The market of human experimentation

How should experiments on humans be regulated and controlled? Is it possible to create an equilibrium between the optimal protection of patients’ rights and all the other interests involved? This paper analyzes the problem from a Law and Economics point of view and tries to develop a theoretical model that would provide a way to achieve that equilibrium, both in terms of effectiveness and efficiency, a model in which the interaction between different parties can lead to a market where information is exchanged for innovation. This paper is based on work that has been done up to now by other sciences, like medicine and bioethics, treating the issue with an alternative approach in order to propose an oversight system able to give an answer to this unsolved problem. This work is mainly aimed at defining the rules of the market in Europe, including its actors and their interactions using both a normative and a positive approach. Both the behavior of rational people and that of bounded ones are analyzed, as well as the strategies that can be applied against the latter by stronger parties. Finally, the public stakeholder’s role in preventing this from happening is analyzed.     

The patentability of human beings: the effect of a proposed exclusion in the Patents Act 1953

The author critically examines the debate over whether "human beings" ought to be patentable. The article outlines the choices between excluding just the patenting of whole organisms or parts of organisms. After considering New Zealand, Canadian, and European Union Patent law, the author concludes that at very least New Zealand must statutorily prevent the patenting of whole organisms.     

Stopping the illegal trafficking of human beings

The transnational sex industry experienced a surge during the 1990swith the breakup of the former Soviet Union. The virtual enslavementof a growing number of women into the global prostitution market fromthis region of the world has begun to be documented in an on-goingmanner by independent non-governmental organizations that trackmigration patterns and international criminal activity. The emergenceof this phenomenon in Europe expands the study of the transnationalsex industry well beyond Southeast Asia and Asia, where it has beenexamined primarily to date. Governments and internationalgovernmental organizations such as the United Nations are also nowfocusing on this issue from local and global perspectives. In thispaper, the roles that transnational police organizations can play, andhave been playing, regarding preventing and investigating the activitiesof the transnational sex industry, are explored. After sketching thescope of the problem, identifying the players of interest, and examiningthe roles that they have been performing to date, recommendations areoffered for strengthening police response in this area.