scholarly journals Chemical Exposure: European Citizens’ Perspectives, Trust, and Concerns on Human Biomonitoring Initiatives, Information Needs, and Scientific Results

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 1532
Author(s):  
Maria Uhl ◽  
Ricardo R. Santos ◽  
Joana Costa ◽  
Osvaldo Santos ◽  
Ana Virgolino ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Human Biomonitoring ◽  
Chemical Exposure ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Scientific Results

Over the last few decades, citizen awareness and perception of chemical products has been a topic of interest, particularly concerning national and international policy decision makers, expert/scientific platforms, and the European Union itself. To date, few qualitative studies on human biomonitoring have analysed communication materials, made recommendations in terms of biomonitoring surveillance, or asked for feedback in terms of specific biomonitoring methods. This paper provides in-depth insight on citizens’ perceptions of knowledge of biomonitoring, impact of chemical exposure on daily life, and claims on how results of research should be used. Four semi-structured focus groups were held in Austria, Portugal, Ireland, and the United Kingdom (UK). The cross-sectional observational qualitative design of this study allows for better understanding of public concern regarding chemicals, application, and use of human biomonitoring. The main findings of this study include citizens’ clear articulation on pathways of exposure, the demand on stakeholders for transparent decision-making, and sensitivity in communication of results to the public. Validated and trustful communication is perceived as key to empowering citizens to take action. The results can be used to facilitate decision-making and policy development, and feeds into the awareness needs of similar and future projects in human biomonitoring. Furthermore, it also brings to light ideas and concepts of citizens’ in shaping collaborative knowledge between citizens’, experts, scientists, and policy makers on equal terms.

The Law & Politics of Brexit: Volume II

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Comprehensive Analysis ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Trade Relations ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Financial Settlement ◽  
The Eu

This book provides the first comprehensive analysis of the withdrawal agreement concluded between the United Kingdom and the European Union to create the legal framework for Brexit. Building on a prior volume, it overviews the process of Brexit negotiations that took place between the UK and the EU from 2017 to 2019. It also examines the key provisions of the Brexit deal, including the protection of citizens’ rights, the Irish border, and the financial settlement. Moreover, the book assesses the governance provisions on transition, decision-making and adjudication, and the prospects for future EU–UK trade relations. Finally, it reflects on the longer-term challenges that the implementation of the 2016 Brexit referendum poses for the UK territorial system, for British–Irish relations, as well as for the future of the EU beyond Brexit.

scholarly journals Postlaunch evidence-generation studies for medical devices in Spain: the RedETS approach to integrate real-world evidence into decision making

2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro Serrano-Aguilar ◽  
Iñaki Gutierrez-Ibarluzea ◽  
Pilar Díaz ◽  
Iñaki Imaz-Iglesia ◽  
Jesús González-Enríquez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Medical Devices ◽  
Real World ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Assessment Process ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Political Commitment ◽  
Real World Evidence ◽  
Health Policy Decision ◽  
Regional Health Authorities

Abstract The Monitoring Studies (MS) program, the approach developed by RedETS to generate postlaunch real-world evidence (RWE), is intended to complement and enhance the conventional health technology assessment process to support health policy decision making in Spain, besides informing other interested stakeholders, including clinicians and patients. The MS program is focused on specific uncertainties about the real effect, safety, costs, and routine use of new and insufficiently assessed relevant medical devices carefully selected to ensure the value of the additional research needed, by means of structured, controlled, participative, and transparent procedures. However, despite a clear political commitment and economic support from national and regional health authorities, several difficulties were identified along the development and implementation of the first wave of MS, delaying its execution and final reporting. Resolution of these difficulties at the regional and national levels and a greater collaborative impulse in the European Union, given the availability of an appropriate methodological framework already provided by EUnetHTA, might provide a faster and more efficient comparative RWE of improved quality and reliability at the national and international levels.

