Ignorance is bliss: self-regulation and Ag-Gag laws in the American meat industry

Abstract

In America, we like to say that we live in a democracy. Yet, it is difficult to believe that the majority would allow current practices to continue if citizens knew how the food animals they eat are treated – both during their short lives and during slaughter. The problem is that the citizens don’t know, and it is not a case of willful blindness. Take a moment to recall what you know about our meat industry. Can’t think of much? That is the goal of the meat industry: out of sight, out of mind. In several states, so called ‘Ag-Gag’ laws are designed to keep the truth from the public. In those states, it is a felony to obtain a job with the intent of being a whistle blower. The meat industry knows that if it were to be exposed, the public would demand better treatment of animals, a demand that would decrease profits for the meat industry. This paper will explain these ‘Ag-Gag’ laws in detail, explore their effect on our society, shed light on the practices that the meat industry tries – very successfully – to hide from voters and consumers, and examine the scary results that can occur when an industry is allowed to regulate itself.     

论我国缺陷产品召回法律制度的完善

2007年8月27日,国家质量监督检验检疫总局公布了《食品召回管理规定》和《儿童玩具召回管理规定》,使缺陷产品召回成为人们关注的热点。缺陷产品召回成本与召回法律制度有着密切的联系。从召回成本的角度来分析现有的法律,为我国召回法律制度的完善提供了一种新思路。     

我国产品责任领域惩罚性损害赔偿制度探析

在我国产品责任领域确立惩罚性赔偿制度,能够满足消费者维权需要,有效地提高产品的质量。进一步完善这一制度,应借鉴美国相关制度的规定,突出该制度在填补被害人所受损害、惩罚侵害权利的行为、阻吓侵害行为再度发生等方面的特性,进一步明确适用惩罚性损害赔偿的条件:以故意、恶意或完全漠视他人权利为主观要件;侵权行为具有不法性和应受谴责性;侵权造成严重的损害后果。     

Reforming Indian agriculture and the rise of farmer's protest in India: Tracing the discourse and the way ahead

The Indian government unveiled new farm legislation on September 27, 2020, with the goal of empowering the farming community. According to the government, new farm regulations will reduce the reliance of indigenous farmers on the mandi (market yard) system, which is now in place and is quite exploitative and full of middlemen and legal cartels. The regulations made contract farming lawful with the intention of luring private sector investment in bolstering agricultural supply chains and infrastructure to give farmers better pricing. But these rules are referred to as repressive and anti-farmer by the farming community. Farmers believe that eliminating the mandi system will eliminate the minimum support price (MSP) mechanism and that contract farming will ultimately be damaging, enticing major corporations and private investors to bind them to unfair contracts that will result in exploitation. Farmers' demonstrations have begun as a result in the former territory of the green revolution. In order to determine if the new farm regulations introduced by the central government are indeed beneficial to the rural community or not, the article followed the debate among many academics, policy makers, economists, researchers, stakeholders, and politicians (the government's spokesman). The article's main focus is on analysing the farmers' demand for the new farm rules to be repealed and the economic justification for their opposition. Additionally, it contends that new farm rules will encourage capitalistic farming and endanger the viability of farming communities, particularly small and marginal farms (S&M).     

侵占罪与挪用型犯罪视角下的货币所有权

货币是刑法分则规定的一些犯罪的犯罪对象,但货币作为一种特殊的种类物,在所有权转移方面有其特殊性,即谁占有货币,谁就取得所有权。据此分析刑法分则规定的与货币的这一特殊性关系密切的一些犯罪,会发现货币不应成为侵占罪的犯罪对象;货币作为挪用型犯罪的犯罪对象时其犯罪客体应是货币的所有权。     

也谈我国产品责任法的归责原则

通过分析美国、欧洲、我国产品责任归责原则的发展变迁 ,进行比较法研究 ,对我国新颁布的《产品质量法》的归责原则提出了自己的理解。本文认为 ,我国的产品责任归责原则是一个以严格责任为主体、兼有过错责任、担保责任的多元化归责体系 ;但是要防止严格责任绝对化。     

植入式广告及其法律监管制度研究

作为一种营销方式,植入式广告已经不可阻挡地出现在我们的生活中。作为一种广告方式,无论是其法律地位,还是对其的监管措施,法律至今没有明确的规定。植入式广告是一种合法的广告形式,不违反现行法律规定,没有侵犯消费者的选择权。但作为一种广告形式不应当游离于法律的监管之外,应纳入广告法的管理范围。     

On the promise and perils of citizenship: heuristic concepts,Zimbabwean example

Increasingly, struggles in the name of citizenship inspire and catch the imagination and support of individuals and groups found in a variety of locales within a nation as well as transnational spaces. At the same time, their consequences may be quite different from the assumptions and dreams of those involved in perpetuating and imagining these struggles. To analyse how new social citizenship claims can embolden and channel struggles in particular directions with varied results – the promise and perils of citizenship more broadly – I suggest that one should pay attention to the promulgators of such visions of citizenship, the techniques of promoting their claims and the cultural politics and political economies of belonging in the locales of mobilization. Drawing on an ethnographic example of a farm labour struggle in the late 1990s in Zimbabwe, I explore the importance of attending to wider shifts in the political importance of citizenship as well as its entanglement in particular localities. Through examining how farm workers are situated through such struggles, I show the promise and limits of citizenship in addressing social justice concerns of a group historically marginalized through racialized, classed and gendered processes.     

我国妇女农地权利法律制度运作的实证研究与完善路径

在我国,保护农村妇女土地权益具有重要意义,但调查研究表明,农村妇女土地权益频受侵害,土地承包经营权并未得到充分的保障。造成这种状况的主要原因:一是我国立法上对"男娶女嫁"婚嫁方式可能损害妇女土地权利的认识不足;二是法律、政策的相关规定互相矛盾;三是立法上对妇女权益法律保护的效果适得其反;四是法律规定过于原则,操作性不强;五是当村规民约侵害妇女土地承包权益时,缺乏有效的法律救济途径;为此,应当有效化解政策、法律之间的冲突,完善细化法律规则,在立法和执法过程中引入社会性别视角,加强对村规民约的法律审查,消除制度歧视。     

论食品安全事故中的赔偿责任人

发生食品安全事故,往往会涉及多个责任人,其责任是不同的。食品生产者承担严格责任并不意味着其他连带责任者也一样承担严格责任。销售者、广告者承担的是过错责任。《食品安全法》关于销售者的责任规定,有宽纵之嫌;而广告者的责任似乎又过于严厉。为求平衡,销售者、广告者的责任均以过错推定责任为宜。消费者向原材料提供者的索赔,也面临法律障碍。《食品安全法》关于销售者十倍赔偿的责任规定,是“纸老虎”,消费者要胜诉十分困难。农民个人作为农产品生产者,其责任监管十分欠缺,是急需研究和完善的一个领域。