scholarly journals Reptile smuggling is predicted by trends in the legal exotic pet trade

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver Stringham ◽  
Pablo García‐Díaz ◽  
Adam Toomes ◽  
Lewis Mitchell ◽  
Joshua V. Ross ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Time Lag ◽  
The United States ◽  
Wildlife Trade ◽  
Live Animal ◽  
Pet Trade ◽  
Reptile Species ◽  
The Us ◽  
Disease Risks ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Species Being

Western countries are less frequently implicated in illegal wildlife trade (IWT), contrasted with other transnational consumers, yet substantial evidence suggests that they contribute prominently. Live animal smuggling presents a suite of biosecurity concerns, including invasive species and disease risks. Here, we compared the live alien reptile species smuggled to Australia (75 species) to the legal trade of live reptile species in the United States (US) and constructed a Bayesian regularized model to predict the species most likely to be of greatest future smuggling risk to Australia. Australia has particularly strict import laws barring the entry and keeping of alien reptiles and maintains detailed biosecurity seizure records. Almost all smuggled reptile species were found in the legal US exotic pet market (98.6%), and we observed an average time lag of 4.2 years between a species first appearing in the US market and its subsequent detection in Australia. A species popularity in US pet stores, popularity on international online markets, and the number of years in US import-export records were all positively associated with the probability of species being smuggled to Australia. Our predictive model provides a much-needed early-warning guide for future biosecurity enforcement of the IWT and provides a framework for anticipating future trends in wildlife smuggling.

Health Technology Assessment. Literature Review.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jana ROZMARINOVÁ
Keyword(s):  
Health Technology Assessment ◽  
Technology Assessment ◽  
Public Expenditure ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Health Technology ◽  
The United States ◽  
Complex Process ◽  
The Us ◽  
Healthcare Interventions ◽  
Almost All

Health Technology Assessment (HTA) is one of the tools that can be used to support rational and objective decision-making in healthcare in the endeavour to contain public expenditure while maintaining the availability of healthcare interventions. The complex process of HTA often struggles to find its place in public policies and faces pressure from various stakeholders. HTA has existed since the 1970s and as a formal process has its roots in the United States. During the 1980s, HTA began to spread outside the US and over the next twenty years, reached almost all European countries, including some countries in Central Europe. The rise of HTA brought about an exponential increase in the empirical studies of HTA available in academic databases. This study reviews the available literature to analyse the development and research topics and the potential pitfalls of HTA implementation.

scholarly journals Are tortoises and freshwater turtles still traded illegally as pets in Singapore?

Oryx ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ter Yang Goh ◽  
Ruth M. O'Riordan
Keyword(s):  
Common Species ◽  
Trachemys Scripta ◽  
The Other ◽  
Wildlife Trade ◽  
Freshwater Turtles ◽  
Trachemys Scripta Elegans ◽  
Pelodiscus Sinensis ◽  
Pet Trade ◽  
Reptile Species ◽  
Soft Shell

The red-eared slider Trachemys scripta elegans is currently the only reptile species that can be legally sold as a pet in Singapore. We report on the species of tortoises and freshwater turtles that were found for sale during a survey of 27 pet shops in 2004. Although the red-eared slider was the most common species for sale, small numbers of 11 other species were available. Of these, the import of one species (the Chinese soft-shell turtle Pelodiscus sinensis) is allowed for food but import of the other 10 species is not permitted for either food or the pet trade. We found that illegally held chelonians are often not kept on the pet shop premises. Our findings suggest that the Singaporean authorities' efforts to address illegal wildlife trade have to include other methods in addition to conducting raids on shop premises.

scholarly journals Legal or unenforceable? Violations of trade regulations and the case of the Philippine Sailfin Lizard Hydrosaurus pustulatus (Reptilia: Squamata: Agamidae)

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 18532-18543
Author(s):  
Sarah Heinrich ◽  
Adam Toomes ◽  
Jordi Janssen
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Habitat Destruction ◽  
Pet Trade ◽  
Online Sales ◽  
Lacey Act ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Apparent Violation ◽  
Special Circumstances

