During the past few decades, there has been an almost universal trend toward banning so-called hate speech directed at individuals or groups on the basis of their race, ethnicity, nationality, or religion. The prohibited forms of expression vary from country to country, but the basic thrust is the same. Britain bans abusive, insulting, and threatening speech; Denmark and Canada prohibit speech that is insulting and degrading; and India and Israel ban speech that incites racial and religious hatred or is likely to stir up hostility between groups. In the Netherlands, it is a criminal offense to express publicly views insulting to groups of persons. Australia prohibits speech that offends, insults, humiliates, or intimidates individuals or groups, and some of its states have laws banning racial vilification. Germany goes further, banning speech that violates the dignity of an individual, implies that he or she is an inferior being, or maliciously degrades or defames a group.
The emergence of scientific evidence that emissions of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) were depleting the stratospheric ozone layer prompted an epistemic community of atmospheric scientists and concerned policymakers to push for regulations regarding CFC use. Members of the transnational epistemic community played a primary role in gathering information, disseminating it to governments and CFC manufacturers, and helping them formulate international, domestic, and industry policies regarding CFC consumption and production. Community members contributed to the timing and stringency of CFC regulations through a combination of strategies ranging from the persuasion of individuals to the capture of various decision-making channels. Most important, by influencing the actions of the United States and DuPont, the largest producer of CFCs, the epistemic community changed the external environment in which policy decisions were made by other governments and firms.
Abstract This article considers the recent literature concerned with establishing an international prohibition on autonomous weapon systems. It seeks to address concerns expressed by some scholars that such a ban might be problematic for various reasons. It argues in favour of a theoretical foundation for such a ban based on human rights and humanitarian principles that are not only moral, but also legal ones. In particular, an implicit requirement for human judgement can be found in international humanitarian law governing armed conflict. Indeed, this requirement is implicit in the principles of distinction, proportionality, and military necessity that are found in international treaties, such as the 1949 Geneva Conventions, and firmly established in international customary law. Similar principles are also implicit in international human rights law, which ensures certain human rights for all people, regardless of national origins or local laws, at all times. I argue that the human rights to life and due process, and the limited conditions under which they can be overridden, imply a specific duty with respect to a broad range of automated and autonomous technologies. In particular, there is a duty upon individuals and states in peacetime, as well as combatants, military organizations, and states in armed conflict situations, not to delegate to a machine or automated process the authority or capability to initiate the use of lethal force independently of human determinations of its moral and legal legitimacy in each and every case. I argue that it would be beneficial to establish this duty as an international norm, and express this with a treaty, before the emergence of a broad range of automated and autonomous weapons systems begin to appear that are likely to pose grave threats to the basic rights of individuals.
BACKGROUND: The United States of America (USA), European Union (EU), Brazil and China are four of the largest agricultural producers and users of agricultural pesticides in the world. Comparing the inclination and ability of different regulatory agencies to ban or eliminate pesticides that have the most potential for harm to humans and the environment can provide a glimpse into the effectiveness of each nation's pesticide regulatory laws and oversight. METHODS: The approval status of more than 500 agricultural pesticides was identified in the USA, EU, Brazil and China and compared between nations. The amount of pesticides that were used in the USA and banned in these other nations was compiled and linear regression was used to identify trends in use. RESULTS: There are 72, 17, and 11 pesticides approved for outdoor agricultural applications in the USA that are banned or in the process of complete phase out in the EU, Brazil, and China, respectively. Of the pesticides used in USA agriculture in 2016, 322 million pounds were of pesticides banned in the EU, 26 million pounds were of pesticides banned in Brazil and 40 million pounds were of pesticides banned in China. Pesticides banned in the EU account for more than a quarter of all agricultural pesticide use in the USA. The majority of pesticides banned in at least two of these three nations have not appreciably decreased in the USA over the last 25 years and almost all have stayed constant or increased over the last 10 years. CONCLUSIONS: Many pesticides still widely used in the USA, at the level of tens to hundreds of millions of pounds annually, have been banned or are being phased out in the EU, China and Brazil. Of the pesticides banned in at least two of these nations, many have been implicated in acute pesticide poisonings in the USA and some are further restricted by individual states. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) has all but abandoned its use of non-voluntary cancellations in recent years, making pesticide cancellation in the USA largely an exercise that requires consent by the regulated industry.
