Wednesday, May 21, 2008
From the Public Health Law Program, Office of the Chief of Public
Health Practice, CDC
http://www2a.cdc.gov/phlp/
_______________________________________________________________
*** Corporate Good Samaritan Act.
The Corporate Good Samaritan Act of 2008 (Georgia Senate Bill 305)
has been signed into law by Gov. Sonny Perdue. The new law gives
Georgia businesses and non-profit organizations additional liability
protection when performing “good Samaritan” acts in a time of emergency
or crisis. To learn more about the law, visit
http://nciph.sph.unc.edu/law/ud_051908.htm.
*** Obesity Series. The Washington
Post has published four of a five-part series entitled Young
Lives at Risk: Our Overweight Children. To read the articles,
visit
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/health/childhoodobesity/index.html.
*** Quarantine Report. The Congressional
Research Service report Quarantine and Isolation: Selected Legal
Issues Relating to Employment, is now available at
http://assets.opencrs.com/rpts/RL33609_20080430.pdf.
*** Bisphenol A Report. The Congressional
Research Service recently released Bisphenol A (BPA) in Plastics
and Possible Human Health Effects, available at
http://assets.opencrs.com/rpts/RS22869_20080505.pdf.
*** Traffic Injury Report. The U.S.
Department of Transportation recently released “Trends in Non-Fatal
Traffic Injuries: 1996-2005,” at
http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/810944.PDF.
*** Mass Gatherings Health Report.
The majority staff of the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security
has released a report entitled, “Public Health, Safety, and Security
for Mass Gatherings,” available at
http://homeland.house.gov/SiteDocuments/20080513105623-98169.pdf.
*** Tribal Environmental Health Conference
(6/24-6/26). The Eighth Annual National Tribal Conference on
Environmental Management will take place June 24-26, 2008, in Billings,
Montana. For more information, see
http://www.ntcem8.org/.
*** Global Work Health and Safety Congress
(6/29-7/2). The XVIII World Congress on Safety and Health at
Work will be held in Seoul, South Korea, from June 29 to July 2,
2008. For more information, see
http://www.safety2008korea.org/eng/invitation/inv_kos.jsp.
*** NALBOH Public Health Conference (7/22-7/24).
The annual conference for the National Association of Local Boards
of Health (NALBOH) will take place in Madison, Wisconsin, from July
22-24, 2008. For more information about the conference, entitled
“Step Forward Together: The 2008 Public Health Partners Conference,”
see http://www.nalboh.org/NALBOH_Conference.htm.
Top Story
1. Texas: 35-year sentence
for HIV-positive spitter worries some
States and Localities
2. Kansas: Sebelius vetoes
third bill allowing coal-fired plants
3. Nevada: Desai, colleagues
may take the Fifth, stalling lawsuits for years
4. Pennsylvania: Penn State
to require course on alcohol abuse
5. Rhode Island: High-stakes
lead paint case to R.I. Supreme Court
6. Virginia: Va. offers
tax break for hurricane preparedness
National
7. Wal-Mart raises bar
on toy-safety standards
International
8. Canada: Divisive essential
services bill passes
Briefly Noted
California patient dumping
· Rhode Island asbestos ruling · Texas immigration and evacuation
· West Virginia hospital worker protection · National Farm Bill
· New Zealand children’s advertising · Nigeria health system bill
· South Africa XDR TB arrests · South Korea cloning regulation ·
Poultry smuggling · Taiwan TB patient · United Kingdom roadside
health and safety · Asbestos compensation · International tobacco
company spinoff
Quotation of the Week
David S. Ludwig, Children’s
Hospital Boston obesity expert
This Week’s Feature
Law Behind the News.
This week, we feature the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008,
also known as the Farm Bill. See below for details.
_____________________________1_____________________________
“35-year sentence for HIV-positive spitter
worries some”
Dallas Morning News (05/17/08) Tiara
M. Ellis
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/051708dnmethivsaliva.
3a699bb.html
Last week, a Dallas County jury convicted
an HIV-positive man of harassment of a public servant using a deadly
weapon for spitting into the mouth and eye of a police officer.
The man was sentenced to 35 years in prison, and must serve half
before he is eligible for parole. AIDS advocacy groups and others
have protested the sentence as excessive, because the risk of HIV
transmission from saliva is extremely low. Advocates are also concerned
that the case could further misconceptions about HIV and its transmission.
