BIO-LAW AS A NEW GENERATION OF LAW

Author(s):  
Irina A. Umnova-Koniukhova ◽  
◽  
Irina A. Aleshkova ◽  

The development of national and international biotechnology law in the context of new constitutional priorities, threats and challenges to life, public health and safety, is one of the current and yet under-researched topics in the scientific legal literature. Unfortunately, pro-gress in the life sciences is proceeding faster than the legal thinking that should accompany them. Breakthroughs in biology and medicine dictate the corresponding development of law, which today unfortunately lags chronically behind, resulting in gaps and contradictions between existing legal norms. As contemporary researchers have noted, and as is also evident in judicial practice, the issues of regulating the objects of bio-law - the body, life, procreation, self-identification, and ecology - mirror the contradictions of our society. The need to legally regulate the application of biotechnology has led to the formation of bioclaw as a new, integrated set of laws and, in the long term, as a branch of law of a new generation. As a response to the rapid introduction of advances in biotechnology into human life, we believe that bio-law must take into account the benefits and challenges associated with the impact of new technologies on the human body that may fundamentally alter the human condition as a physical individual. In this case, ethical issues, i. e. the requirements of bioethics, lead to a reflection on the content of bioethics in contemporary democracies and legal states. In particular, the introduction of technologies associated with gene editing, cloning, surrogacy, transplantation medicine, sex reassignment surgeries and other interventions into human nature, the consequences of which are not fully understood and threaten the physical and mental health of individuals, can cause irreparable harm to the spiritual, social, moral and ethical foundations of individuals, families, society, states and humanity as a whole. In our opinion, in the next few decades, bio-law will emerge as a global, integrated branch of law that simultaneously incorporates the norms of international law and national law. The main purpose of bio-law as a new branch of law is to counteract the global threat to humanity which consists in the emergence of a trend toward mass, large-scale changes to human nature and its unique natural qualities through the use of biotechnological advances. Therefore, the object of regulation and, accordingly, protection by this branch of law is not only the individual, his or her physical and spiritual health, but humanity as a whole, current and future generations. The uniqueness of bio-law as a new branch of law also lies in the fact that the individual, humanity, present and future generations are both the objects and subjects of law. The integrated nature of bioprinciples is manifested in the close connection of public and private interests with the obvious predominance of the public significance of their legal norms.

2017 ◽  
pp. 1-3
Author(s):  
J.-P. Michel

The overlap between one innovative paradigm (P4 medicine: predictive, personalized, participatory and preventive) and another (a new definition of “Healthy ageing”) is fertile ground for new technologies; a new mobile application (app) that could broaden our scientific knowledge of the ageing process and help us to better analyse the impact of possible interventions in slowing the ageing decline. A novel mobile application is here presented as a game including questions and tests will allow in 10 minutes the assessment of the following domains: robustness, flexibility (lower muscle strength), balance, mental and memory complaints, semantic memory and visual retention. This game is completed by specific measurements, which could allow establishing precise information on functional and cognitive abilities. A global evaluation precedes advice and different types of exercises. The repetition of the tests and measures will allow a long follow up of the individual performances which could be shared (on specific request) with family members and general practitioners.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Chan ◽  
Mark Selden

The proletarianization of rural migrants is distinctive to contemporary China's development model, in which the state has fostered the growth of a “semi-proletariat” numbering more than 200 million to fuel labor-intensive industries and urbanization. Drawing on fieldwork in Guangdong and Sichuan provinces between 2010 and 2014, supplemented with scholarly studies and government surveys, the authors analyze the precarity and the individual and collective struggles of a new generation of rural migrant workers. They present an analysis of high and growing levels of labor conflict at a time when the previous domination of state enterprises has given way to the predominance of migrant workers as the core of an expanding industrial labor force. In particular, the authors assess the significance of the growing number of legal and extra-legal actions taken by workers within a framework that highlights the deep contradictions among labor, capital, and the Chinese state. They also discuss the impact of demographic changes and geographic shifts of population and production on the growth of working-class power in the workplace and the marketplace.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Sumit Kumar Gupta ◽  

