Koexistenz und Haftung im Gentechnikrecht in rechtsvergleichender Sicht

Die Kultivierung gentechnisch ver?nderter Pflanzen in der Landwirtschaft hat in einigen Staaten wie den USA, Brasilien, Argentinien, Kanada und China bereits erhebliche Ausma?e angenommen. In Europa und zumal in Deutschland befindet sich die „grüne Gentechnik“ dagegen noch in den Kinderschuhen. Nach der Aufhebung des faktischen Moratoriums gegen den Anbau gentechnisch ver?nderter Kulturpflanzen durch die EU im Jahre 2005 ist mit einem langsamen Vordringen der Gentechnik in der Landwirtschaft auch in Europa zu rechnen. Gentechnisch ver?nderte Organismen (GVO) sind lebende Organismen, die sich in der Umwelt vermehren und ausbreiten k?nnen. Die Umwelt stellt ein im Wesentlichen offenes System dar, das nicht hermetisch aufgeteilt und abgeschlossen werden kann. Wo immer GVO in der Umwelt freigesetzt werden, kann daher eine Ausbreitung in der Umwelt nicht grunds?tzlich ausgeschlossen werden. Inwieweit dies eine grunds?tzlich akzeptable Ver?nderung der Umwelt darstellt, die mit den Auswirkungen anderer menschlicher Einwirkungen oder gar natürlichen Ver?nderungen vergleichbar ist, oder es sich um ein ernstes ?kologisches Risiko handelt, ist freilich umstritten. Sowohl der EG-Richtlinie 2001/18/EG über die Freisetzung und das Inverkehrbringen genetisch ver?nderter Produkte als auch dem deutschen Gentechnikgesetz liegt die Wertung zugrunde, dass dies nur im Einzelfall beurteilt werden kann. Soweit der Anbau von GVO-Kulturpflanzen zugelassen wird, geht es darum, etwaige ?kologische und ?konomische Risiken gering zu halten. Neben administrativer Regulierung spielt hier das Haftungsrecht eine zentrale Rolle.     

Bodenschutzrechtliche Ordnungspflichten im Insolvenzverfahren

Seit längerem ist in Rechtsprechung und Literatur umstritten, ¹ ob und in welchem Umfang ein Insolvenzverwalter wegen Gefahren, die von Massegegenständen ausgehen, ordnungsrechtlich haftet. In zwei aktuellen Urteilen hat das BVerwG eine Zustandsverantwortlichkeit des Insolvenzverwalters grundsätzlich anerkannt. Insbesondere durch Freigabe von Massegegenständen kann sich der Insolvenzverwalter aber von der ordnungsrechtlichen Haftung befreien. 1) Vgl. zu dem Streit zwischen Insolvenz- und Verwaltungsrechtlern, Verwaltungs- und Zivilgerichten: Uhlenbruck KTS 2004, 275ff.; Kothe ZfIR 2004, 1ff.; Häsemeyer in: FS Uhlenbruck, 2000, S. 97ff.; Franz NuR 2000, 496ff.     

Schools and the prevention of petty crime: Search for a missing link

Earlier research on the relation between school features and petty crime suggests that schools can intentionally influence the crime rate of the pupils. These findings were the starting point for a Dutch study at secondary schools of the same type in Dutch towns. The study focused on effects on the delinquency of third-year low-stream pupils (aged 15–17). For the study a control theory was formulated, a conditional control theory, which, in contrast to Hirschi's social control theory, recognizes possible delinquent influences of the pupils' network. In the study a strong statistical relation between integration of pupils in school and petty crime was found. However, I found almost no influence of the studied school features on integration and petty crime. These results led to the question whether the real important feature of schools had been neglected in the study. This seems not to be the case. A multilevel analysis shows that it is unlikely that there is major impact of schools on the integration of pupils, on delinquency, or on the relationship between integration and delinquency. This can be the result of special aspects of the Dutch school system and of the neglect of theory in earlier research.     

