The Intersection of International Law, Agricultural Biotechnology, and Infectious Disease


Book Description

The Intersection of International Law, Agricultural Biotechnology, and Infectious Disease is an indispensable resource for practitioners and scholars interested in public health, food safety, or biotechnology. It provides a comprehensive overview of the science behind, and the general environmental frameworks addressing, GMOs. The book examines legal frameworks and perspectives for infectious disease and GMOs, as well as public health legislation, international trade legislation, and regulatory regimes. Finally, it provides critiques and proposals, arguing for a more connective approach for future regulation.




Self-Spreading Biotechnology and International Law


Book Description

Wer haftet, wenn sich selbst ausbreitende Gentechnik grenzüberschreitende Schäden verursacht? Mit Gene Drives und ähnlichen Verfahren wird es bald möglich sein, das Erbgut wild lebender Arten, Keime und Nutzpflanzen direkt in der Umwelt zu verändern. Dies könnte helfen, drängende Probleme in der öffentlichen Gesundheit, im Naturschutz und in der Ernährungssicherheit zu lösen. Allerdings bergen diese Verfahren auch das Risiko einer unkontrollierten Ausbreitung über Staatsgrenzen hinweg. Anhand einer grundlegenden Untersuchung der einschlägigen Verträge und des Völkergewohnheitsrechts zu Prävention und Haftung für grenzüberschreitende Schäden wird aufgezeigt, dass das derzeit geltende Völkerrecht dieser Herausforderung noch nicht gewachsen ist.




The Yearbook of European Environmental Law


Book Description

Academics and students will find a wealth of information in the stimulating and clearly written articles. The well-structured and reliable annual surveys are specifically designed to provide easy access to the very latest developments in EU environmental law.




Intellectual Property and Traditional Knowledge in the Global Economy


Book Description

Arising from recent developments at the international level, many developing countries, indigenous peoples and local communities are considering using geographical indications (GIs) to protect traditional knowledge, and to promote trade and overall economic development. Despite the considerable enthusiasm over GIs in diverse quarters, there is an appreciable lack of research on how far and in what context GIs can be used as a protection model for traditional knowledge-based resources. This book critically examines the potential uses of geographical indications as models for protecting traditional knowledge-based products and resources in national and international intellectual property legal frameworks. By analysing the reception towards GIs from developing countries and advocates of development in the various legal and non-legal regimes (including the World Trade Organization, World Intellectual Property Organization, and the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Food and Agricultural Organization), the book evaluates the development potential of GIs in relation to ensuing changes in international intellectual property law in accommodating traditional knowledge. Teshager W. Dagne argues for a degree of balance in the approach to the implementation of global intellectual property rights in a manner that gives developing countries an opportunity to protect traditional knowledge-based products. The book will be of great interest and use to scholars and students of intellectual property law, public international law, traditional knowledge, and global governance.




Catastrophe!


Book Description

What Happens To Our Minds During Pandemics, Natural Disasters, Terrorist Attacks, and Other Extreme Calamities? Whether natural or man-made, local or global, disasters impact our thinking and behavior on both a personal and societal level. Even rather ordinary crises in our personal lives like the loss of a job or the end of a relationship trigger overwhelming feelings. At the societal level, group anxieties coupled with the moral pressure to conform can send us all down the path to ruin. Why does this happen and, through understanding human psychology, how can we prevent this in the future? In this highly original and engagingly written book, Author Christopher J. Ferguson examines how pandemics, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, and other events of mass hysteria impact our psychology and prevent us from adequately responding to, preventing, or learning from those calamities. From the rush to hoard toilet paper during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, to the disconnect between procedure and practice surrounding massive wildfires, to debates about the science behind climate catastrophes, and shifts after traumatic events like 9/11 and the murder of George Floyd, The Psychology of Catastrophe uses in-depth case studies to reveal how moments of societal upheaval affect the psychology of citizens. Though we have often failed to predict, respond to, and learn from catastrophes, we have nonetheless made remarkable progress. Ferguson concludes by offering strategies to help us make better choices during crises in our own lives and providing solutions for how we as a society can better navigate misfortune in the future.




Food Waste Reduction and Valorisation


Book Description

This book adds a new dimension to the sustainability assessment of food waste reduction and valorisation: policy analysis. Featuring a transdisciplinary analysis by key experts in the field, it identifies the drivers of change in food-waste reduction and valorisation technologies by looking, for example, at the regulatory framework and at policy actions undertaken by local and global actors. The book explores the development of regulations and policies for food-waste prevention, management, and valorisation at a global as well as European Union level. It also discusses the notion of food waste in legal terms and investigates the effects of the lack of a standard, universal definition of food waste on the efficient use of by-products, promising processes and products for technological and commercial exploitation. Utilising mathematical mapping methods to assess food consumption impacts and providing supply chain models that allow the testing of consumption scenarios, the book goes on to discuss a series of emerging technologies (tested at lab scale and/ or pilot scale) and opportunities for the valorisation of food waste.







Global Trends 2040


Book Description

"The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic marks the most significant, singular global disruption since World War II, with health, economic, political, and security implications that will ripple for years to come." -Global Trends 2040 (2021) Global Trends 2040-A More Contested World (2021), released by the US National Intelligence Council, is the latest report in its series of reports starting in 1997 about megatrends and the world's future. This report, strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, paints a bleak picture of the future and describes a contested, fragmented and turbulent world. It specifically discusses the four main trends that will shape tomorrow's world: - Demographics-by 2040, 1.4 billion people will be added mostly in Africa and South Asia. - Economics-increased government debt and concentrated economic power will escalate problems for the poor and middleclass. - Climate-a hotter world will increase water, food, and health insecurity. - Technology-the emergence of new technologies could both solve and cause problems for human life. Students of trends, policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics, journalists and anyone eager for a glimpse into the next decades, will find this report, with colored graphs, essential reading.




Biosafety in the Laboratory


Book Description

Biosafety in the Laboratory is a concise set of practical guidelines for handling and disposing of biohazardous material. The consensus of top experts in laboratory safety, this volume provides the information needed for immediate improvement of safety practices. It discusses high- and low-risk biological agents (including the highest-risk materials handled in labs today), presents the "seven basic rules of biosafety," addresses special issues such as the shipping of dangerous materials, covers waste disposal in detail, offers a checklist for administering laboratory safetyâ€"and more.