The FTC\u27s Reliance on Extrinsic Evidence in Cases of Deceptive Advertising: A Proposal for Interpretive Rulemaking. \u3ci\u3eKraft, Inc. v. FTC\u3c/i\u3e, 970 F.2d 311 (7th Cir. 1992), \u3ci\u3ecert. denied\u3c/i\u3e, 113 S. Ct. 1254 (1993)

The Federal Trade Commission\u27s ( Commission”) decision in In re Kraft, Inc., shocked many members of the legal community. The decision reasserted the Commission\u27s long dormant authority to disregard relevant extrinsic evidence and rely solely on its own reasoned analysis in determining whether an advertisement implicitly conveys deceptive claims. Viewed by many as an example of the Commission flexing its regulatory muscle, the decision was reminiscent of the expansive discretion asserted during the Commission\u27s pre-Reagan era. On appeal, the Seventh Circuit reluctantly upheld the Commission\u27s decision, solidifying the Commission\u27s broad discretion to determine when commercial speech is deceptive and thereby exclude such speech from full constitutional protection. This Note analyzes the dilemma the Seventh Circuit faced in Kraft, Inc. v. FTC as it heard arguments that were compelling as a matter of policy but weak as a matter of law and suggests that the Commission should clearly define the parameters of its reliance on extrinsic evidence through administrative rulemaking. Part II begins by describing the basis of the Commission\u27s authority to regulate advertising and how that authority is implemented, and then provides the factual background and procedural history of Kraft. Part III first provides an analysis of the standard for deception implemented by the Commission in advertising cases. Next, it provides an analysis of Kraft\u27s principle arguments regarding extrinsic evidence and why those arguments succeed as a matter of policy but fail as a matter of law. Finally, it suggests that both the development of precedent and the issuance of policy statements have failed to adequately restrain the Commission\u27s discretion in the area of extrinsic evidence, and that administrative rulemaking would provide a more efficient and effective means of restraining the Commission\u27s discretion. Part IV concludes the note with a suggestion that the Commission initiate a rulemaking proceeding to clarify the area of reliance on extrinsic evidence

Health‐Damaging Climate Events Highlight the Need for Interdisciplinary, Engaged Research

In 2023 human populations experienced multiple record‐breaking climate events, with widespread impacts on human health and well‐being. These events include extreme heat domes, drought, severe storms, flooding, and wildfires. Due to inherent lags in the climate system, we can expect such extremes to continue for multiple decades after reaching net zero carbon emissions. Unfortunately, despite these significant current and future impacts, funding for research in climate and health has lagged behind that for other geoscience and biomedical research. While some initial efforts from funding agencies are evident, there is still a significant need to increase the resources available for multidisciplinary research in the face of this issue. As a group of experts at this important intersection, we call for a more concerted effort to encourage interdisciplinary and policy‐relevant investigations into the detrimental health effects of continued climate change

Predictors of binge drinking in adolescents: ultimate and distal factors - a representative study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>As epidemiological surveys have shown, binge drinking is a constant and wide-spread problem behavior in adolescents. It is not rare to find that more than half of all adolescents engage in this behavior when assessing only the last 4 weeks of time independent of the urbanity of the region they live in. There have been several reviews on predictors of substance consumption in adolescents in general, but there has been less high quality research on predictors of binge drinking, and most studies have not been theoretically based. The current study aimed to analyze the ultimate and distal factors predicting substance consumption according to Petraitis' theory of triadic influence. We assessed the predictive value of these factors with respect to binge drinking in German adolescents, including the identification of influence direction.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In the years 2007/2008, a representative written survey of N = 44,610 students in the 9^thgrade of different school types in Germany was carried out (net sample). The return rate of questionnaires was 88% regarding all students whose teachers or school directors had agreed to participate in the study. In this survey, prevalence of binge drinking was investigated as well as potential predictors from the social/interpersonal, the attitudinal/environmental, and the intrapersonal fields (3 factors of Petraitis). In a multivariate logistic regression analysis, these variables were included after testing for multicollinearity in order to assess their ability to predict binge drinking.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Prevalence of binge drinking in the last 30 days was 52.3% for the surveyed adolescents with a higher prevalence for boys (56.9%) than for girls (47.5%). The two most influential factors found to protect against binge drinking with <it>p </it>< .001 were low economic status and importance of religion. The four most relevant risk factors for binge drinking (<it>p </it>< .001) were life-time prevalence of school absenteeism/truancy, academic failure, suicidal thoughts, and violence at school in the form of aggressive behavior of teachers. The model of Petraitis was partly confirmed for Binge Drinking in German adolescents and the direction of influence factors was clarified.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Whereas some of the risk and protective factors for binge drinking are not surprising since they are known for substance abuse in general, there are two points that could be targeted in interventions that do not focus on adolescents alone: (a) training teachers in positive, reassuring behavior and constructive criticism and (b) a focus on high risk adolescents either because they have a lack of coping strategies when in a negative mood or because of their low academic achievement in combination with absenteeism from school.</p

Community forest management in Indonesia: Avoided deforestation in the context of anthropogenic and climate complexities

Community forest management has been identified as a win-win option for reducing deforestation while improving the welfare of rural communities in developing countries. Despite considerable investment in community forestry globally, systematic evaluations of the impact of these policies at appropriate scales are lacking. We assessed the extent to which deforestation has been avoided as a result of the Indonesian government’s community forestry scheme, Hutan Desa (Village Forest). We used annual data on deforestation rates between 2012 and 2016 from two rapidly developing islands: Sumatra and Kalimantan. The total area of Hutan Desa increased from 750 km2 in 2012 to 2500 km2 in 2016. We applied a spatial matching approach to account for biophysical variables affecting deforestation and Hutan Desa selection criteria. Performance was assessed relative to a counterfactual likelihood of deforestation in the absence of Hutan Desa tenure. We found that Hutan Desa management has successfully achieved avoided deforestation overall, but performance has been increasingly variable through time. Hutan Desa performance was influenced by anthropogenic and climatic factors, as well as land use history. Hutan Desa allocated on watershed protection forest or limited production forest typically led to a less avoided deforestation regardless of location. Conversely, Hutan Desa granted on permanent or convertible production forest had variable performance across different years and locations. The amount of rainfall during the dry season in any given year was an important climatic factor influencing performance. Extremely dry conditions during drought years pose additional challenges to Hutan Desa management, particularly on peatland, due to increased vulnerability to fire outbreaks. This study demonstrates how the performance of Hutan Desa in avoiding deforestation is fundamentally affected by biophysical and anthropogenic circumstances over time and space. Our study improves understanding on where and when the policy is most effective with respect to deforestation, and helps identify opportunities to improve policy implementation. This provides an important first step towards evaluating the overall effectiveness of this policy in achieving both social and environmental goals