“It’s been 25 years since the virus was identified, but there are
still lots of fears,” said Bebe Anderson of the Lambda Legal Defense
and Education Fund. But according to Jenni Morse, the Dallas County
prosecutor who handled the case, any amount of risk is sufficient
to justify a deadly weapon charge under the circumstances. “No matter
how miniscule, there is some risk,” she said. “That means there
is the possibility of causing serious bodily injury or death,” which
is the legal definition of a deadly weapon. Dallas County District
Attorney Craig Watkins agreed. “If you look at the facts of this
case, it was clear that the defendant intended to cause serious
bodily injury. There’s an intent factor,” Watkins said. The officer
was spit on while arresting the infected man for public intoxication
in 2006, and has not been found to be infected with HIV.
_____________________________2_____________________________
“Kan. governor vetoes third bill allowing
coal-fired plants”
Associated Press (05/16/08) John
Hanna
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2008/may/17/sebelius_vetoes_third_bill_allowing_coalfired_plan/
Governor Kathleen Sebelius has again vetoed
a bill that would have allowed the construction of two coal-fired
plants in southwestern Kansas while restricting authority of the
state’s Secretary of Health and Environment. The two plants proposed
by Sunflower Electric Power Corporation stalled in October 2007,
when Secretary Rod Bremby rejected their air-quality permit, citing
potential carbon dioxide emissions. Bremby said the state could
not ignore the dangers of global warming, which has been linked
to man-made greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. In addition
to allowing construction of the plants, the bills would have limited
the secretary of health and environment’s power to impose new air-quality
standards without legislative approval. The bills also would have
prevented Bremby and his successors from denying permits based on
his emergency power to protect public health and the environment.
Sunflower’s project has received bipartisan support largely because
it is viewed by many as an economy booster, but Sebelius criticized
the most recent version of the vetoed bill for being tied to economic
development projects in other parts of the state. Supporters will
have a final chance to override the Governor’s veto at a brief adjournment
session next week, something they have thus far been unable to do.
Bremby’s 2007 decision has generated six separate legal challenges,
three of which are pending before the Kansas Supreme Court.
[Editor’s note: To read the most recent coal-fired
plant legislation vetoed by Governor Sebelius, see Kansas House
Bill 2412, An Act Enacting the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, at
http://www.kslegislature.org/bills/2008/2412.pdf. Prior versions
of the coal-fired plant legislation (Senate Bill 148 and Senate
Bill 327), are available at
http://www.kslegislature.org/legsrv-bills/vetoedBills.do.]
_____________________________3_____________________________
“Desai, colleagues may take the Fifth, stalling
lawsuits for years”
Las Vegas Sun (05/14/08)
Jeff German
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/may/14/desai-colleagues-may-take-fifth-stalling-lawsuits-/
The first lawsuits against the owner of a
Nevada medical clinic where hundreds of patients contracted or were
at risk of contracting hepatitis C are facing procedural obstacles.
Clark County District Judge Allan Earl is coordinating the early
phase of litigation, and will soon decide whether owner Dr. Dipak
Desai and other defendants can avoid giving early depositions in
the civil cases since they are also facing potential criminal charges.
The defendants are threatening to assert their Fifth Amendment right
against self-incrimination if forced to give depositions in the
civil case that might assist prosecutors in a criminal trial. Plaintiffs
lawyers say such an action could prevent alleged victims, many of
them senior citizens, from ever obtaining information vital to their
lawsuits. “If this thing drags out for years the way defendants
would like to see it drag out, many of these victims won’t be around.
I’ve got clients who’ve been told they have months to live,” said
attorney Robert Eglet. At last count, 93 attorneys from 34 law firms
are representing the eight people confirmed to have contracted hepatitis
C while undergoing procedures at the Endoscopy Center of Southern
Nevada or its affiliates. Thousands of other plaintiffs were not
infected but are bringing suit against the clinic for putting them
at risk of infection. The suits accuse the Endoscopy Center, Desai,
and his colleagues, of infecting patients by reusing vials and syringes.
[Editor’s note: To track the latest information
about the civil and criminal trials, visit
http://www.clarkcountycourts.us/.]
_____________________________4_____________________________
“Penn State to require course on alcohol
abuse”
Post-Gazette (05/17/08) Bill Schackner
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08138/882665-85.stm
Beginning this fall, Penn State University
will require all freshmen to take an online course aimed at combating
high-risk drinking. Despite having implemented various initiatives
to curb alcohol misuse, Penn State has seen an increase in alcohol-related
problems -- reflecting a nationwide trend. Data for the 2007-2008
school year are not yet available, but students’ alcohol-related
trips to Mount Nittany Medical Center were up from 199 in the 1999
school year to 444 in the 2006 school year. The average age of students
treated during those visits was 20, and the average blood alcohol
content level was 0.235, nearly three times the state’s legal limit
for drunken driving. Penn State will implement AlcoholEdu for College,
a program developed by Boston-based Outside the Classroom that is
currently in use by about 500 other schools. The program uses research
including student attitude surveys to tackle topics such as blood
alcohol concentration, alcohol’s effect on memory, and learning
the link between alcohol misuse and high-risk behavior. AlcoholEdu
has had some measure of success in locations where it has been implemented.