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OBJECTIVE: To determine whether state policies that regulate beverages in schools are associated with reduced in-school access and purchase of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) and reduced consumption of SSBs (in and out of school) among adolescents. DESIGN: Cross-sectional. SETTING: Public schools in 40 states. PARTICIPANTS: Students sampled in fifth and eighth grades (spring 2004 and 2007, respectively). MAIN EXPOSURES: State policies that ban all SSBs and state policies that ban only soda for 2006-2007. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: In-school SSB access, in-school SSB purchasing behavior, and overall SSB consumption (in and out of school) in eighth grade. RESULTS: The proportions of eighth-grade students who reported in-school SSB access and purchasing were similar in states that banned only soda (66.6% and 28.9%, respectively) compared with states with no beverage policy (66.6% and 26.0%, respectively). In states that banned all SSBs, fewer students reported in-school SSB access (prevalence difference, -14.9; 95% CI, -23.6 to -6.1) or purchasing (-7.3; -11.0 to -3.5), adjusted for race/ethnicity, poverty status, locale, state obesity prevalence, and state clustering. Results were similar among students who reported access or purchasing SSBs in fifth grade compared with those who did not. Overall SSB consumption was not associated with state policy; in each policy category, approximately 85% of students reported consuming SSBs at least once in the past 7 days. Supplementary analyses indicated that overall consumption had only a modest association with in-school SSB access. CONCLUSION: State policies that ban all SSBs in middle schools appear to reduce in-school access and purchasing of SSBs but do not reduce overall consumption.
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OPINION article Front. Psychol., 01 June 2023Sec. Educational Psychology Volume 14 - 2023 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1181712
The rapid growth of the use and disposal of plastic materials has proved to be a challenge for solid waste management systems with impacts on our environment and ocean. While recycling and the circular economy have been touted as potential solutions, upward of half of the plastic waste intended for recycling has been exported to hundreds of countries around the world. China, which has imported a cumulative 45% of plastic waste since 1992, recently implemented a new policy banning the importation of most plastic waste, begging the question of where the plastic waste will go now. We use commodity trade data for mass and value, region, and income level to illustrate that higher-income countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation have been exporting plastic waste (70% in 2016) to lower-income countries in the East Asia and Pacific for decades. An estimated 111 million metric tons of plastic waste will be displaced with the new Chinese policy by 2030. As 89% of historical exports consist of polymer groups often used in single-use plastic food packaging (polyethylene, polypropylene, and polyethylene terephthalate), bold global ideas and actions for reducing quantities of nonrecyclable materials, redesigning products, and funding domestic plastic waste management are needed.
BACKGROUND: Smoking bans have been implemented in a variety of settings, as well as being part of policy in many jurisdictions to protect the public and employees from the harmful effects of secondhand smoke (SHS). They also offer the potential to influence social norms and the smoking behaviour of those populations they affect. Since the first version of this review in 2010, more countries have introduced national smoking legislation banning indoor smoking. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effects of legislative smoking bans on (1) morbidity and mortality from exposure to secondhand smoke, and (2) smoking prevalence and tobacco consumption. SEARCH METHODS: We searched the Cochrane Tobacco Addiction Group Specialised Register, MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL and reference lists of included studies. We also checked websites of various organisations. Date of most recent search; February 2015. SELECTION CRITERIA: We considered studies that reported legislative smoking bans affecting populations. The minimum standard was having an indoor smoking ban explicitly in the study and a minimum of six months follow-up for measures of smoking behaviour. Our search included a broad range of research designs including: randomized controlled trials, quasi-experimental studies (i.e. non-randomized controlled studies), controlled before-and-after studies, interrupted time series as defined by the Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care Group, and uncontrolled pre- and post-ban data. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: One author extracted characteristics and content of the interventions, participants, outcomes and methods of the included studies and a second author checked the details. We extracted health and smoking behaviour outcomes. We did not attempt a meta-analysis due to the heterogeneity in design and content of the studies included. We evaluated the studies using qualitative narrative synthesis. MAIN RESULTS: There are 77 studies included in this updated review. We retained 12 studies from the original review and identified 65 new studies. Evidence from 21 countries is provided in this update, an increase of eight countries from the original review. The nature of the intervention precludes randomized controlled trials. Thirty-six studies used an interrupted time series study design, 23 studies use a controlled before-and-after design and 18 studies are before-and-after studies with no control group; six of these studies use a cohort design. Seventy-two studies reported health outcomes, including cardiovascular (44), respiratory (21), and perinatal outcomes (7). Eleven studies reported national mortality rates for smoking-related diseases. A number of the studies report multiple health outcomes. There is consistent evidence of a positive impact of national smoking bans on improving cardiovascular health outcomes, and reducing mortality for associated smoking-related illnesses. Effects on respiratory and perinatal health were less consistent. We found 24 studies evaluating the impact of national smoke-free legislation on smoking behaviour. Evidence of an impact of legislative bans on smoking prevalence and tobacco consumption is inconsistent, with some studies not detecting additional long-term change in existing trends in prevalence. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: Since the first version of this review was published, the current evidence provides more robust support for the previous conclusions that the introduction of a legislative smoking ban does lead to improved health outcomes through reduction in SHS for countries and their populations. The clearest evidence is observed in reduced admissions for acute coronary syndrome. There is evidence of reduced mortality from smoking-related illnesses at a national level. There is inconsistent evidence of an impact on respiratory and perinatal health outcomes, and on smoking prevalence and tobacco consumption.
