Reconciling public opinion and WTO rules under the SPS Agreement

2008 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 359-392 ◽  
Author(s):  
TRACEY EPPS
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Scientific Uncertainty ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Public ◽  
Regulatory Decision ◽  
Appellate Body ◽  
Public Sentiment ◽  
Phytosanitary Measures ◽  
Evidence Requirement

AbstractThe WTO Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (the SPS Agreement) allows Members to enact SPS measures necessary to protect health so long as they are based on scientific evidence. This scientific evidence requirement has attracted controversy among academics, policy-makers, and civil society. The argument has been advanced that the requirement inappropriately excludes the consideration of public opinion in the domestic risk regulatory decision-making process. The article addresses the question of whether it is possible to reconcile the SPS Agreement's requirement for scientific evidence with concerns regarding exclusion of the public voice in the domestic regulatory process. It responds positively to this query, subject to certain caveats to ensure that trade liberalization goals are not undermined. It argues that the scientific evidence requirement is not only the most appropriate means available for advancing the SPS Agreement's objectives, but that it provides countries with more flexibility than critics contend, including to respond to public sentiment in cases of scientific uncertainty. Recommendations are made as to how panels and the Appellate Body should proceed in disputes under the SPS Agreement, and how governments can comply with their trade obligations while remaining responsive to public concerns.

Science in the Process of Risk Regulation under the WTO Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures

2006 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 371-398 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lukasz Gruszczynski
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Scientific Uncertainty ◽  
Risk Regulation ◽  
Member States ◽  
Appellate Body ◽  
Phytosanitary Measures ◽  
The Right

This article attempts to present a comprehensive and coherent picture of the position occupied by science under the SPS Agreement and in the SPS case law. It claims that the approach adopted by the Appellate Body reflects the explicit language of the SPS Agreement and is predominantly based on a technical paradigm. In consequence, science plays a critical role in distinguishing between legal and illegal SPS measures.The article argues that such an approach is generally compatible with the text of the SPS Agreement and provides a coherent SPS system. However, it also identifies certain areas, which lack coherence, as certain standards seem to violate the right of the Member States to establish an appropriate level of protection. These are: ascertainability of the risk as a precondition for valid risk assessment; strict specifity of the risk assessment in low-risk situations; the proportionality between the risk identified and the SPS measure; the notion of negligible risks; and the concept of likelihood in the quarantine risk assessments. The article claims that these standards cannot be generally applied in SPS disputes as, in certain situations, they will result in the violation of the right of the Member States to establish an appropriate level of SPS protection. Finally, a number of specific issues, which require resolution, are highlighted, namely the quality of minority scientific opinions, the relationship between the insufficiency of scientific evidence and scientific uncertainty. The article suggests that the ultimate role ascribed to science under the SPS Agreement can be assessed only after an interpretation of those issues is provided by future case law.

The Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement of the World Trade Organization: Debunking Its Reliance on Scientific Evidence and Reluctance to Endorse Potential Biotechnology Risks

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Muhammad ISLAM
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
World Trade Organization ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Dispute Settlement ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Scientific Uncertainty ◽  
The World ◽  
Precautionary Measures ◽  
Phytosanitary Measures ◽  
Biotech Products

The World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement) relies on scientific evidence as a conclusive risk assessment criterion, which ignores the inherent limitations of science. This article highlights certain trade-restrictive effects of scientific evidence and comments on the Agreement’s aversions to precautionary measures and the consumer concern of the harmful effects of biotech products that may be necessary to protect public health and biosecurity in many WTO Member States. These measures and concerns have become pressing issues due to surging consumer awareness and vigilance concerning environmental protection and food safety. The Agreement is yet to overcome the weaknesses of its endorsed international standardising bodies, the problematic definition of scientific evidence and treatment of justification for scientific risk assessment methods and the implementation difficulties faced by most developing states. This article analyses these issues under the provisions of the Agreement and the interpretations of the WTO Dispute Settlement Body in disputes involving SPS matters, which fall short of addressing scientific uncertainty surrounding biotech products and their associated risks.

Has Anyone Seen It?

2012 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 189-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dagmar Radin ◽  
Aleksandar Džakula
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Sentiment ◽  
Public Opinion Surveys ◽  
Health Care Performance ◽  
Policy Arena ◽  
Care Performance

Over the past decade, public opinion surveys have shown that Croats are deeply dissatisfied with their health care system and asses it to be one of the most important issues. However, health care hardly makes it into any political discourse in Croatia. This study analyzes the results of a public opinion survey conducted before the 2007 parliamentary elections to find out what the public sentiment on health care performance in Croatia is and to analyze the reasons why health care is not addressed by political actors. Evidence suggests that while health care is the most salient issue today, the public often understands it poorly. Thus, in a political environment of competing issues, and given the complexity of tacking health care in the policy arena, politicians strategically avoid discussing the issue.