At the University of Iowa, first-year students reported 15 percent
fewer hangovers and 10 percent fewer blackouts, according to Penn
State Assistant Dean for Advising Linda Higginson. Penn State expects
the program to reach about 17,000 students at its campuses this
year. “No other school that is working with [Outside the Classroom]
is implementing it across multiple campuses like we are,” said Linda
LaSalle, coordinator of educational services for Penn State’s University
Health Services. “It’s the largest implementation in the country.”
_____________________________5_____________________________
“High-stakes lead paint case to R.I. Supreme
Court”
Associated Press (05/13/08) Eric
Tucker
http://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/articles/2008/05/13/high_stakes_lead_paint_case
_to_ri_supreme_court/
More than two years after a Rhode Island
jury found three paint companies liable for creating a public nuisance
interfering with the public’s health, safety, and peace, the companies
have challenged the verdict in the state’s Supreme Court. Decades
ago, the companies -- Sherwin-Williams, NL Industries Inc., and
Millennium Holdings LLC -- manufactured lead pigment that was used
to increase paint durability. Lead-based paint was banned from residential
use in 1978 after it was found to cause serious health problems
in children. While the jury verdict did not levy damages against
the companies, it gave the go-ahead for an estimated $2.4 billion
state plan to inspect, clean, and remodel about 240,000 homes contaminated
with lead-based paint. The companies have challenged the jury verdict,
arguing that the public nuisance theory is flawed because it does
not account for how much of each company’s paint remains present
in Rhode Island dwellings. According to the companies, lead-based
paint is now confined to poorly maintained properties. In 1999,
Rhode Island became the first state to sue paint companies for their
respective roles in contaminating homes under the legal theory of
nuisance. Other states, including New Jersey and Wisconsin, have
not been able to successfully use the theory. The Rhode Island
Supreme Court is expected to decide the case this summer.
_____________________________6_____________________________
“Va. offers tax break for hurricane preparedness”
Associated Press (05/18/08) Larry
O’Dell
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/apwire/4ccaa748d9a24f81932aa91fbdd044ba.htm
Next week, Virginia residents will receive
a tax break on hurricane supplies as part of the state’s efforts
to prepare citizens for the June 1 start of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane
season. Virginia’s first-ever Hurricane Preparedness Sales Tax Holiday
runs May 25 through May 31, 2008, exempting items such as generators
costing $1,000 or less, batteries, bottled water, duct tape, flashlights,
and cell phone chargers. Virginia legislators approved the tax break
in 2007, hoping that the 5 percent savings would encourage citizens
to purchase items that they will need if the state is hit by another
storm like Hurricane Isabel, which left 1.8 million Virginians without
power -- some for weeks -- in 2003. The Virginia General Assembly
modeled the holiday on a similar initiative that existed in Florida
for three years. “[R]etailers can’t really respond the way consumers
want them to in the three days before a hurricane hits,” said Rick
McAllister, president of the Florida Retail Federation. This year,
however, Virginia and Louisiana will be the only states with hurricane
preparedness tax breaks, because Florida legislators -- facing a
$5 billion budget shortfall -- did not reauthorize the tax holiday
for 2008. Florida estimated an annual loss of $12 million in revenue
from the tax break. Tax officials in Virginia, which is less vulnerable
to severe hurricanes, expect the initiative to cost around $2 million
this year with costs climbing to $2.75 million by fiscal year 2013.
[Editor’s note: For more information on Virginia’s
Hurricane Preparedness Sales Tax Holiday, including a list of exempt
products, see
http://www.tax.virginia.gov/site.cfm?alias=HurricanePreparednessEquipmentHoliday.]