Nanotechnology is new frontiers of this century. The world is facing great challenges in meeting rising demands for basic commodities(e.g., food, water and energy), finished goods (e.g., cellphones, cars and airplanes) and services (e.g., shelter, healthcare and employment) while reducing and minimizing the impact of human activities on Earth’s global environment and climate. Nanotechnology has emerged as a versatile platform that could provide efficient, cost-effective and environmentally acceptable solutions to the global sustainability challenges facing society. In recent years there has been a rapid increase in nanotechnology in the fields of medicine and more specifically in targeted drug delivery. Opportunities of utilizing nanotechnology to address global challenges in (1) water purification, (2) clean energy technologies, (3) greenhouse gases management, (4) materials supply and utilization, and (5) green manufacturing and hemistry. Smart delivery of nutrients, bio-separation of proteins, rapid sampling of biological and chemical contaminants, and nano encapsulation of nutraceuticals are some of the emerging topics of nanotechnology for food and agriculture. Nanotechnology is helping to considerably improve, even revolutionize, many technology and Industry sectors: information technology, energy, environmental science, medicine, homeland security, food safety, and transportation, among many others. Today’s nanotechnology harnesses current progress in chemistry, physics, materials science, and biotechnology to create novel materials that have unique properties because their structures are determined on the nanometer scale. This paper summarizes the various applications of nanotechnology in recent decades Nanotechnology is one of the leading scientific fields today since it combines knowledge from the fields of Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Medicine, Informatics, and Engineering. It is an emerging technological field with great potential to lead in great breakthroughs that can be applied in real life. Novel Nano and biomaterials, and Nano devices are fabricated and controlled by nanotechnology tools and techniques, which investigate and tune the properties, responses, and functions of living and non-living matter, at sizes below100 nm. The application and use of Nano materials in electronic and mechanical devices, in optical and magnetic components, quantum computing, tissue engineering, and other biotechnologies, with smallest features, widths well below 100 nm, are the economically most important parts of the nanotechnology nowadays and presumably in the near future. The number of Nano products is rapidly growing since more and more Nano engineered materials are reaching the global market the continuous revolution in nanotechnology will result in the fabrication of nanomaterial with properties and functionalities which are going to have positive changes in the lives of our citizens, be it in health, environment, electronics or any other field. In the energy generation challenge where the conventional fuel resources cannot remain the dominant energy source, taking into account the increasing consumption demand and the CO2 .Emissions alternative renewable energy sources based on new technologies have to be promoted. Innovative solar cell technologies that utilize nanostructured materials and composite systems such as organic photovoltaic offer great technological potential due to their attractive properties such as the potential of large-scale and low-cost roll-to-roll manufacturing processes


2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 59-75
Author(s):  
M. A. Golovchin

In 2016-2018 the state in Russia adopted a package of program documents, which implies the transfer of education to the large-scale introduction of digital technologies. This phenomenon has been called “digitalization of education”. In scientific literature, electronization and digitalization are increasingly called one of the institutional traps for the development of Russian universities, since the corresponding institutional environment has not yet been formed due to the forced nature of innovations. As a result, the processes of introducing new technologies into education are still not regulated. Within the framework of the purpose of the study, the manifestations of the trap of electronization and digitalization of Russian higher education were analyzed on the basis of sociological data, and the theoretical modeling of the process of adaptation of educational agents to the institution of digitalization was carried out.In the course of the study, the approaches were summarized that have been developed in discussions on educational digitalization. The article presents the author’s vision of the studied phenomenon as an institutional trap; as well as understanding of the institutional features and characteristics of electronization and digitalization in education.The research method is the analysis of estimates obtained in the course of an expert survey which was conducted by the Vologda Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences among the representatives of the teaching staff of state universities in the Vologda region. In the course of this analysis, the indicators of educational digitalization as an effective innovation were clarified such as an increased accessibility of educational resources; simplification of communication and the process of transferring knowledge from teacher to student; increased opportunities for training specialists for the new (digital) economy; improving the quality of education in universities, etc. Based on the results of the empirical study, it has been determined that the conditions for the development of digitalization in Russian universities are currently ambiguous, which is closely related to the level of competitiveness of the educational organization.The scientific novelty of the research consists in the presentation of an original matrix describing the process of university employees adaptation to the conditions of digital transformation of education. The matrix is proposed on the basis of a sociological analysis of the impact of the trap of electronization and digitalization on the activities of educational agents. The matrix can be taken into account in the practice of higher education management.


Author(s):  
Zlatko J. Kovacic

Diffusion of information and communication technologies is a global phenomenon. In spite of rapid globalization there are considerable differences between nations in terms of the adoption and usage of new technologies. Several studies exploring causal factors including national cultures of information and communication technology adoption have been carried out. The focus of this chapter is slightly different from other studies in this area. Rather than concentrating on the individual information technology an overall e-Government readiness is the focus. This research conducted an analysis of the impact national culture has on e-Government readiness and its components for 62 countries. E-Government readiness assessment used in this study is based on the UN E-Government Survey 2008, while the national cultural dimensions were identified using Hofstede’s model of cultural differences. The research model and hypotheses were formed and tested using correlation and regression analysis. The findings indicate that worldwide e-Government readiness and its components are related to culture. The result has theoretical and practical implications.