Revealing public opinion towards COVID-19 vaccines with Twitter data in the United States: a spatiotemporal perspective (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tao Hu ◽  
Siqin Wang ◽  
Wei Luo ◽  
Mengxi Zhang ◽  
Xiao Huang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
The United States ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Sentiment ◽  
Spatiotemporal Trends ◽  
The Us ◽  
Key Events

BACKGROUND The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed a large, initially uncontrollable, public health crisis both in the US and across the world, with experts looking to vaccines as the ultimate mechanism of defense. The development and deployment of COVID-19 vaccines have been rapidly advancing via global efforts. Hence, it is crucial for governments, public health officials, and policy makers to understand public attitudes and opinions towards vaccines, such that effective interventions and educational campaigns can be designed to promote vaccine acceptance OBJECTIVE The aim of this study is to investigate public opinion and perception on COVID-19 vaccines by investigating the spatiotemporal trends of their sentiment and emotion towards vaccines, as well as how such trends relate to popular topics on Twitter in the US METHODS We collected over 300,000 geotagged tweets in the US from March 1, 2020 to February 28, 2021. We examined the spatiotemporal patterns of public sentiment and emotion over time at both national and state scales and identified three phases along the pandemic timeline with the significant changes of public sentiment and emotion, further linking to eleven key events and major topics as the potential drivers to induce such changes via cloud mapping of keywords and topic modelling RESULTS An increasing trend of positive sentiment in parallel with the decrease of negative sentiment are generally observed in most states, reflecting the rising confidence and anticipation of the public towards vaccines. The overall tendency of the eight types of emotion implies the trustiness and anticipation of the public to vaccination, accompanied by the mixture of fear, sadness and anger. Critical social/international events and/or the announcements of political leaders and authorities may have potential impacts on the public opinion on vaccines. These factors, along with important topics and manual reading of popular posts on eleven key events, help identify underlying themes and validate insights from the analysis CONCLUSIONS The analyses of near real-time social media big data benefit public health authorities by enabling them to monitor public attitudes and opinions towards vaccine-related information in a geo-aware manner, address the concerns of vaccine skeptics and promote the confidence of individuals within a certain region or community, towards vaccines

scholarly journals Public health benefits and risks of fish consumption: current scientific evidence v. media coverage

2012 ◽  
Vol 16 (10) ◽  
pp. 1885-1892 ◽  
Author(s):  
Federico A Pasquaré ◽  
Roberta Bettinetti ◽  
Sonia Fumagalli ◽  
Davide A Vignati
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Fish Consumption ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Information Source ◽  
Health Benefits ◽  
Fish Intake ◽  
Scientific Uncertainty ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Media

AbstractObjectiveTo evaluate if and how the current degree of scientific uncertainty about the safety of fish consumption is incorporated at the media level.DesignWe used a dedicated software (TalTac®) to investigate the content of 169 news articles related to ‘mercury and fish consumption’ that appeared from 1990 to 2010 in the two Italian broadsheets with the highest circulation figures, in order to identify journalistic frames used in the coverage of benefits v. risks associated with fish consumption. Hypotheses were made on how the public might change fish consumption patterns as a result of media coverage.SettingItaly.ResultsThe two newspapers have different agendas in covering the issue. La Repubblica appears to support the view that, besides health benefits, there may be risks associated with fish consumption, while Corriere della Sera emphasizes health benefits more than possible risks. Depending on the preferred information source, the public could: (i) reduce its fish intake; (ii) increase its fish intake; or (iii) become confused about the problem and sceptical towards the media, as a result of conflicting journalistic frames.ConclusionsThe Italian media, in cooperation with scientists, public health nutritionists and dietitians, should place more emphasis on the existence of a few fish species with high to very high Hg levels and relatively low contents of beneficial n-3 fatty acids (e.g. swordfish and shark). This would enable consumers to make more educated purchasing decisions to maximize the benefits of n-3 intake while reducing possible risks from consuming Hg-contaminated fish.

