alejandro E. Camacho (University of California Irvine), Designing Regulation Across Organizations: Assessing the Functions and Dimensions of Governance, 15 Regul. & Governance (2021):

In recent years, regulation scholars and policymakers have increasingly turned their attention to the role of inter-governmental organizational design in effective governance. The existing literature on regulatory design has provided important insights into the advantages and disadvantages of alternative structural options. This article synthesizes and builds on that literature by describing a novel framework for characterizing, analyzing, and structuring authority across public institutions. Drawing on examples from a range of jurisdictions, it highlights the value of this framework in identifying the values tradeoffs that should drive policymakers' decisions to choose among competing structural alternatives. The framework is founded on two important points. First, inter-governmental allocations of authority can be structured along three different dimensions. Failing to appreciate the existence of, and differences among, these dimensions can prompt misassessments of the reasons for existing regulatory failures and selection of structural allocations that do not suit the problems intended to be addressed. Second, allocations of authority can, and in many cases should, vary for disparate governmental functions. Differential functional allocations of authority can minimize obstacles to needed structural reforms and tailor inter-governmental relations in ways that best promote chosen regulatory values, such as efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability, as well as how allocational choices may and perhaps should vary depending on the governmental function being performed. Finally, the article suggests how future regulation and governance scholarship can harness this emerging framework to help build a body of empirical evidence upon which policymakers can draw in future regulatory design endeavors.

Assuming Access to Professional Advice

Claudia E. Haupt (Northeastern University), Assuming Access to Professional Advice, Ne. U. Sch. L. (Research Paper No. 412, 2021):

Access to reliable health advice can make the difference between life and death. But good advice is hard to come by. Within the confines of the professional-client or doctor-patient relationship, the First Amendment operates in a way that protects good and sanctions bad advice. Outside of this relationship, however, the traditional protections of the First Amendment prohibit content- and viewpoint discrimination. Good and bad advice are treated as equal. A core assumption of First Amendment theory is the autonomy of speakers and listeners. Another assumption, as this Article demonstrates in the health context, is the availability of access to professional advice. This assumption, however, is erroneous because access to health advice in fact is unevenly distributed.

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Cross-Cultural Communication in a Crisis: The Universality of Visual Narrative in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Michael D. Murray (University of Kentucky), Cross-Cultural Communication in a Crisis: The Universality of Visual Narrative in the COVID-19 Pandemic, 32 Alb. L. J. Sci. & Tech. (forthcoming 2022):

When communication across language and cultural barriers is crucial, speakers across the globe get visual. In the 2020-21 COVID-19 crisis, government, inter-governmental, and private entities all looked to the universality of visual narrative to communicate urgent public health and safety messages. Speakers across the globe employed the symbolic modes of pictograms and ideograms and the longer form sequential narrative of cartoons and comics to warn and educate vast and diverse populations about the risks, dangers, and safety procedures concerning the novel coronavirus at the heart of the COVID-19 crisis.

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Setting the Health Justice Agenda: Addressing Health Inequity & Injustice in the Post-Pandemic Clinic

Emily A. Benfer (Wake Forest University), James Bhandary-Alexander (Yale Law School), Yael Cannon(Georgetown University), Medha D. Makhlouf (Pennsylvania State University), Tomar Pierson-Brown(University of Pittsburgh), Setting the Health Justice Agenda: Addressing Health Inequity & Injustice in the Post-Pandemic Clinic, Clinical L. Rev. (forthcoming Fall 2021):

Among the tenets of clinical legal pedagogy is the goal of teaching students about the lawyer’s role in both ensuring the quality of and access to justice for historically marginalized populations. The COVID-19 pandemic illustrated how, for far too many, justice is inaccessible, inequity is rapidly increasing, and health justice is out of reach. Historically marginalized groups experienced disproportionate infection and mortality rates from COVID-19, as well as the highest rates of unemployment, barriers to healthcare access, food insecurity, and extreme eviction risk during the pandemic. These disparities stem from the social determinants of health . Social determinants of health “encompass[] the full set of social conditions in which people live and work,” and drive health inequity for people living in poverty, people of color, and other historically marginalized groups. Structural determinants of health, including the political and legal systems in which discrimination can become embedded, influence poor health outcomes. No other profession bears more responsibility for the role of law in lifting or oppressing members of society. It is upon the legal profession to uncover how the law, laden with bias and discrimination, can operate as a vehicle of subordination, creating barriers to opportunity, long-term hardship, and poor health. The pandemic-related increase in the need for legal services highlighted the urgency of not only providing the next generation of lawyers with foundational lawyering skills, but also imbuing them with a sense of legal stewardship. In this way, the pandemic underscored the need for clinical legal education to adopt strategies that both increase lawyering skills and directly address the structural determinants at the root of the justice crisis.