Author(s):  
Linda Little ◽  
Pam Briggs

Certain privacy principles have been established by industry, (e.g. USCAM, 2006). Over the past two years, we have been trying to understand whether such principles reflect the concerns of the ordinary citizen. We have developed a method of enquiry which displays a rich context to the user in order to elicit more detailed information about those privacy factors that underpin our acceptance of ubiquitous computing. To investigate use and acceptance Videotaped Activity Scenarios specifically related to the exchange of health, financial, shopping and e-voting information and a large scale survey were used. We present a detailed analysis of user concerns firstly in terms of a set of constructs that might reflect user-generated privacy principles; secondly those factors likely to play a key role in an individual’s cost-benefit analysis and thirdly, longer-term concerns of the citizen in terms of the impact of new technologies on social engagement and human values.


Author(s):  
Jayati Das-Munshi ◽  
Tamsin Ford ◽  
Matthew Hotopf ◽  
Martin Prince ◽  
Robert Stewart

In this final chapter to the second edition of Practical Psychiatric Epidemiology, developments in psychiatric epidemiology since the first edition are summarized and the editors offer a view on where the future may lie. The themes summarized in this chapter include those related to large-scale datasets or ‘big data’, new technologies and science communication (including data generated through GPS tracking systems and the impact of social media), expanding biological data and biobanks, as well as the impact of globalization, migration, and culture on understanding psychiatric epidemiological principles. The last part of this chapter raises the important issue of open science initiatives. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion on the constancy and ongoing evolution of psychiatric epidemiology.


Author(s):  
Cécile Fabre

This article examines the impact of medical technologies on the concept of justice and the human body. Traditionally, theories of justice require individuals to transfer material resources to other individuals who are needier or worse off. But three technologies, organ transplantation, genetic engineering, and artificial wombs, have changed our obligations to one another. It appears that justice now requires us to subject our body to sometimes invasive procedures should others need our bodily resources, particular genes, or nutrients which we no longer want to provide through our body itself.


2005 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 205-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Michael ◽  
M.M. Doherty

Drug-metabolizing enzymes (DME) in tumors are capable of biotransforming a variety of xenobiotics, including antineoplastics, resulting in either their activation or detoxification. Many studies have reported the presence of DME in tumors; however, heterogenous detection methodology and patient cohorts have not generated consistent, firm data. Nevertheless, various gene therapy approaches and oral prodrugs have been devised, taking advantage of tumoral DME. With the need to target and individualize anticancer therapies, tumoral processes such as drug metabolism must be considered as both a potential mechanism of resistance to therapy and a potential means of achieving optimal therapy. This review discusses cytotoxic drug metabolism by tumors, through addressing the classes of the individual DME, their relevant substrates, and their distribution in specific malignancies. The limitations of preclinical models relative to the clinical setting and lack of data on the changes of DME with disease progression and host response will be discussed. The therapeutic implications of tumoral drug metabolism will be addressed—in particular, the role of DME in predicting therapeutic response, the activation of prodrugs, and the potential for modulation of their activity for gain are considered, with relevant clinical examples. The contribution of tumoral drug metabolism to cancer therapy can only be truly ascertained through large-scale prospective studies and supported by new technologies for tumor sampling and genetic analysis such as microarrays. Only then can efforts be concentrated in the design of better prodrugs or combination therapy to improve drug efficacy and individualize therapy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 71-96
Author(s):  
Peter Lindner

Since the publication of Nikolas Rose’s ‘The Politics of Life Itself’ (2001) there has been vivid discussion about how biopolitical governance has changed over the last decades. This article uses what Rose terms ‘molecular politics’, a new socio-technical grip on the human body, as a contrasting background to ask anew his question ‘What, then, of biopolitics today?’ – albeit focusing not on advances in genetics, microbiology, and pharmaceutics, as he does, but on the rapid proliferation of wearables and other sensor-software gadgets. In both cases, new technologies providing information about the individual body are the common ground for governance and optimization, yet for the latter, the target is habits of moving, eating and drinking, sleeping, working and relaxing. The resulting profound differences are carved out along four lines: ‘somatic identities’ and a modified understanding of the body; the role of ‘expert knowledge’ compared to that of networks of peers and self-experimentation; the ‘types of intervention’ by which new technologies become effective in our everyday life; and the ‘post-discipline character’ of molecular biopolitics. It is argued that, taken together, these differences indicate a remarkable shift which could be termed aretaic: its focus is not ‘life itself’ but ‘life as it is lived’, and its modality are new everyday socio-technical entanglements and their more-than-human rationalities of (self-)governance.


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