Environment and Energy: A Public Opinion Survey in Davao City

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
MAIAN J. COZO
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Systematic Sampling ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Government ◽  
The City

For the past decades, environment and its relevant issues are becoming the greatest concern of most countries. Public opinion becomes the interest of most policy makers and sociologist reformist. Improved understanding of public perceptions about global warming and other environmental issues can contribute to informing scientific and policy discussions. The aim of this study is to assess the (1) the extent of concern on the major environmental issues of the city (2) the preference between environmental protection and energy production, and (3) to compare the extent of concern of the public according to their respective district.  A total of 1151 respondents, ages 18 and above was derived using the systematic sampling at 95% confidence interval, and proportionate sampling distribution to ensure representativeness with the population of the city. The results suggest that Dabawenyos are greatly worried about global warming (92%), deforestation and urban flooding (88%), and energy crisis are considered as the most alarming environmental problem in the city. Moreover, they are more favorable to environmentally-friendly solutions in addressing the city’s energy problem, and the government should put greater emphasis on the development of renewable energy (96%). The degree of concerns and emphasis on environmental protection of the community can be directly equated to the traumatic environmental phenomena that had happened in the city.   Keywords: Ecology and Conservation, environmental issues, renewable energy, poll survey, Philippines

scholarly journals Perceptions About Sexual Offenses: Misconceptions, Punitiveness, and Public Sentiment

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 254-273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura L. King
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Sex Offenders ◽  
Sexual Offending ◽  
Punitive Attitudes ◽  
The Public ◽  
Sexual Offenses ◽  
Public Sentiment ◽  
High Level

Decades of research on public opinion about crime reveal varying, yet relatively punitive attitudes that are often riddled with misconceptions. Sparked by the increased media and legislative attention devoted to sex offenders beginning in the 1990s, researchers began to more closely examine public opinion about sexual offenses. Findings suggest the public adheres to several misconceptions about sexual offenses and supports harsh sanctions for offenders. However, further research is warranted to more closely examine the relationships among these variables. Thus, the goal of the present study was to survey Pennsylvania residents to examine the degree to which misconceptions about sexual offenses inform punitiveness. The results supported the hypotheses in that a high level of support for misconceptions and punitiveness was identified, and adherence to misconceptions was the strongest predictor of punitiveness. These findings demonstrate a clear need for educational and awareness efforts to dispel public misconceptions about sexual offending and victimization.

Research on Key Technology of Internet Public Sentiment

2014 ◽  
Vol 926-930 ◽  
pp. 2030-2033
Author(s):  
De Zhi An ◽  
Yun Ke
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Natural Science ◽  
Hot Spot ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Public Opinion Research ◽  
Key Technology ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Sentiment ◽  
The Status

Public opinion research is a new internet discipline of social science and natural science. As a hot spot of public opinion research, the research on the public opinion on the Internet has attracted much attention. By analyzing the status of the research on the public opinion on the Internet in China, this paper establishes the basic framework of the research on the public opinion on the Internet. Then some key technology issues are researched in detail. Based on the method and key technology, the paper introduces the design and implement about the platform of Internet Public Sentiment. This paper is expected to have the value to apply the Internet public sentiment analysis.

scholarly journals Policy failure and conservation paralysis for the critically endangered swift parrot

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew H. Webb ◽  
Dejan Stojanovic ◽  
Robert Heinsohn
Keyword(s):  
Threatened Species ◽  
Conservation Management ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Breeding Habitat ◽  
Critically Endangered ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Public ◽  
Policy Failure

The critically endangered swift parrot (Lathamus discolor) is among the best studied Australian threatened species. Despite extensive outreach to the public and policy makers, conservation management has not kept pace with advances in knowledge and scientific evidence. Here we summarise policy and management failings that allow swift parrot breeding habitat in Tasmanian forests to continue to be logged. This practice continues in spite of extensive evidence demonstrating that the cessation of logging of swift parrot breeding habitat in Tasmania is urgently required to secure the species.

Public opinion about issues characterized by technological complexity and scientific uncertainty

1995 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Doble
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Scientific Literacy ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Scientific Uncertainty ◽  
Value Differences ◽  
The Public ◽  
Technological Complexity ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Before And After

The ability of Americans to make reasonable, logically consistent assessments about complex policy issues is a longstanding concern among elites and scholars, especially in view of the two most recent elections. Of particular concern, in view of American's low level of scientific literacy, is the public's ability to make such assessments about issues characterized by technological complexity and areas where experts cannot, with confidence, assess the degree of risk of certain phenomena or policy options. Public opinion about genetics research, the use of alar, and the safety of nuclear power plants are three recent examples. The article reports on an experimental study designed to explore whether the public can make such assessments and to identify the factors that enhance the process. The threat of global warming and the safe disposal of solid waste were used as proxies for an array of issues that are technologically complex and characterized by expert uncertainty. I argue that the study—in which over 400 people chosen to reflect a cross-section of the population filled out questionnaires before and after learning more about both issues, and which compares those responses to the views of 400 scientists—shows that the public can make a logically consistent assessment about such issues after a minimal educational intervention and a short period of time. The public's judgment about both issues, as measured by the questionnaire used after the intervention, is strikingly similar to the scientists' views. Further, the few areas of divergence seem rooted more in value differences than in expertise. The article discusses some conditions that enhance or inhibit the public's ability to make such assessments, and comments on the experiment's relevance to practical political decision-making.

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