The issue of standing in cost-benefit analysis

Insufficient attention has been given in cost-benefit analysis to whose benefits are to be counted. Foreigners, illegal aliens, fetuses, and criminals are problematic cases. Persons or entities may be given “standing” by participation in decision processes; by having their preferences counted, if meaningful preferences exist; by having their welfare counted, if they cannot express their preferences; or by representation by others whom they do not choose. Problems of standing arise in the valuation of life, the consideration of future generations and nonhuman entities, and equity weighting. These problem may be treated by altering the scope of the expert community or by interaction between that community and the political community. They are not always resolvable, but should be treated more explicitly.     

Community Participation, the Environment, and Democracy: Brazil in Comparative Perspective

Grassroots environmental activism among Latin America's poor has altered the debate over environmental policy, social welfare, and citizenship. Yet the question remains whether this social mobilization of the poor is part of a larger trend toward broader environmental concerns and democratic political participation, or a shortlived movement susceptible to the same pressures that have dissolved community mobilization in the past. This article compares Brazil with other Latin American and European countries in surveys of environmental awareness, concerns, and reported behavior. It finds that Brazilians residing in the urban periphery link their own local environmental concerns to more global considerations, and that concern for and activism on environmental issues is positively related to wider community involvement.     

Further studies on spot tests and microcrystal tests for identification of cocaine

The presence of cocaine in illicit drug samples is still being determined in some laboratories using spot tests and microcrystal tests. Seventeen chemical species were tested using three different spot tests (Wagner, Marquis, and cobalt thiocyanate followed by stannous chloride reactions) and two microcrystal tests (gold chloride and platinic chloride) to determine whether the results could be differentiated from the results of these tests on cocaine. The data obtained indicated that nine of the 17 compounds gave results similar to those from cocaine using the three spot tests, but that the results from microcrystal testing allowed for differentiation of all nine compounds from cocaine.