Governments around the world are introducing single-use plastics bans to alleviate plastic marine pollution. This paper investigates whether banning single-use plastic items is an appropriate strategy to protect the environment. Product life cycle assessment was conducted for single-use plastic and single-use non-plastic alternatives. The life cycle impacts of the two product categories were compared and scaled according to EU consumption of 2016. The results show that a single-use plastics ban would decrease plastic marine pollution in the EU by 5.5% which equates to a 0.06% decrease globally. However, such a ban would increase emissions contributing to marine aquatic toxicity in the EU by 1.4%. This paper concludes that single-use items are harmful to the environment regardless of their material. Therefore, banning or imposing a premium price on single-use items in general and not only single-use plastic items is a more effective method of reducing consumption and thereby pollution. The plastics ban only leads to a small reduction of global plastic marine pollution and thus provides only a partial solution to the problem it intends to solve.
OBJECTIVE: To determine whether there was a change in hospital admissions for acute myocardial infarction while a local law banning smoking in public and in workplaces was in effect. DESIGN: Analysis of admissions from December 1997 through November 2003 using Poisson analysis. SETTING: Helena, Montana, a geographically isolated community with one hospital serving a population of 68 140. PARTICIPANTS: All patients admitted for acute myocardial infarction. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Number of monthly admissions for acute myocardial infarction for people living in and outside Helena. RESULTS: During the six months the law was enforced the number of admissions fell significantly (- 16 admissions, 95% confidence interval - 31.7 to - 0.3), from an average of 40 admissions during the same months in the years before and after the law to a total of 24 admissions during the six months the law was effect. There was a non-significant increase of 5.6 (- 5.2 to 16.4) in the number of admissions from outside Helena during the same period, from 12.4 in the years before and after the law to 18 while the law was in effect. CONCLUSIONS: Laws to enforce smoke-free workplaces and public places may be associated with an effect on morbidity from heart disease.
Amid growing concerns about childhood obesity and the associated health risks, several countries are considering banning fast-food advertising targeting children. In this article, the authors study the effect of such a ban in the Canadian province of Quebec. Using household expenditure survey data from 1984 to 1992, authors examine whether expenditure on fast food is lower in those groups affected by the ban than in those that are not. The authors use a triple difference-indifference methodology by appropriately defining treatment and control groups and find that the ban's effectiveness is not a result of the decrease in fast food expenditures per week but rather of the decrease in purchase propensity by 13% per week. Overall, the authors estimate that the ban reduced fast-food consumption by Us$88 million per year. The study suggests that advertising bans can be effective provided media markets do not overlap.
BACKGROUND: Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) causes disease in nonsmokers. Workplace bans on smoking are interventions to reduce exposure to ETS to try to prevent harmful health effects. On March 29, 2004, the Irish government introduced the first national comprehensive legislation banning smoking in all workplaces, including bars and restaurants. This study examines the impact of this legislation on air quality in pubs and on respiratory health effects in bar workers in Dublin. METHODS: Exposure study. Concentrations of particulate matter 2.5 microm or smaller (PM(2.5)) and particulate matter 10 microm or smaller (PM(10)) in 42 pubs were measured and compared before and after the ban. Benzene concentrations were also measured in 26 of the pubs. Health effects study. Eighty-one barmen volunteered to have full pulmonary function studies, exhaled breath carbon monoxide, and salivary cotinine levels performed before the ban and repeated 1 year after the ban. They also completed questionnaires on exposure to ETS and respiratory symptoms on both occasions. FINDINGS: Exposure study. There was an 83% reduction in PM(2.5) and an 80.2% reduction in benzene concentration in the bars. Health effects study. There was a 79% reduction in exhaled breath carbon monoxide and an 81% reduction in salivary cotinine. There were statistically significant improvements in measured pulmonary function tests and significant reductions in self-reported symptoms and exposure levels in nonsmoking barmen volunteers after the ban. CONCLUSIONS: A total workplace smoking ban results in a significant reduction in air pollution in pubs and an improvement in respiratory health in barmen.
