WTO Confidential: The Case of Asbestos

2002 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 489-501 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barry Castleman
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Trade Disputes ◽  
The Public ◽  
The People ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Significance ◽  
Scientific Adviser ◽  
Health Legislation

The World Trade Organization (WTO), created in 1995, adjudicates “trade disputes” between member nations in cases with great human rights, cultural, environmental, and public health significance. Throughout the process of dispute resolution and even after a case is concluded, very little of what happens is made accessible to the public. However, it is one thing to criticize the WTO for its lack of transparency from outside the process, and another to critically examine what was withheld from disclosure and what dangers that presents. This is the inside story from a scientific adviser to one of the parties in a WTO case, analyzing what happened from a public health point of view. This analysis concludes that the public health justification of banning asbestos was accepted in the end by the economists at the WTO, despite the WTO's bias in favoring the party (Canada) making the free trade challenge (to public health legislation, in this case) in numerous stages of the process, despite the WTO's utter lack of expertise in science, medicine, engineering, and public health, and despite important erroneous statements made to the WTO under the cover of confidentiality. Despite its result, this case illustrates that the WTO's threat to national sovereignty could never withstand the light of day, that the people of the world would reject this dangerous free trade fundamentalism if the limitations and dangers of the process were open for all to see.

WTO Confidential: The Case of Asbestos

2003 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barry Castleman
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Trade Disputes ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Health Significance ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Significance ◽  
Scientific Adviser ◽  
Health Legislation

The World Trade Organization (WTO), established in 1995, adjudicates “trade disputes” between member nations in cases with human rights, cultural, environmental, and public health significance. Throughout the resolution process and even after a case's conclusion, little of what happens is made accessible to the public. However, it is one thing to criticize the WTO for its lack of transparency from outside the process and another to critically examine what was withheld from disclosure and what dangers that presents. This is the inside story from a scientific adviser to one party in a WTO case, who analyzes what happened from a public health point of view. The analysis concludes that the public health justification for banning asbestos was accepted in the end by WTO economists, despite the WTO's bias in favor of the party (Canada) making the free trade challenge (to public health legislation), despite the WTO's lack of expertise in science, medicine, engineering, and public health, and despite important erroneous statements made to the WTO under the cover of confidentiality. The case nevertheless illustrates that the WTO's threat to national sovereignty could never withstand the light of day if the limitations and dangers of the process were open for all to see.

Normative Juridical Review Comparison of Land Acquisition Regulations for Railway Infrastructure between Indonesia and Malaysia

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dhina Setyo Oktaria ◽  
Agustinus Prasetyo Edi Wibowo
Keyword(s):  
Public Interest ◽  
Influencing Factor ◽  
Land Acquisition ◽  
Infrastructure Development ◽  
The Public ◽  
Indonesian Government ◽  
The People ◽  
Railway Infrastructure ◽  
The World ◽  
The Government

Land acquisition for public purposes, including for the construction of railroad infrastructure, is a matter that is proposed by all countries in the world. The Indonesian government or the Malaysian royal government needs land for railroad infrastructure development. To realize this, a regulation was made that became the legal umbrella for the government or royal government. The people must agree to regulations that require it. Land acquisition for public use in Malaysia can be completed quickly in Indonesia. The influencing factor is the different perceptions of the understanding of what are in the public interest, history and legal systems of the two countries as well as the people's reaction from the two countries

Epidemiology and Course of Eating Disorders

2010 ◽  
pp. 24-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela Keel
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Eating Disorders ◽  
Anorexia Nervosa ◽  
Eating Disorder ◽  
Bulimia Nervosa ◽  
The Public ◽  
Purging Disorder ◽  
Not Otherwise Specified ◽  
Public Health Significance ◽  
Health Significance

The epidemiology of eating disorders holds important clues for understanding factors that may contribute to their etiology. In addition, epidemiological findings speak to the public health significance of these deleterious syndromes. Information on course and outcome are important for clinicians to understand the prognosis associated with different disorders of eating and for treatment planning. This chapter reviews information on the epidemiology and course of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and two forms of eating disorder not otherwise specified, binge eating disorder and purging disorder.

