Patricia Stapleton > regulation

Tag Archive: regulation

Stories to watch: genetic engineering in 2016

The last months of 2015 brought genetic engineering back to the front pages with several major news stories, particularly the FDA’s approval of genetically engineered salmon and breakthroughs in the use of Crispr-Cas9 (a gene-editing technology). Often when I talk to people about my research, they want to know if GMOs are safe to eat, but the debate over GMOs – and genetic engineering more broadly – is much bigger than questions of scientific risk assessment and management. These two recent stories highlight how much the debate focuses on questions of ethics too. I’ve talked a little about Crispr before, so let’s turn to genetically engineered (GE) salmon. Scientists have been working on GE salmon for over two decades, however…

Assisted Reproductive Technology, Biotechnology, Food Safety

, , , , , ,

02

Jan

2016

Biopolitics & Utopia: An Interdisciplinary Reader

It’s finally here! I’m very excited to announce that my most recent edited collection, Biopolitics and Utopia: An Interdisciplinary Reader, is now out from Palgrave Macmillan. Andrew Byers, a visiting assistant professor in History at Duke University, and I worked hard on bringing together an excellent group of contributors from the US, Canada, Malaysia, and Australia. The project grew out of a panel Andrew and I put together for the Society for Utopian Studies Conference in 2013. The focus of the panel was “Biopolitics and Utopian/Dystopian Politics”. For readers looking to understand what we mean by “biopolitics”, we think of the concept as the strategies pursued and the actions taken by the state to control its citizens at the “level…

Publications

, , ,

28

Jun

2015

A Greener Walmart?

Last month, Walmart announced “its commitment to create a more sustainable food system.” As The New York Times noted in its report on the announcement, Walmart is “the United States’ largest grocer, and food is its biggest business. So it has enormous clout with food producers and food processing companies…” As a major player, if Walmart succeeds in its “four pillar” initiatives, its efforts can have a significant impact on how food is produced and sold in the US. The four pillars (affordable, accessible, healthier, safe & transparent) touch upon the main aspects of our food system, namely consumer rights, food safety, and public health issues. This kind of initiative highlights how big corporations can create standards that exceed the…

Food Safety

, , , , ,

02

Nov

2014

Debating Paid Surrogacy

The New York Times has recently published a series of articles on assisted reproductive technology and on surrogacy in particular. “Room for Debate” has hosted a discussion on surrogacy, with five experts weighing in on the legal and ethical ramifactions of the practice. An article from September 17th further highlights the piecemeal regulatory approach we have in the US for dealing with surrogacy and surrogate contracts. The author, Tamar Lewin, notes that “Seventeen states have laws permitting surrogacy, but they vary greatly in both breadth and restrictions. In 21 states, there is neither a law nor a published case regarding surrogacy…” The wide disparity among state regulations leaves potential parents vulnerable to contract violations. Moreover, the vast differences among states…

Assisted Reproductive Technology

, , ,

28

Sep

2014

(Infertility + Lack of Regulation) x Capitalism = Surrogacy Tourism

I tweeted recently about an article by Tamar Lewin in The New York Times, “A Surrogacy Agency That Delivered Heartache,” which looked at the disreputable business practices of a “medical tourism company.” The title of this post, (Infertility + Lack of Regulation) x Capitalism = Surrogacy Tourism, was meant to be a little snarky, but it also has deeper meaning. A lack of comprehensive and clear federal regulation of reproductive medicine here in the United States, as well as spotty coverage by insurance companies, impels American patients to look abroad for other options. While the practice is more common for people seeking cosmetic surgery, clinics are beginning to tap into the demand for assisted reproductive technology (ART). There are different…

Assisted Reproductive Technology

, , , ,

03

Aug

2014

Food Fight in Maine

A June 18th article in The New York Times, “Maine Court Fight Pits Farmers Against State and One Another,” reveals some of the challenges of regulating local food production and sales. In brief, Jess Bidgood looks at Dan Brown’s efforts to sell unpasteurized milk at his farm stand in Maine. After a few years of selling the milk, along with some other items, state regulators told Brown he must stop because he didn’t have a distributor’s license and he wasn’t using proper labeling. Bidgood writes that “The case has pitted the state against some small-scale farmers and stirred a feud between new homesteaders and longtime family farmers.” The case also provides a good example of the push-and-pull between the different…

Food Safety

, , , ,

02

Aug

2014