Toxic chemical regulation in Canada: preliminary estimates of costs and benefits

Abstract. This paper makes an assessment of the impact of toxic chemical regulation in Canada. Ranges of costs and benefits, supplemented by survey information, analogous American data, interviews and case studies have been used to demonstrate the general usefulness of a cost-benefit framework for public sector decision-making even where information availability is constrained and complete analysis is not feasible. It is concluded that, with few exceptions, the impact of environmental regulation on chemical producers in Canada is neither excessive nor unduly onerous. Sommaire. Les auteurs de cette étude évaluent l'impact de la réglementation se rapportant aux produits chimiques toxiques au Canada. Des gammes coûtsrendements, étoffées par une enquête, des données américaines de même nature, des entrevues et des études de cas ont servi de base pour démontrer l'utilité générale d'un cadre coêts-rendements au niveau de la prise de décision dans le secteur public, même lorsque l'information est limitée et qu'une analyse complète est impossible. lls concluent qu'à quelques exceptions près, les règlements sur la protection de l'environnement ne sont, pour les fabricants de produits chimiques au Canada, ni excessifs ni trop onéreux.     

Health habits and depression in adolescence

In a study of the relationship between health habits and depression, 80 high school students, selected on an availability basis, were administered a Health Behaviors Questionnaire (HBQ) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). The HBQ and the BDI significantly correlated (r=0.43p<0.01). Those who smoked were more frequently depressed than those who did not (X ²=10.5p<0.05), and those who used drugs other than marijuana were depressed more frequently than those who did not (X ²=9.2p<0.01). Mildly overweight boys (overweight by more than 5% of their ideal weight) and mildly under-weight boys (underweight by more than 5% of their ideal weight) were moreThis research was supported in part by a grant from the American Diabetes Association and by National institute of Health Grant MH 15529.Received his M.D. at George Washington School of Medicine. Major interest is interface of child psychiatry and pediatrics.Received his M.D. at Downstate Medical Center, State University of New York. Major interest is metabolic changes in adolescence.Received her M.A. from Queens College, New York. Major interest is measurement of human behavior.Received his M.D. from the University of Wisconsin. Major interest is adolescent sexuality.Received her Ph.D. in psychology from Hofstra University. Major interest is evaluation of clinical programs. depressed than boys of normal weight (p<0.02). The more pounds underweight the girls were, the more depressed they were (r=0.482, p<0.05). The closer the weight of a girl who perceived herself as overweight was to her ideal weight, the more depressed she was (r=–0.428,p<0.05).     

Of mice and men: will the intersection of social science and genetics create new approaches for intimate partner violence?

The past two decades have yielded a recognition that intimate partner violence is ubiquitous. Although violence within relationships is bidirectional, there is acknowledgment that violence directed against women is more persistent and dangerous. Strategies for treatment of men have been largely unsuccessful, and studies of women centered approaches to prevention are in their infancy. An emerging concept in the brain-behavior field is the recognition of genetics as a powerful influence on aggressive and violent behaviors. Mouse models of human health and disease have facilitated our understanding of the role of genetics in the manifestation of these traits. There is a need to push the boundaries of research on intimate partner violence by adopting biosocial approaches to understand its causes.     

Uniform State Law Adoptions in the American States: An Explanatory Analysis

No general explanation seems to distinguish popular from unpopularuniform state law proposals. Adoption appears to be a productof the timeliness of specific proposals rather than of the wisdomor "necessity" of the movement itself or of the purely technical,legal, or policy merits of individual proposals. Overall, thestates have not been highly responsive to uniform law proposals.The predominant factor discriminating high from low adoptingstates is political culture: moralistic states have, on average,the highest adoption rate; traditionalistic states have thelowest. This finding is plausible in terms of both the "goodcommonwealth" orientation of the moralistic political cultureand the "good government" orientation of many uniform law proposals.     

The New Federalism Game: Primacy Implementation of Environmental Policy

Federal environmental laws have substantially preempted statepowers over pollution control. Many of these laws contain aunique implementation scheme called "primacy," which offersa state the opportunity to become the primary enforcement agentfor federal policies. Primacy relieves the federal governmentfrom enforcing laws within state boundaries even while it retainsultimate control over the policies involved and sets minimumstandards. By and large, states have chosen to accept primacy.Characteristics of the units involved in the implementationprocess explain much of this success. Deviations from the expectedpatterns reveal how states can manipulate primacy to their ownadvantage. It is possible, however, that game playing by thestates under primacy could undermine the ultimate goals of nationalenvironmental policies.