The Philippine Sailfin Lizard (Agamidae: Hydrosaurus pustulatus) is a nationally protected Philippine endemic species.  It is threatened by habitat destruction, pollution and overexploitation for the domestic pet trade, yet less is known about the international component of the trade.  Here we investigate the international trade in Hydrosaurus spp. (H. weberi, H. amboinensis, and H. pustulatus) with an emphasis on H. pustulatus.  We analysed international seizures combined with international online sales and trade data for the United States of America (USA).  The export of H. pustulatus from the Philippines has been prohibited since 1991, except under special circumstances, yet they continue to be traded internationally, and we found evidence for trade in Asia, Europe, and North America.  Most of these animals, however, were declared to be captive-bred.  While imports to and exports from the US consisted mostly of other species of Hydrosaurus, H. pustulatus was by far the most coveted species online, with prices significantly higher for H. pustulatus than any of the other species.  While not many seizures have occurred outside the Philippines, even wild-caught individuals were found to be ‘legally’ imported to the USA – in apparent violation of the Lacey Act.   We recommend H. pustulatus to be listed in CITES Appendix III, in order for countries other than the USA to have a legal basis to seize wild-caught animals trafficked from the Philippines and to monitor trade in captive-bred specimens.  Further, we suggest the use of automated cross-referencing between imported species and the national protection status of the species’ native range states to ensure that legislation violations are detected at the point of import.

The Narcissism of Minor Differences

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Baldwin
Keyword(s):  
International Organizations ◽  
The United States ◽  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
Health Care Education ◽  
Black And White ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
The Us ◽  
Narcissism Of Minor Differences ◽  
European Standards ◽  
Almost All

There is much heated rhetoric about the widening gulf between Europe and America. But are the US and Europe so different? Peter Baldwin, one of the world's leading historians of comparative social policy, thinks not, and in this bracingly argued but remarkably informed polemic, he lays out how similar the two continents really are. Drawing on the latest evidence from sources such as the United Nations, the World Bank, IMF, and other international organizations, Baldwin offers a fascinating comparison of the United States and Europe, looking at the latest statistics on the economy, crime, health care, education and culture, religion, the environment, and much more. It is a book filled with surprising revelations. For most categories of crime, for instance, America is safe and peaceful by European standards. But the biggest surprise is that, though there are many differences between America and Europe, in almost all cases, these differences are no greater than the differences among European nations. Europe and the US are, in fact, part of a common, big-tent grouping. America is not Sweden, for sure. But nor is Italy Sweden, nor France, nor even Germany. And who says that Sweden is Europe? Anymore than Vermont is America? "Meticulous, insistent, and elegant." --John Lloyd, Financial Times "A must-read...filled with intriguing facts that add nuance to what can often be a black-and-white debate." --Foreign Affairs "An exhaustive and enthralling catalogue of our commonalities that begs a reconsideration of just what it means to be European or American." --Publishers Weekly

scholarly journals The origin of cost–benefit analysis: a comparative view of France and the United States

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Jiang ◽  
Rainer Marggraf
Keyword(s):  
Early Development ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
The United States ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Benefit Analysis ◽  
Research Areas ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Almost All

Abstract Background Cost–benefit analysis (CBA), as a common instrument in the decision making process on how to allocate financial resources, has been widely used in various research areas and in almost all of countries over the world. However, the origin and the historical development of CBA has long been subject to neglect. We attempt to fill this gap and clarify the origin and the early development of CBA. Methods A comparative analysis is used to investigate the origin and the early development of CBA in France and the USA. The comparison is focused on two questions: (1) which criteria should be applied to decide whether or not a project should be carried out, and (2) with which procedure these criteria can be used for real projects. Results The origin of CBA can be dated back to the work of Saint-Pierre in France in 1708. Dupuit introduces the concept of consumer’s surplus that founds the economic basis of CBA. These works are not taken seriously in France and do not draw attention from other countries. Hence, until the 1930s, the principle of CBA is newly proposed in the US and the Green Book marks the mature of CBA. Conclusions The early development of CBA in France and the US is independent from the aspects of historical background, personnel, approaches and standardization. This study could help researchers of various disciplines be sure about the history of CBA when they perform this analysis in their research areas.

Spanking and the Making of a Violent Society

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 98 (4) ◽  
pp. 837-842
Author(s):  
Murray A. Straus
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Corporal Punishment ◽  
The United States ◽  
Homicide Rate ◽  
The Other ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Physical Assault ◽  
The Us ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Industrial Societies

