Assisted reproductive technologies and the pitfalls of unregulated biomedical innovation

This Article suggests that the time has come to reconsider the safety and effectiveness of fertility drugs in order to combat some of the continuing problems arising from the overly aggressive use of assisted reproductive technologies, especially the health hazards associated with multifetal pregnancies. After critically assessing the arguments made by some commentators about the power of malpractice law to curb any abuses of fertility clinics and specialists, the Article concludes that the Food and Drug Administration should consider restricting or withdrawing pharmaceutical products used to induce ovulation. Although such a drastic move would not prevent the continued use of in vitro fertilization and other advanced fertility treatments, it would dramatically reduce the frequency of multifetal pregnancies, and it should not run afoul of any constitutional protections of procreative liberty.     

Book reviews

An Artificial Intelligence Approach to Legal Reasoning Anne Von Der Leith Gardner MIT Press 1987. £20.25

Design—The Modern Law and Practice Ian Morris and Barry Quest Butterworths. 1987. £45

Computers and the Law Richard Mawry and Keith Salmon BSP Professional Books,(Oxford, London, Edinburgh) 1988, £19.95

Television by Satellite—Legal Aspects Stephen de B. Bate (ed.) ESC Publishing Limited. 1987. £32.75.

Computer Software: Legal Protection in the United Kingdom Henry Carr E.S.C. Publishing Ltd 1987, £32.50.

Patents in Chemistry and Biotechnology Philip W Grubb Clarendon Press 1987. £12.50.

The International Handbook on Computer Crime Computer‐related Economic Crime and the Infringements of Privacy Ulrich Sieber John Wiley & Sons 1987. £24.95.

Computer Law: Theory and Practice Naomi Assia Advocate     

Elite Indigenous Masculinity in Textual Representations of Aboriginal Service in the Vietnam War

This article analyses three texts that feature Aboriginal soldiers or veterans of the Vietnam War as protagonists: the novel Not Quite Men, No Longer Boys (1999), the play Seems Like Yesterday (2001) and the Redfern Now television episode “The Dogs of War” (2013). In all three texts, military service in Vietnam inculcates among the protagonists sentiments constitutive of what Brendan Hokowhitu refers to as elite Indigenous masculinity—the mimicry and appropriation of white hegemonic masculinity. Constructing themselves as elite Indigenous males allows the Aboriginal soldiers/veterans to position themselves as superior to “other” Aboriginal males. Through the course of the texts, though, the protagonists come to realise that elite Indigenous masculinity is a myth because civilian (white) Australia will continue to judge them the same as other Aboriginal men. Through encounters with other Aboriginal men, the Aboriginal soldiers/veterans are able to reconceptualise their own masculinities and to accept the legitimacy of multiple Aboriginal masculinities.     

CustomNegotiations.org: A Free Resource for Creating Custom Negotiation Simulations

Negotiation role‐playing simulations are among the most effective and widely used methods for teaching and conducting research on negotiations. Teachers and researchers can either license a published, “off‐the‐shelf” simulation or write their own custom “bespoke” simulation. Off‐the‐shelf simulations are usually high‐quality, include teaching materials, and are typically priced affordably, whereas bespoke simulations are fully customizable and ensure that participants will face a novel challenge. In this article, I introduce a third option: CustomNegotiations.org, a free resource for creating custom negotiation simulations that have the benefits of both off‐the‐shelf and bespoke simulations. I describe this resource and preview how negotiation instructors can use it to customize simulations for their own classes. I also discuss possible future directions for this kind of platform.     

Parallel informal negotiation: A new kind of international dialogue

Bargaining in the international arena is intrinsically positional. Negotiators are often instructed by their governments not to improvise or explore new options when they meet with their counterparts — even though the invention of additional tradeoffs or packages might well produce better results for all sides. This article describes an approach that we call parallel informal negotiation which encourages a collaborative effort between contending groups that were officially not even allowed to interact: international trade and environment policy makers.