Filicide-Suicide Involving Children With Disabilities

Abstract Filicide-suicide, or murder of a child by a parent followed by suicide, has an unknown incidence in both the general and disabled population. As there is no national database, the authors examined known associated factors and newspaper reports to characterize filicide-suicide victims and perpetrators involving children with disabilities. A newspaper search was conducted using LexisNexis and NewsBank: Access World News databases through the University of California, Irvine Library's Web site. Age, gender of child and parent, method used, and diagnoses of parent and child were recorded. Twenty-two news articles were found describing a total of 26 disabled children as victims of filicide-suicide between 1982 and 2010. Eighty-one percent of children killed were male, and 54% were autistic. Thirty percent of perpetrators had a reported mental illness. Male children or children with autism may be at risk for filicide-suicide, but accurate record keeping is needed to determine the incidence and risk factors and aid in its prevention in the disabled population

A sociohistorical reading of the Dictionnaire des Mondialisations. First steps towards a pragmatic approach to globalisation

The aim of the critical dictionary edited by Cynthia Ghorra-Gobin is to ‘‘render intelligible the structural mutations affecting France, Europe and the different parts of the world’’ (Ghorra- Gobin 2006, p.vii). It is an ambitious initiative. The authors who have contributed to this project start from the premise that the globalisation currently being observed is a historical process characterised by complexity and diversity. The variety of items presented in the dictionary reflects the protean nature of globalisation and the authors have thus chosen to use the plural ‘‘globalisations’’ to describe a phenomenon that is hard to grasp. For it is a process that takes a wide variety of forms, often described as global or globalising, the effects of which are not confined to the spheres of finance and the economy. Furthermore, it can be observed at different scales and cannot be entirely contained or circumscribed within any single perspective. Globalisation thus comes into the category of totalising objects that are easier to understand using a piece-by-piece analysis such as that provided by a dictionary. [Article's first paragraph

The European Medicines Agency: A public Health European Agency?

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is a European Agency as it is a decentralized body governed by European public law; it has its own legal personality and is also distinct from the European Union institutions (Council, Parliament, Commission, etc.). The EMA presents itself, and is commonly recognised, as a public health agency. This is notably supported by its recent transition from the Regional Direction of Research to the Regional Direction of Public Health. Four recognized principles of public health can be identified as such: assessment, transparency, precaution and independence. These principles appear to be closely linked to those forming the basis of good European governance regarding agencies: efficacy, coherence, openness, participation and responsibility. Thus, it is interesting to study how these principles are applied by the EMA in order to assess the reality of its qualification as a Public Health European Agency. The principles of assessment and transparency seem to be largely applied whereas the principles of precaution and independence are more problematic

Comité Scientifique Avis en réponse à la saisine HCB - dossier NL-2005-28. Paris, le 17 mars 2016

Le Haut Conseil des biotechnologies (HCB) a été saisi le 15 juillet 2015 par les autorités compétentes françaises (le ministère de l’Agriculture, de l’Agroalimentaire et de la Forêt) d’une demande d’avis relatif au dossier EFSA-GMO-NL-2005-28 de demande d’autorisation de mise sur le marché du maïs génétiquement modifié 1507 x 59122 à des fins de culture, importation, transformation et alimentation humaine et animale. Ce dossier a été conjointement déposé par les sociétés Mycogen Seeds c/o Dow AgroSciences LLC et Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. auprès des autorités compétentes néerlandaises sur le fondement du règlement (CE) n° 1829/2003. L’objectif de cet avis est d’éclairer les autorités compétentes françaises en perspective d’un vote des Etats membres sur un projet de décision d’autorisation de mise sur le marché de ce maïs pour les usages spécifiés dans l’Union européenne. Le Comité scientifique (CS)2 du HCB a examiné le dossier en séance du 26 novembre 2015 sous la présidence de Jean-Christophe Pagès. Le présent avis a été adopté par voie électronique, transmis aux autorités compétentes et publié sur le site du HCB le 17 mars 2016