Most of the world's societies are violent in the sense that they have high rates of physical assault, homicide, and war. The United States (US) is the most violent of the advanced industrial societies. The current US homicide rate of 8.5 per 100 000 is three times the Canadian rate of 2.3 per 100 000, and about eight times the rate of Western European countries. Nevertheless, many societies are even more violent. The Mexican homicide rate of 19.4 is more than double that of the US, and the rate for the cities of Columbia (110.4 per 100 000) is more than ten times higher. Most of the world's societies also bring up children violently through the use of corporal punishment. Perhaps the correspondence between the preponderance of violence and that of corporal punishment is just a coincidence. Obviously, corporal punishment and assaults and murders differ in severity, and also in the cultural definition that makes one legitimate and the other criminal. However, there is also a correspondence between the behavior involved in corporal punishment and the behavior involved in criminal assaults and homicides that is seldom perceived. Everyone understands that corporal punishment is carried out to correct or control misbehavior. What is not understood is that almost all assaults by adults and about two thirds of homicides are also carried out to correct what the offender perceives as misbehavior. Typical examples include a confrontation between two men over a loan of $50 that is to be paid back in 1 week.

scholarly journals Reverse Migration to Mexico Led to US Undocumented Population Decline: 2010 to 2018

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Warren
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New York ◽  
Large Population ◽  
Population Decline ◽  
New York State ◽  
The United States ◽  
Executive Summary ◽  
Reverse Migration ◽  
The Us ◽  
Almost All

Executive Summary This report presents estimates of the undocumented population residing in the United States in 2018, highlighting demographic changes since 2010. The Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS) compiled these estimates based primarily on information collected in the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS). The annual CMS estimates of undocumented residents for 2010 to 2018 include all the detailed characteristics collected in the ACS. 1 A summary of the CMS estimation procedures, as well as a discussion of the plausibility of the estimates, is provided in the Appendix . The total undocumented population in the United States continued to decline in 2018, primarily because large numbers of undocumented residents returned to Mexico. From 2010 to 2018, a total of 2.6 million Mexican nationals left the US undocumented population; 2 about 1.1 million, or 45 percent of them, returned to Mexico voluntarily. The decline in the US undocumented population from Mexico since 2010 contributed to declines in the undocumented population in many states. Major findings include the following: The total US undocumented population was 10.6 million in 2018, a decline of about 80,000 from 2017, and a drop of 1.2 million, or 10 percent, since 2010. Since 2010, about two-thirds of new arrivals have overstayed temporary visas and one-third entered illegally across the border. The undocumented population from Mexico fell from 6.6 million in 2010 to 5.1 million in 2018, a decline of 1.5 million, or 23 percent. Total arrivals in the US undocumented population from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras — despite high numbers of Border Patrol apprehensions of these populations in recent years — remained at about the same level in 2018 as in the previous four years. 3 The total undocumented population in California was 2.3 million in 2018, a decline of about 600,000 compared to 2.9 million in 2010. The number from Mexico residing in the state dropped by 605,000 from 2010 to 2018. The undocumented population in New York State fell by 230,000, or 25 percent, from 2010 to 2018. Declines were largest for Jamaica (−51 percent), Trinidad and Tobago (−50 percent), Ecuador (−44 percent), and Mexico (−34 percent). The results shown here reinforce the view that improving social and economic conditions in sending countries would not only reduce pressure at the border but also likely cause a large decline in the undocumented population. Two countries had especially large population changes — in different directions — in the 2010 to 2018 period. The population from Poland dropped steadily, from 93,000 to 39,000, while the population from Venezuela increased from 65,000 to 172,000. Almost all the increase from Venezuela occurred after 2014.

scholarly journals Promotion of Disposable Electronic Cigarette Flavors and Topics on Twitter

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (24) ◽  
pp. 9221
Author(s):  
Li Sun ◽  
Chunliang Tao ◽  
Zidian Xie ◽  
Dongmei Li
Keyword(s):  
Electronic Cigarettes ◽  
Temporal Analysis ◽  
The United States ◽  
Price Promotions ◽  
Keyword Query ◽  
Enforcement Policy ◽  
The Us ◽  
Online Stores ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Programming Interface

Disposable electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) became popular among youth after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) implemented an enforcement policy to restrict the sale of cartridge-based flavored e-cigarettes starting from February 2020 in the United States (US). We aimed to examine the flavors and topics related to disposable e-cigarettes on Twitter. The Twitter dataset, which includes 1489 tweets, was collected by the Tweepy streamapplication programming interface (API) using a keyword query from March to September 2020. The disposable e-cigarette flavors were curated from both online stores and collected tweets. Topics related to disposable e-cigarettes on Twitter were manually coded. Distributions of topics were compared between tweets from the US and tweets from non-US countries. The temporal analysis results showed a slight increase in the number of discussions over the study period. Strawberry, mango, watermelon, and mint were the most popular flavors of disposable e-cigarettes mentioned on Twitter. Almost all the tweets (97.11%) were commercial tweets, which were dominated by topics related to the product and flavor promotions. The US tweets focused more on product and flavor promotions and less on price promotions compared to non-US tweets. Our results suggest that companies exploited the limitations of legislation to promote flavors on Twitter, which could undermine public health and young people’s finances if they get hooked on addictive products.