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Ethical Challenges in the Middle Tier of COVID-19 Vaccine Allocation: Guidance for Organizational Decision-Making

Nancy Berlinger, Matthew Wynia (University of Colorado), Tia Powell (Albert Einstein College of Medicine), Aimee Milliken, Parinda Khatri, Fatma E. Marouf (Texas A&M University), Keisha Ray, Johanna Crane, Ethical Challenges in the Middle Tier of COVID-19 Vaccine Allocation: Guidance for Organizational Decision-Making, Tex. A&M U. Sch. L (Research Paper No. 12-23, 2021):

This supplement to The Hastings Center’s “Ethical Framework” aims to help structure time-sensitive discussion of significant, foreseeable ethical concerns in responding to COVID-19 and to support collaboration across institutions throughout pandemic response and recovery. It is designed for use by county health systems and by hospitals, community health centers, and other health care organizations responsible for patient care or preventive health, including vaccine education, vaccine distribution, and vaccination. This document aims to support formal and informal convening and policy work within the same geographic region, such as a municipality, county, metropolitan area, state, or multistate area, led by public health authorities, health care institutions, or other groups involved in vaccine allocation. The document’s scope is limited to the ethics of vaccine distribution within the United States; it does not address the ethics of international cooperation and sharing vaccines versus focusing solely on ensuring vaccine access in one’s own nation (“vaccine nationalism”).

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Guide on Incentives for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems

Anna Bulman (Columbia University), Kaitlin Y. Cordes (Columbia University), Ladan Mehranvar, Ella Merrill(Columbia University), Yannick Fiedler, Guide on Incentives for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems, SSRN (2021):

This guide aims to provide policymakers and government technical staff with guidance on how investment incentives can be used (and how they should not be used) to enhance responsible investment in agriculture and food systems.

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COVID-19 and Land-based Investment: Changing Landscapes

Clarisse Marsac (IIED), Nathaniah Jacobs (IIED), Tehtena Mebratu-Tsegaye (Columbia University), COVID-19 and Land-based Investment: Changing Landscapes, SSRN (2021):

Building on earlier work by IIED and CCSI, this report reflects on select COVID-related developments that may result in longer-term shifts relevant to land-based investments in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. Our objectives are two-fold. In the short term, monitoring developments can support more effective interventions that anticipate and respond to impacts on the governance of land-based investments. In the medium to longer term, analyzing developments can inform efforts to support inclusive post-COVID-19 economic recovery strategies in low- and middle-income countries.

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Breaking the Rules: The Case for Applying the Administrative Procedure Act to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans

Caroline Farrington, Breaking the Rules: The Case for Applying the Administrative Procedure Act to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, U. Mich. J. L. Reform (forthcoming 2021):

The U.S. Dietary Guidelines lack oversight and accountability, resulting in Guidelines that reflect food industry interests instead of modern science. The Guidelines Advisory Committee is notoriously rife with conflicts of interest, and thus most of the Guidelines scholarship has focused on reforming the Committee. The most recent 2015 and 2020 Guidelines, however, have shown that these reforms are insufficient, and agency-level change is necessary. In 2015, the Committee made several controversial recommendations related to red meat, ultraprocessed foods, sodium, and sustainability. Due to industry backlash, only the sodium recommendation survived in the final Guidelines published by the HHS and USDA Secretaries. In 2020, the Secretaries have, for the first time, predetermined a list of 80 topics that the Committee may consider. Absent from this list are the most contentious topics from previous years. There is little recourse because the Guidelines are not considered an agency action subject to the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), despite their vast impact on food assistance programs, healthcare practices, tort law, etc. This Note argues that these agency-level concerns are best addressed by the statute designed to govern agency activity: the APA. In this Note, I propose two ways to bring the Guidelines within the APA’s coverage. First, I propose a litigation pathway, arguing that the D.C. District Court relied on flawed reasoning when it held that the Guidelines are not an agency action subject to the APA. Second, I briefly describe some ways that Congress could amend the Nutrition Act (the statute governing the Guidelines). Applying the APA to the Guidelines would allow for public participation and public challenge, for greater transparency, and for greater efficiency and consistency across agencies. Evidence-based Guidelines may improve overall health outcomes and reduce healthcare costs, and would ensure that food assistance beneficiaries are not denied access to healthy foods by reason of relying on federal assistance. A robust set of Guidelines would improve public confidence in the recommendations, and would enable further food law reforms, such as amending the Farm Bill, that would make it easier for people to make healthy choices.