Book reviews

Transborder Data Flows (Proceedings of an OECD Conference) Edited by Hans‐Peter Gassmann North Holland (Elsevier Science Publishers) 1985, US$74.00

Plastic and Electronic Money: New Payment Systems and Their Implications Patrick Frazer Woodhead Faulkner Limited 1985 £35

A User's Guide To Computer Contracting: Forms, Techniques and Strategies Davis, Allen, Bowman and Armstrong Harcourt Brace Jovanovich 1985, $75

Legal Protection of Computer Programs and Data C. Millard Sweet & Maxwell/Stevens 1985, £24

Piracy of Phonograms Gillian Davies ESC Publishing Ltd. 1986. 2nd edition. £17.95.

Biotechnology and Patent Protection—An International Review F. K. Beier, R. S. Crespi and J. Straus O.E.C.D. 1985, £5

Protecting Privacy in Two‐Way Electronic Services David H. Flaherty Mansell Publishing Company 1985, £23.50

High‐Tech Espionage Jay Tuck Sidgwick and Jackson Ltd 1980, £10.95     

Defining risk

Risk is the focal topic in the management of many activities and technologies. For that management to be successful, an explicit and accepted definition of the term risk is essential. Creation of that definition is a political act, expressing the definers' values regarding the relative importance of different possible adverse consequences for a particular decision. Those values, and with them the definition of risk, can change with changes in the decisionmaker, the technologies considered, or the decision problem. After a review of the sources of controversy in defining risk, a general framework is developed, showing how these value issues can be systematically addressed. As an example, the approach is applied to characterizing the risks of six competing energy technologies, the relative riskeness of which depends upon the particular definition used.     

Inner-city birth rates following enactment of the Minnesota parental notification law

An increase in birth rates to Minneapolis minors following the enactment of a parental notification law was examined. A well-publicized link between increasing birth rates and the law is shown to have been premature. Birth, abortion, and population data by age, race, and region suggest that the increasing birth rate in Minneapolis was not related to parental notification, but rather to a growing racial minority population.Preparation of this article was supported in part by an Aldeen Grant from Wheaton College. The authors wish to thank the Minnesota Center for Health Statistics, particularly James Wigginton and Carol Vargas, for their considerable work to provide birth, abortion, and population data in a form suitable for the current analysis. The authors also thank Americans United for Life for purchasing the data and providing them to the authors.     

Reviews

Barbara Caine and Rosemary Pringle (eds), Transitions: New Australian Feminisms (Allen & Unwin) 1995.

Peta Tait, Converging Realities: Feminism in Australian Theatre (Currency Press) Sydney, 1994.

Pauline Johnson, Feminism as Radical Humanism (Allen & Unwin) St Leonards, 1994.

Denise Russell, Women, Madness and Medicine (Polity Press) Cambridge, 1995.

R.W‐ Connell, Masculinities (Allen & Unwin) St Leonards, 1995.

Margaret Maynard, Fashioned from Penury: Dress as Cultural Practice in Colonial Australia (Cambridge University Press) Melbourne, 1994.

Joy Damousi, Women Come Rally: Socialism, Communism and Gender in Australia, 1890–1955 (Oxford University Press) Melbourne, 1995.

Susan Sheridan, Along the Faultlines: Sex, Race and Nation in Australian Women's Writing, 1880s—1930s (Allen & Unwin) Sydney, 1995.     

The correlates of spouses' incongruent reports of marital aggression

Husbands' and wives' reports (n=97 couples) of engaging in or experiencing marital aggression were compared to determine congruence. Congruence was defined as spousal agreement on whether either spouse had been nonviolent, mildly violent, or severely maritally violent within the past year. Whereas approximately equal numbers of clinic couples were incongruent for husband and for wife violence (32% vs. 31%), only incongruence for husband violence (H W) was found to correlate with reports of affective and relationship functioning. Incongruent H W wives were more likely to be depressed and angry. H W incongruent wives were also more negative about the inter-spousal communication and rated the relationship as more unsatisfactory for them than did congruent wives. Incongruent H W husbands also perceived the relationship more negatively, but their levels of depression and anger did not differ from congruent H W husbands. These findings were not replicated for spouses who were incongruent for wife violence. Our results support the conclusion that spousal disagreement about H W violence has a more negative impact than does disagreement about wives' level of aggression.