Legal aspects of pesticides and toxic substances testing requirements

Abstract

The United States Environmental Protection Agency administers several laws and progrms through which it reviews the hazard potential of pesticides and other toxic substances which may present a risk to human health or the environment. The Agency's ability to assess hazard as required by law depends in part on test data developed through testing standards in Agency regulations. In reviewing the Agency's actions in this regard, the courts emphasize the importance of reasoned regulatory decisions. The legal requirements to assess risk and provide reasoned decisions in this regard establish the legal importance of testing guidelines and test data, and indicate that sound test methodology is as important legally as it is scientifically.     

Safety teams. Government and business organizations want them and use them, but are they legal?

BACKGROUND: Safety teams have become a popular means to recognize and prevent injuries in the workplace. In fact, organizations, such as OSHA, NIOSH, NIEHS, DOE, and the Ohio BWC, not only encourage safety teams, but have implemented them in their organizations. However, safety teams may not be legal as defined by NLRB Act Sections 2(5) and 8(a)(2). OBJECTIVE: To determine whether safety teams are illegal labor organizations. METHODS: A review of government regulations, safety programs, and safety teams was performed to create a framework of what types of safety programs/regulations are requested and/or required by a variety of government agencies. Next, these requirements were compared to existing case law on illegal labor organizations as defined by the NLRB. RESULTS: Most safety teams and programs, even those implemented by the Federal Government, are illegal labor organizations as defined by NLRB Act Sections 2(5) and 8(a)(2). CONCLUSIONS: The Federal Government needs to amend existing legislation and develop a revision of the NLRB Act that would allow safety teams to function legally in organizations without having to meet intrusive, constricting guidelines that may inhibit the value of safety teams. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: Organizations must be aware that safety teams may be valuable in reducing job-related accidents and injuries but they may be illegal labor organizations.     

Significant developments in sustainable development law and governance: A proposal

This article develops a practical proposal for progress on sustainable development law. It examines the prospects for an international sustainable development law to provide a framework for more effective, coherent governance. Sustainable development law is briefly defined and an analytical framework is provided. Different degrees of integration between economic, social and environmental law are described. Certain principles of international law related to sustainable development are also highlighted. It is argued that these principles may serve to guide law‐makers and jurists where social, economic and environmental law and policy conflict or overlap. Continuing, underlying questions of sustainable development governance are addressed and its global frameworks analysed. The article also focuses on the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development, held in Johannesburg in August‐September 2002, and its specific mandate for the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) to take related legal developments into account. The article advances a proposal: that governments, economic, social and environmental intergovernmental organizations and other actors establish a ‘network of inquiry’ with members from relevant groups, including legal and academic organizations, and other expert groups, in order to follow, research, analyse and debate legal developments in a balanced way.     

环境税法律问题研究

在市场经济条件下，环境保护有必要更好地运用经济手段。环境税是一项重要的经济激励制度，但在我国仍是个新概念。探讨了环境税的概念特征、理论依据、税种和税制设计。     

耕地转用许可证制度探讨

目前耕地“占用”严重，有必要从法律上界定耕地“转用”，建立耕地转用许可法律制度，按合法，公开，效率，合理原则和法定程序确定耕地转用。     

浅谈我国农村环保法制建设

就我国现行的环保法律法规存在问题，以及对农村环保事业发展的影响进行了探讨，提出了健全和完善我国农村环保法制的设想．以促进农村环境保护的可持续发展。     

有关《环境保护法》的思考

本文综合分析了以环境保护法为基本法的环境保护法律的体系，试图从环境法律关系和法律责任等方面对环境法进行法律属性的分析，得学我国环境管理体制实质上就是环境行政管理体制的结论，环境行政管理必须在法制的轨道上运行，这样才会从根本上解决环境保护的问题，才会使我们的生存环境更加美好。     

Institutional, Legal, and Economic Instruments in Ghana's Environmental Policy

The environmental situation in Ghana is characterized by desertification, land degradation, deforestation, soil erosion, and inadequate water supply in the northern regions of the country. The population as a whole is growing at a rate of 3% per annum, with even greater urban growth rates, due to rural out-migration. Large parts of the coastal zone in the south are rapidly developing to become one large suburbanized area. Water quality is particularly threatened in the urban and industrialized areas, which are mainly located in the southern part of the country. The coastal lagoons and coastal waters are moderately to heavily polluted. Erosion extends along the whole Ghanaian coast with excesses, for example, in the Keta area, where during the last century over 90% of the original buildings have been washed awayby the sea. The obvious environmental consequences of the mining sector are illustrative of the environmental threats caused by a fast growing industry and industrializing agriculture, in a country where environmental policy is only in its formative years. Desertification, food insecurity and coastal erosion all contribute to an increasing number of environmental refugees. Environmental policy in Ghana is a post-Rio phenomenon. Environmental laws, a Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology, an advisory National Committee for the Implementation of Agenda 21, and a fully mandated environmental administration have been established. This administration advocates a progressive attitude towards environmental legislation and points out the specific utility of economic and legal instruments in environmental management in this relatively fast developing country. The choice of instruments for environmental management is increasingly influenced by the specific state of African environmental and technological capacity and by a call for the recognition of the role of traditional customs in nature conservation. This African perspective on environmental management is further intensified by an unmet need for regional, transboundary cooperation in the West African subcontinent. This specific West African context calls for an elaboration of an effective capacity-building program for environmental management in the area.     

论我国环境侵权救济法律制度的完善

环境侵权是随着工业化和城市化的发展而出现的新型侵权行为之一。随着中国经济的迅速发展，由环境污染和生态破坏造成的环境污染侵权现象及其救济已成为中国的一大社会问题。中国目前尚缺乏对环境侵权救济法律制度的全面深入研究，有关立法也不完善，而西方发达国家有关环境侵权救济法的理论和实践已经较为成熟。拟借鉴西方国家的环境侵权救济法律制度，并立足中国国情，提出了完善中国环境侵权救济法律制度的若干建议。     

污染环境的刑事责任问题探讨

根据一些发达国家的法律实践和我国环境保护工作的实际需要,探讨了对环境造成严重恶果的行为,应设立“污染环境罪”来调整人们行为的最后法律手段的必要性,并就污染环境罪的基本特征及与其它法律责任的区别作了分析和阐述,提出在我国刑法中应专条补充设立“污染环境罪”规定的建议。