A contingent value? The changing role of autonomy in law and policy on AIDS

This essay examines the changing role of the ethical value of autonomy in law and policy relating to AIDS in a number of European jurisdictions. In the early years of the epidemic the autonomy of infected and at-risk persons, and of social groups was promoted as a means of reducing the spread of HIV in the general population. Accordingly autonomy was deemed worthy of respect for instrumental reasons. This means-end calculation was premised on the lack of medical therapies, as well as the need to avoid discrimination in order to prevent at-risk persons from going underground as far as health care systems were concerned. In law this instrumentalisation of autonomy was reflected in a specific application of the proportionality test, i.e. to impose coercive or discriminatory measures would be disproportionate, or even inimical, to the end of reducing the spread of HIV. This was a contingent analysis, strongly informed by the state of medical knowledge at the time, as well as by the relative power of professionals, health bureaucrats and lay activists. With the introduction of effective therapies such as Highly Active Retroviral Therapy (HAART) and Zidovudine (AZT) the terms of the proportionality analysis have changed decisively. As a result, it is now more likely than before that coercive measures will be implemented. --

#Weareone: blood donation and dreams of inclusion in Kenya

This article examines responses to the terrorist attack on the Westgate Shopping Centre in Nairobi in September 2013 in order to investigate the role played by blood donation, as an expression of national dreams, in the political imaginary of contemporary Kenya. It considers the symbolic effectiveness of calls for blood donation made by political figures in the aftermath of the attacks. Such calls drew on a tradition of donation drives begun in the early years of independence, which emphasized the modernizing imperative of the new state and the importance of unity, hard work and self-sacrifice in building the nation. However, the reaction to Westgate, including calls for blood donation, also needs to be understood with reference to the response of American and other leaders to equivalent terrorist attacks in more recent years. These elite dreams found resonance among ordinary citizens and blood donation recruiters. But they were also subjected to trenchant critiques that sought to expose the reality of the transfusion system, as well as the inequality and injustice that mark the general healthcare system and Kenyan society as a whole. These shortcomings were also highlighted by mobilization drives organized by Kenya's Somali and Asian communities both before and during the Westgate crisis. The latter are presented by their organizers as a means of overcoming historic exclusion and discrimination

Up In Smoke: The FTC\u27s Refusal to Apply the Unfairness Doctrine to Camel Cigarette Advertising

RJR Nabisco\u27s cigarette advertising icon Joe Camel has become one of the most-recognized marketing mascots in America. Unfortunately, the debonair cartoon character attracts recognition, and cigarette buyers, among children. The huge popularity of the advertising campaign among an arguably inappropriate market prompted action by both legislators and the Federal Trade Commission. However, 1990 legislation did not pass the committee stage, and the FTC ended its investigation of the questionable effect the advertising had on children in 1994. Although the FTC chose not to limit or ban RJR Nabisco\u27s use of Old Joe, this Note contends that regulation was within the agency\u27s proper role. After analyzing the history of the FTC\u27s statutory authority to regulate and the rationale behind such regulation, the Note explores current constitutional standards of regulation of commercial speech. Finally, the Note concludes that, under current regulatory standards and constitutional limitations, a ban on advertising could have withstood statutory and constitutional challenges

The Immersion Coating of Indium upon Magnesium from Sulphate Solutions Containing Flourides

The thesis problem that will be discussed in this report is an investiga­tion of a method of plating a coating of indium upon magnesium and magnesium alloys. The method used to accomplish the final results is the immersion pro­cess. It can be defined as the process of coating a metal with a second metal by immersing the first in a solution containing ions of the second