Monthly Archives: March 2018

Tobacco control regulations: Combating the world’s leading preventable cause of death

Tobacco remains the leading preventable cause of death in the world today and accounts for around 12% of all adult deaths worldwide (more than 7 million people)1. Its effects are far-reaching and have implications along the supply chain: from the land used to grow tobacco instead of food, often in countries where food security is a concern, to the 63% of children of tobacco-growing families involved in child labor, to the environmental effects of smoke expelled into the air, the bystander and the smoker’s health2. This howtoregulate article focuses on tobacco control and regulations for the emerging tobacco alternative electronic cigarettes. Continue reading Tobacco control regulations: Combating the world’s leading preventable cause of death

Countering “fake news”

Waves of parliament´s around the world are looking into the problem of “fake news”, including the UK Parliament1 (Green Paper: Internet Safety Strategy and Fake News Inquiry), the US Senate2 and the Singaporean Parliament3 (Green Paper: Deliberate Online Falsehoods). In early January 2018, the French President Macron said he would present a new law in order to fight the spread of “fake news”, which he said threatened democracies4. The Canadian Communications Security Establishment (CSE), in its report Cyber Threats to Canada´s Democratic Process, the first threat assessment of this kind in the world to be shared with the public said the Canadian Minister of Democratic Institutions5, states that: Continue reading Countering “fake news”

Model Law on Research and Technology Risks: Part IV – A Prototype Regulation

The following prototype regulation shows that it is possible to cover all kinds of research and technology risks in one piece of regulation, making the currently practiced piece-meal approach superfluous. Compared with the practice of developing particular pieces of regulation e.g. for biotechnology, nuclear science, geo-engineering and always running behind the new technologies popping-up, this regulatory approach permits an easy handling and a faster and more complete coverage of research and technology risks. Continue reading Model Law on Research and Technology Risks: Part IV – A Prototype Regulation