Fatal overdose of the herbicide bentazone

A 59-year-old woman who intentionally ingested 100-200 ml Basagran was taken to the hospital with a cardiac arrest 2 days after she had consumed the herbicide. During this period she suffered vomiting, urination and diarrhoea and she was drowsy with a muddled speech. Biological samples obtained at the autopsy were analysed and presence of bentazone, alcohol and an active metabolite of citalopram were detected. Blood concentrations of bentazone, alcohol and desmethyl-citalopram were 625 mg/kg, 0.62 g/l and 0.03 mg/kg, respectively.     

Aktuelle Fragen und Entwicklungen des europäischen Bodenschutzrechts

Am 22.9.2006 legte die Kommission der Europ?ischen Gemeinschaften einen Vorschlag für eine Richtlinie zur Schaffung eines Ordnungsrahmens für den Bodenschutz und zur ?nderung der Richtlinie 2004/35/EG vor. Bereits der Titel zeigt einerseits, dass dieser Entwurf einer Bodenrahmenrichtlinie (BRRL-E) zwar den lange erwarteten Einbezug des Mediums Boden in das europ?ische Umweltschutzrecht endgültig ansto?en würde, andererseits, dass der Boden kein europarechtlich v?llig ungeregeltes Umweltmedium darstellt. Bei der durch den Vorschlag zu ?ndernden Richtlinie 2004/35/EG handelt es sich um die Umwelthaftungsrichtline (UH-RL). Mit dieser ist durch den Einbezug einer Sch?digung des Bodens in den Begriff des Umweltschadens bereits ein gro?er Schritt in Richtung eines zielgerichteten europ?ischen Bodenschutzes getan worden. Der nachfolgende Beitrag stellt ausgehend von einem Kurzüberblick zu den bislang bestehenden Regeln zum Schutz des Bodens im europ?ischen Umweltrecht (I.) zun?chst den Bodenschutz nach der Umwelthaftungsrichtlinie dar (II.), um im Anschluss den Vorschlag der Bodenrahmenrichtlinie vorzustellen (III.). Im Teil IV. wird das Bodenschutzrecht nach der UH-RL und dem BRRL-E betrachtet, dabei zeigen sich sowohl unterschiedliche Ans?tze der Regelwerke als auch ein Fortschritt des zielgerichteten Bodenschutzes auf europ?ischer Ebene.     

“Carve‐outs” from the workers' compensation system

Decentralized regulation has become increasingly important in many areas; examples range from school vouchers to workplace safety committees to alternative dispute resolution procedures replacing courts. Consistent with this trend, in 1993 California permitted construction unions and employers to “carve out” their own workers' compensation system. This study examines California's early experience with carve‐outs by analyzing two case studies, a survey of all carve‐outs in existence during the study period, and preliminary data on costs and dispute frequency at one carve‐out. Overall, carve‐outs do not appear to harm employees, and sometimes they help. At the same time, data analysis of one carve‐out showed it had no effect on costs and dispute rates. Moreover, the low involvement of union officials and the many issues that overlap other parts of workplace regulation raise concerns about decentralizing workers' compensation. Lessons can be learned for other spheres of regulation. © 2002 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.     

Sexual fantasy in paedophile offenders: Can any model explain satisfactorily new findings from a study of Internet and contact sexual offenders?

Purpose. There is widespread acceptance that sexual fantasy plays a role in sexual offences but little clarity as the nature of this relationship. This paper seeks to understand better the role of fantasy in offending behaviour through the study of sexual fantasy in Internet child pornography offenders when compared with contact offenders. Differences in the patterns of sexual fantasy associated with the different offender types are explored in order to understand how fantasy content is associated with contact offences with children and desisting from such direct acting out. Methods. Participants were all convicted of child sexual offences and recruited with the help of the probation and prison services. Out of these, 16 were Internet‐only offenders, 25 were contact offenders with no history of Internet offending and 10 were offenders with a mixed contact and Internet offending history. A variety of self‐completion questionnaires including fantasy were completed on an individual basis together with a detailed interview. Results. The most common sexual fantasies were typical adult‐male heterosexual fantasies though a variety of child‐oriented and other fantasies were also common. Contact offenders reported fewer girl‐oriented sexual fantasies although the groups did not differ in terms of terms of boy‐oriented fantasies. There was evidence that confrontational fantasies were commoner among contact offenders than Internet offenders. There are relationships between early sexual experiences and fantasy but peer sexual contacts seemed to be important rather than sexual abuse. Conclusion. Generally, the contact offenders seem to have less sexual fantasy pertinent to their offending than did Internet offenders. Fantasy deficit may be involved in contact offending against children.     

Developing Conceptualisations of Europeanisation: A Study of Financial Services

In its most explicit form Europeanisation is conceptualised as the process of downloading European Union (EU) directives, regulations and institutional structures to the domestic level. However, this conceptualisation of Europeanisation has been extended in the literature in terms of up-loading to the EU shared beliefs, informal and formal rules, discourse, identities and vertical and horizontal policy transfer. This article undertakes a study of banking, investment and insurance directives to analyse the impact of Europeanisation on the UK financial services sector.     

Public versus private ownership: The federal lands case

“Privatization” of public lands has been urged on the grounds that it will provide a more efficient allocation of the nation's resources. However, there are some public policy objectives which private ownership and free markets are not equipped to achieve. Historically, these objectives have motivated legislation authorizing retention of some land in public ownership. Indeed, land in both forms of ownership is required to achieve a full range of both public and private goods and services. However, since inefficiencies in the allocation of resources will occur under either form of ownership, careful monitoring of economic activities in both sectors is more likely to achieve improvements than arguing for exclusive reliance on only one system of property rights.     

HELPING CHILDREN SUCCEED AFTER DIVORCE

In an effort to prevent some of the well-documented problems that occur in children and families undergoing divorce, a parent education program, Helping children Succeed After Divorce, was developed and mandated by a domestic relations court in a major metropolitan area. The purpose of the parent seminar is to educate divorcing parents about the effects of divorce and continued conflict on their children and to specify concrete actions that divorcing parents can take to help their children. The seminar's intent is to prevent long-term emotional, social, and academic problems among children of divorce. This article addresses the development, operation, and preliminary evaluation results of this psychoeducational program for divorcing parents.