Correlation of lead and cadmium in human urine.

A statistical evaluation of the relationship between elevated concentrations of lead and cadmium in human urine is presented. The importance of the 24-hour continuously collected urine sample is confirmed.     

Community participation in the certificate-of-need process: a look at ten-taxpayer groups in Massachusetts

Certificate-of-need statutes give designated state agencies veto power over investment in health care facilities. Some states have sought to temper the arbitrary character of this power by expanding the opportunities for community input into the certificate-of-need process. Massachusetts, for example, has enacted a statute that allows groups of ten taxpayers to petition for a public hearing on any certificate-of-need application. Some observers question whether the benefits of taxpayer-group participation are substantial enough to compensate for the delays and abuses that the statute allegedly invites. To help resolve this question, this Comment examines historical data on Massachusetts taxpayer groups and on their activities and assesses the significance of their composition and tactics to the certificate-of-need process. Although flaws exist in the Massachusetts ten-taxpayer mechanism, in this writer's view it has succeeded partially in making the certificate-of-need process responsive to community opinion. Many groups lack the skills and qualities needed to make constructive use of the ten-taxpayer mechanism. Nevertheless, it serves a valuable purpose by creating a public forum for and by encouraging public participation in the certificate-of-need process, especially by those who might otherwise try to circumvent that process through use of special legislation, of private pressure, or of other similar means.     

The Struggle For Jurisdiction: Regionalism Versus Rationalism

Territory, national versus regional, has been at the basis ofclaims to power in most federations, and Canada is no exception.But regionalism has had to contend with another perspectiveon political power in Canada: economic rationalism or entrepreneurism,which views its own conduct and that of government as the maximizationof economic profit. As advocated by the federal government,most particularly under Trudeau, economic rationalism conceivedof a division of powers that is efficient, least costly, flexible,hierarchical, systematic, and rational. This pursuit of omnicompetenceand unrestricted jurisdiction has resulted in unilateral federalisminitiated by Ottawa and rejoindered by provinces. It constitutesa major challenge to cooperative relations and an abdicationby the national government of its brokerage role between theinterests of the extensive and intensive communities in Canada.