EU-Sanktionspolitik in geopolitischen Zeiten: Europas schärfstes Außeninstrument und seine Herausforderungen

IG ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 278-294
Author(s):  
Niklas Helwig ◽  
Juha Jokela ◽  
Clara Portela
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Global Competition ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Policy Tool ◽  
Restrictive Measures ◽  
Fine Tune ◽  
The Eu

Sanctions are one of the toughest and most coercive tools available to the European Union (EU). They are increasingly used in order to respond to breaches of international norms and adverse security developments in the neighbourhood and beyond. However, the EU sanctions policy is facing a number of challenges related to the efficiency of decision-making, shortcomings in the coherent implementation of restrictive measures, as well as the adjustments to the post-Brexit relationship with the United Kingdom. This article analyses these key challenges for EU sanctions policy. Against the backdrop of an intensifying global competition, it points out the need to weatherproof this policy tool. The current debate on the future of the EU provides an opportunity to clarify the strategic rationale of EU sanctions and to fine-tune the sanctions machinery.

scholarly journals The politics of embedding and the right to remain in post-Brexit Britain

Ethnicities ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 146879682091341 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiina Sotkasiira ◽  
Anna Gawlewicz
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Union Membership ◽  
The Other ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Sense Of Security ◽  
The One ◽  
The Right

The European Union membership referendum (i.e. the Brexit referendum) in the United Kingdom in 2016 triggered a process of introspection among non-British European Union citizens with respect to their right to remain in the United Kingdom, including their right to entry, permanent residence, and access to work and social welfare. Drawing on interview data collected from 42 European Union nationals, namely Finnish and Polish migrants living in Scotland, we explore how European Union migrants’ decision-making and strategies for extending their stay in the United Kingdom, or returning to their country of origin, are shaped by and, in turn, shape their belonging and ties to their current place of residence and across state borders. In particular, we draw on the concept of embedding, which is used in migration studies to explain migration trajectories and decision-making. Our key argument is that more attention needs to be paid to the socio-political context within which migrants negotiate their embedding. To this end, we employ the term ‘politics of embedding’ to highlight the ways in which the embedding of non-British European Union citizens has been politicized and hierarchically structured in the United Kingdom after the Brexit referendum. By illustrating how the context of Brexit has changed how people evaluate their social and other attachments, and how their embedding is differentiated into ‘ties that bind’ and ‘ties that count’, we contribute to the emerging work on migration and Brexit, and specifically to the debate on how the politicization of migration shapes the sense of security on the one hand, and belonging, on the other.

Restriction on human exposure to xenobiotics: theory and practice

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 55-68
Author(s):  
Krzysztof L. Krzystyniak ◽  
M. Obiedziński ◽  
H. Kalota ◽  
A. Marszałek
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Human Biomonitoring ◽  
Chemical Exposure ◽  
Environmental Chemicals ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Environmental Toxicants ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
Effect Analysis ◽  
Endocrine Disruptor Chemicals

Exposure to environmental xenobiotics, which influence the everyday life of all humans in our times, has become a subject of intensive analysis by scientists, authorities of environmental hazards, state authorities and authors of legislation. Toxicological risk assessment of chemicals in contaminated food and water as well as polluted air is expressed in basic ‘toxic units’. A broad-scale human biomonitoring (HBM) for environmental toxicants is the strategy of a cause-effect analysis of chemical exposure to environmental xenobiotics. HBM demonstrates the relationships between exposure to xenobiotics and the following health disorders: obesity, impaired reproduction, type 1 diabetes (T1D), autism, cancers and other diseases in the society. Developing effective toxicological tools and legislative standards is expected to help in eliminating endocrine disruptor chemicals (EDCs), which cause infertility. The exceptional category of xenobiotics, which highly influences human health, and is treated as a priority problem to be controlled in the European Union, form genotoxic carcinogens. According to a current assessment, hundreds of chemical xenobiotics and their metabolites, in the minimum detectable quantity, mostly all of anthropogenic origin, can be found in the organisms of inhabitants in western countries. Despite the permanent presence of xenobiotics in human environment, it is worth taking into consideration practical methods to limit and avoid contacts with environmental chemicals. It concerns the provision of water and air filters, the thermal processing of food, the selection of food products, and other aspects of everyday life.

scholarly journals Post-decisional logics of inaction: The influence of knowledge controversy in climate policy decision-making

2017 ◽  
Vol 49 (10) ◽  
pp. 2281-2299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amelia Sharman ◽  
Richard Perkins
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Climate Policy ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Scientific Uncertainty ◽  
Implementation Phase ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Policy Decision Making

Contestation over knowledge claims, including their legitimacy as an input to policy decision-making, does not end at the moment of policy creation. Policies continue to be made and unmade during the implementation phase. Drawing from work on knowledge controversies, and building on the concept of post-decisional politics, we investigate the implementation of climate change policy in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. We identify politically salient post-decisional logics of inaction which have been used to justify delaying or diluting climate policy implementation in both countries. In New Zealand, knowledge controversy has had little or no influence over decision-making, with political rationales in the form of the current national economic interest and cost-based logics prevailing. Conversely, arguments emphasising scientific uncertainty have achieved political traction in the United Kingdom, creating a “fog of distrust” instrumental in draining political capital from the active implementation of climate policy. Explanatory factors such as structural economic considerations and different values placed on science as an input to policy-making are discussed, highlighting the importance of being attentive to the fluidity of knowledge controversies as they achieve salience and legitimacy according to the specificities of time and place.