Following the ban of all food animal growth-promoting antibiotics by Sweden in 1986, the European Union banned avoparcin in 1997 and bacitracin, spiramycin, tylosin and virginiamycin in 1999. Three years later, the only attributable effect in humans has been a diminution in acquired resistance in enterococci isolated from human faecal carriers. There has been an increase in human infection from vancomycin-resistant enterococci in Europe, probably related to the increased in usage of vancomycin for the treatment of methicillin-resistant staphylococci. The ban of growth promoters has, however, revealed that these agents had important prophylactic activity and their withdrawal is now associated with a deterioration in animal health, including increased diarrhoea, weight loss and mortality due to Escherichia coli and Lawsonia intracellularis in early post-weaning pigs, and clostridial necrotic enteritis in broilers. A directly attributable effect of these infections is the increase in usage of therapeutic antibiotics in food animals, including that of tetracycline, aminoglycosides, trimethoprim/sulphonamide, macrolides and lincosamides, all of which are of direct importance in human medicine. The theoretical and political benefit of the widespread ban of growth promoters needs to be more carefully weighed against the increasingly apparent adverse consequences.
The TRANSPARENT TESTA8 (TT8) locus is involved in the regulation of flavonoid biosynthesis in Arabidopsis. The tt8-3 allele was isolated from a T-DNA-mutagenized Arabidopsis collection and found to be tagged by an integrative molecule, thus permitting the cloning and sequencing of the TT8 gene. TT8 identity was confirmed by complementation of tt8-3 and sequence analysis of an additional allele. The TT8 gene encodes a protein that displays a basic helix-loop-helix at its C terminus and represents an Arabidopsis ortholog of the maize R transcription factors. The TT8 transcript is present in developing siliques and in young seedlings. The TT8 protein is required for normal expression of two flavonoid late biosynthetic genes, namely, DIHYDROFLAVONOL 4-REDUCTASE (DFR) and BANYULS (BAN), in Arabidopsis siliques. Interestingly, TRANSPARENT TESTA GLABRA1 (TTG1) and TT2 genes also control the expression of DFR and BAN genes. Our results suggest that the TT8, TTG1, and TT2 proteins may interact to control flavonoid metabolism in the Arabidopsis seed coat.
This article reports 3 studies in which the authors examined (a) the distinctive characteristics of anger and contempt responses and (b) the interpersonal causes and effects of both emotions. In the 1st study, the authors examined the distinction between the 2 emotions; in the 2nd study, the authors tested whether contempt could be predicted from previous anger incidents with the same person; and in the 3rd study, the authors examined the effects of type of relationship on anger and contempt reactions. The results of the 3 studies show that anger and contempt often occur together but that there are clear distinctions between the 2 emotions: Anger is characterized more by short-term attack responses but long-term reconciliation, whereas contempt is characterized by rejection and social exclusion of the other person, both in the short-term and in the long-term. The authors also found that contempt may develop out of previously experienced anger and that a lack of intimacy with and perceived control over the behavior of the other person, as well as negative dispositional attributions about the other person, predicted the emergence of contempt.
Abstract “Ban the Box” (BTB) policies restrict employers from asking about applicants’ criminal histories on job applications and are often presented as a means of reducing unemployment among black men, who disproportionately have criminal records. However, withholding information about criminal records could risk encouraging racial discrimination: employers may make assumptions about criminality based on the applicant's race. To investigate BTB’s effects, we sent approximately 15,000 online job applications on behalf of fictitious young, male applicants to employers in New Jersey and New York City before and after the adoption of BTB policies. These applications varied whether the applicant had a distinctly black or distinctly white name and the felony conviction status of the applicant. We confirm that criminal records are a major barrier to employment: employers that asked about criminal records were 63% more likely to call applicants with no record. However, our results support the concern that BTB policies encourage racial discrimination: the black-white gap in callbacks grew dramatically at companies that removed the box after the policy went into effect. Before BTB, white applicants to employers with the box received 7% more callbacks than similar black applicants, but BTB increased this gap to 43%. We believe that the best interpretation of these results is that employers are relying on exaggerated impressions of real-world racial differences in felony conviction rates.
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