scholarly journals The Role of the Songbird Trade as an Anthropogenic Vector in the Spread of Invasive Non-Native Mynas in Indonesia

Life ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 814
Author(s):  
Vincent Nijman ◽  
Marco Campera ◽  
Muhammad Ali Imron ◽  
Ahmad Ardiansyah ◽  
Abdullah Langgeng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Native Species ◽  
Wildlife Trade ◽  
Native Range ◽  
Pet Trade ◽  
High Prevalence ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
Native Birds ◽  
Invasive Birds ◽  
Species Being

The wildlife trade has facilitated the introduction of invasive non-native species, which may compete with native species for resources and alter ecosystems. Some of these species have great potential to become invasive if released or escaped from captivity. Here we studied the pet trade in a group of open countryside birds, the mynas (Acridotheres spp.) in Indonesia, and identified the areas that are at high risk of facing the establishment of these species. Mynas are among the most invasive birds in Southeast Asia. Once established in a new area, they are almost impossible to eradicate and can have strong negative impacts on the ecosystem. Preventing their introduction is therefore essential. Yet, invasive non-native mynas continue to be traded openly. We present data on the trade in seven species of mynas on Java, Bali and Lombok, with three species being native to parts of one or two of these islands, but not to the remainder, and four that are non-native to the region. From 2016 to 2021 we conducted 255 surveys of 30 animal markets. We recorded over 6000 mynas that were offered for sale outside their native range. Areas most at risk because of their high prevalence in specific animal markets, are Greater Jakarta, eastern Java, Bali and Lombok. The number of invasive non-native mynas recorded was positively related to the size of the animal market. Indonesia is signatory to several international agreements (CBD, ASEAN) that have policies and guidelines to prevent the introduction of invasive non-native species, but compliancy is weak. Annually hundreds and possibly thousands of invasive non-native mynas are released by Indonesian conservation authorities in regions that are outside their native range. Effective management of, and regulation of trade in, potential invasive non-native birds in Indonesia falls short and inadvertently greatly aids both their introduction and establishment.

scholarly journals US policy of economic sanctions against Cuba in 1990s years

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 114-118
Author(s):  
Yulia Sedliar
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Economic Sanctions ◽  
The United States ◽  
Foreign Assistance ◽  
Political Regime ◽  
Oil Refineries ◽  
The Us ◽  
Cuban Government ◽  
The Government ◽  
Almost All

The US economic embargo against Cuba has been in place for fifty years. During that period, its rationale and goals have not changed. As it is stressed in the article, principal purpose of the US sanctions strategy is either to modify the international behavior of Cuba, which Washington regarded as a threat to US strategic interests in the Latin America region, or to eliminate the Cuban political regime entirely. Measured against these goals, the sanctions clearly have failed. Author examines key factors having restricted sanctions’ ability to achieve American proclaimed goals regarding to Cuba. In this context, it is underscored that controversial maintenance of the US embargo against Cuba among US allies directly affected the results of sanctions strategy against Cuba. It is stressed that since the early 1960s, when the United States imposed a trade embargo on Cuba, the centerpiece of U.S. policy toward Cuba has consisted of economic sanctions aimed at isolating the government. The United States embargo against Cuba is a commercial, economic, and financial embargo imposed by the United States on Cuba. An embargo was first imposed by the United States on sale of arms to Cuba on the 14th of March 1958, during the Fulgencio Batista regime. On October 19, 1960 the U.S. placed an embargo on exports to Cuba except for food and medicine after Cuba nationalized American-owned Cuban oil refineries without compensation. On February 7, 1962 the embargo was extended to include almost all imports. Currently, the Cuban embargo is enforced mainly through six statutes: the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917, the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, the Cuban Assets Control Regulations of 1963, the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992, the Helms–Burton Act 1996, and the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000. The stated purpose of the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992 is to maintain sanctions on Cuba so long as the Cuban government refuses to move toward democratization and greater respect for human rights. The article emphasizes that The Helms–Burton Act further restricted United States citizens from doing business in or with Cuba, and mandated restrictions on giving public or private assistance to any successor government in Havana unless and until certain claims against the Cuban government were met.

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