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF EIA AS AN INSTRUMENT FOR ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE: REFLECTING ON 25 YEARS OF EIA PRACTICE IN THE NETHERLANDS AND THE UK

2012 ◽  
Vol 14 (04) ◽  
pp. 1250025 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOS ARTS ◽  
HENS A. C. RUNHAAR ◽  
THOMAS B. FISCHER ◽  
URMILA JHA-THAKUR ◽  
FRANK VAN LAERHOVEN ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Professional Literature ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Comprehensive Literature Review ◽  
The Uk

The European Union (EU) Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive which was introduced some 25 years ago has had a major impact on decision-making practices in EU member states. In the professional literature, this impact has mostly been discussed under the heading of "effectiveness", with an emphasis being given in particular to procedural elements. The extent to which EIA has contributed to objectives, such as raising environmental awareness and leading to an incorporation of environmental values in decision-making has only been rarely investigated. This paper reflects on these latter two aspects of EIA effectiveness in two EU member states; the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Empirical evidence was compiled mainly on the basis of a comprehensive literature review and online surveys with EIA professionals in both countries. Our results indicate that overall the instrument is about equally effective in both countries with regards to the incorporation of environmental concerns in decision-making. As both countries have different governance mechanisms, further research is needed on why perceived effectiveness does not differ more.

scholarly journals The Politics of Policy Development to End Obesity for Aboriginal Youth in the Educational Environment

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 72-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shelley Spurr
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Educational Policy ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Aboriginal People ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Aboriginal Peoples ◽  
Aboriginal Youth ◽  
Canadian Population ◽  
Just Society ◽  
Successive Generations

Canada, a country of considerable wealth and resources, has one of the highest standards of living in the world. This country is politically organized as a democracy that is supportive of political and civil freedoms, yet inequalities among certain populations prevail. In general, Aboriginal people experience poorer economic, social, and environmental conditions than those of non-Aboriginal people (Canadian Population Health Initiative, 2005) and lower involvement in political and civil activity. This report also illustrates the inferior health status among Aboriginal people. Within the school system, an educational policy can serve to address an inequality. Hence, the purpose of the paper is to apply the tools outlined by Deborah Stone in her book, Policy Parodox: The Art of Political Decision Making (2002), to demonstrate why I believe school policies should be developed to prevent obesity among Aboriginal youth, to understand the politics of implementing these policies and to analyze and critique the ideas from hypothesized political opponents. Addressing these injustices provides recognition of the racism in present-day educational policy decision-making processes, which can result in more significant progress toward an equal and just society which ensures the health of Aboriginal peoples and successive generations.

Civil society participation in the legislative process

2021 ◽  
pp. 71-78
Author(s):  
Natalia Lesko
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Public Involvement ◽  
Functional System ◽  
Practical Significance ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Scientific Results

Purpose. The aim of the article is to analyze the participation of civil society in the legislative process. Method. The methodology includes a comprehensive analysis and generalization of available scientific and theoretical material and formulation of relevant conclusions. During the research, the methods of scientific cognition were used: comparative-legal, logical-semantic, functional, system-structural, and logical-normative. Results. In the course of the research, it was recognized that one of the key ways of interaction between the state and civil society is the participation of citizens in the legislative activity of the parliament. The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, as a representative body aimed at protecting the interests of citizens, can promote more active public involvement in its activities. The examples of the European Union countries show that there are many different forms and ways of such participation at different levels of interaction. The presented methods allow determining the general model of citizen participation in the work of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Forms of public participation in the activities of the parliament are revealed: informing, consulting and dialogue. Citizens’ participation in decision-making is a complex and complex process that takes place under the influence of various factors. Due to the incomplete process of reforming the political system of the country, the system of forms and methods of citizen participation in the decision-making process are in the process of formation and constant transformation. Scientific novelty. The study found that the formation of a model of citizen participation and civil society institutions in the legislative process should reflect the institutional mechanisms of public participation and the integration of civil society structures in the main activities of parliament. Practical significance. The applied value of the research is determined by the fact that the scientific results create a basis for improving the legislation on the participation of civil society institutions in the legislative process.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document