scholarly journals Rubella Immunity among Pregnant Women in a Canadian Provincial Screening Program

2009 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 73-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark J Kearns ◽  
Sabrina S Plitt ◽  
Bonita E Lee ◽  
Joan L Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Screening Program ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Childbearing Age ◽  
Younger Women ◽  
The Public ◽  
Health Significance ◽  
Health Database ◽  
Northern Alberta

BACKGROUND: There are limited recent data on rubella immunity in women of childbearing age in Canada. In the present paper, the proportion of rubella seroreactivity and redundant testing (testing of women previously seropositive when tested by the same physician) in the Alberta prenatal rubella screening program were studied.METHODS: In the present retrospective observational study, data on all specimens submitted for prenatal screening in Alberta between August 2002 and December 2005 were extracted from the Provincial Laboratory for Public Health database. The proportion of rubella screening and immunoglobulin G (IgG) seroreactivity were determined. Demographic variables were compared between rubella seroreactors and nonseroreactors. The proportion of redundant testing was determined.RESULTS: Of 159,046 prenatal specimens, 88.3% (n=140,473) were screened for rubella immunity. In total, 8.8% of specimens tested negative for rubella IgG. Younger women (23.2% of women younger than 20 years of age versus 4.7% of women between 35 and 39 years of age; P<0.001) and women from northern Alberta (11.9% versus 8.1% [overall]; P<0.001) were significantly more likely to have seronegative specimens. Of the 20,044 women who had multiple rubella immunity screenings, 88.1% (n=17,651) had multiple positive test results. In total, 20.7% of the 42,274 specimens submitted from women with multiple screenings were deemed redundant.DISCUSSION: Younger women were most likely to be seronegative for rubella. The public health significance of women entering their childbearing years with low or undetectable rubella IgG levels remains to be determined. A large number of women with documented rubella immunity were unnecessarily retested.

Path of the Operation and Promotion of Market-Based Chinese Martial Arts

2014 ◽  
Vol 971-973 ◽  
pp. 2350-2353
Author(s):  
Ai Yun Sun ◽  
Xi Yang Ding
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Economic Integration ◽  
Martial Arts ◽  
Consumption Level ◽  
The Public ◽  
Business Operations ◽  
Social And Economic Development ◽  
The World ◽  
Elite Sports

martial arts through the promotion of conditions , difficulties and countermeasures analysis of the system, that China should be based on public health and martial arts fighting two clues to promote athletics , martial arts part of the refining and development of the " elite sports " and select wide popularity part , to promote the realization of the true sense of the public , in order to improve business operations and direction of development to promote social and economic development and to meet the needs of people in sports consumption level . In other words, watching athletics , martial arts fitness and economic integration of the three organic constituted martial arts through the promotion of the premise, but also the power of martial arts to the world .

scholarly journals Modelling and analysis of COVID-19 epidemic in India

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alok Tiwari
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Doubling Time ◽  
Single Case ◽  
World Health Organisation ◽  
Public Health Emergency ◽  
Positive Case ◽  
World Health ◽  
The Public ◽  
First Case ◽  
The World

ABSTRACTCOVID-19 epidemic is declared as the public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organisation in the second week of March 2020. This disease originated from China in December 2019 has already caused havoc around the world, including India. The first case in India was reported on 30th January 2020, with the cases crossing 6000 on the day paper was written. Complete lockdown of the nation for 21 days and immediate isolation of infected cases are the proactive steps taken by the authorities. For a better understanding of the evolution of COVID-19 in the country, Susceptible-Infectious-Quarantined-Recovered (SIQR) model is used in this paper. It is predicted that actual infectious population is ten times the reported positive case (quarantined) in the country. Also, a single case can infect 1.55 more individuals of the population. Epidemic doubling time is estimated to be around 4.1 days. All indicators are compared with Brazil and Italy as well. SIQR model has also predicted that India will see the peak with 22,000 active cases during the last week of April followed by reduction in active cases. It may take complete July for India to get over with COVID-19.

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