_____________________________7_____________________________
“Wal-Mart raises bar on toy-safety standards”
Wall Street Journal (05/14/08) Joseph
Pereira and Steve Stecklow
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121072388800090155.html (subscription
required)
In response to last year’s recalls and lawsuits
related to toys with high levels of lead, Wal-Mart has set children’s-product
safety requirements for its suppliers to meet by this fall. The
standards are more stringent than state and federal requirements,
setting strict limits on eight heavy metals, including lead, mercury,
arsenic, and cadmium, which have been linked to medical and developmental
problems in children. Plastic-softening phthalates are also restricted
under the new policy. Wal-Mart’s action follows the recall of about
25 million lead-contaminated toys last year, as well as toy-related
deaths that prompted several states, including Washington and Illinois,
to adopt stricter standards than the federal government. The company’s
action also comes after California sued Wal-Mart and 19 other toy
makers and retailers for allegedly selling toys with lead content
levels exceeding federal limits. Products sold in Wal-Mart stores
should now be able to meet most state standards, said Melissa O’Brien,
a Wal-Mart spokeswoman. The new mandates are prompting toy makers
to identify new materials, monitor overseas factories more closely,
and conduct more frequent independent lab testing. Wal-Mart standards
now require the surface coating on most children’s products to contain
no more than 90 parts per million of lead; the federal limit is
600. Wal-Mart, in effect, has created new industry standards and
superceded government regulations, said Isaac Larian, chief executive
of MGA Entertainment, Inc., purportedly the world’s third-largest
toy manufacturer. “Most companies have to do business with Wal-Mart,”
Larian said.
[Editor’s note: To read more about Wal-Mart’s
Toy Safety Net program, visit
http://walmartstores.com/FactsNews/NewsRoom/7945.aspx.]
_____________________________8_____________________________
“Divisive essential services bill passes”
Leader-Post (05/15/08) Angela Hall
http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/news/story.html?id=1089594e-96b4-4ca7-aa2b-
683740f01c3a
The Saskatchewan government has passed legislation
to minimize the risk posed to public health and safety when workers
performing “essential services” go on strike during labor disputes.
The law describes essential services as those that are necessary
to prevent danger to life, health, or safety; destruction or serious
deterioration of machinery, equipment, or premises; serious environmental
damage; and disruption of the courts. Under the law, workers and
employers must negotiate an essential services agreement that outlines
which employees will work during a strike, and the agreement must
be reached before the workers’ collective agreement expires. But
the requirement may impede the negotiation process for a new collective
agreement by creating “disputes where none exist,” according to
Larry Hubich, Saskatchewan Federation of Labour president, who added
that new collective agreements are usually negotiated without strikes.
Under the law, if an essential services agreement is not reached
before the collective agreement expires, a list maintained by the
employer would dictate essential services and the staffing levels
necessary to perform them. Unions feel employers will over-designate
who must work during a strike, and may consider legal challenges
to the new law, Hubich said. Although a union may appeal to the
Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board to alter the number of necessary
staff listed by the employer, it cannot challenge the classifications
of jobs that are deemed to provide an essential service.
[Editor’s note: To read Legislative Assembly
of Saskatchewan Bill No. 5, An Act respecting Essential Public Services
(as printed May 1, 2008), visit
http://www.legassembly.sk.ca/bills/PDFs/Bill-5.pdf.]
_____________________BRIEFLY
NOTED______________________
California: Hospitals could face charges,
fines if plan gets final City Council approval
“L.A. City Council gives preliminary approval
to fines for patient dumping”
Los Angeles Times (05/15/08) Cara
Mia DiMassa
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-dumping15-2008may15,0,7906833.story
Rhode Island: Court rules to expand doctrine
of forum non conveniens
“Court rules R.I. needn’t hear cases on asbestos”
Providence Journal (05/13/08) Edward
Fitzpatrick
http://www.projo.com/news/content/asbestos_decision_05-13-08_K7A418I_v56.3575b44.html
Texas: Federal plan to conduct immigration
checks at evacuation hubs concerns local officials
“Immigration checks, hurricanes don’t mix”
Associated Press (05/16/08) Christopher
Sherman
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iFR5DqnuIozOjlXQj2lm7rVELoUgD90MVFPO1
West Virginia: Law adds healthcare employees
to same ‘protected class’ as police, firefighters
“New law seeks to curb violence against hospital
workers”
Charleston Gazette (05/19/08) Eric
Eyre
http://wvgazette.com/News/200805180335
National: Bill would fund public nutrition
programs, school snacks
“Congress says can override Bush farm bill
veto”
Reuters (05/15/08) Charles Abbott
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/15/AR2008051501963_pf.html
New Zealand: New industry guidelines aim
to shield children from unhealthy foods
“Healthy rules take fizz out of kids’ TV
adverts”
Dominion Post (05/16/08) Ben Fawkes
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4550300a11.html
Nigeria: Bill to establish framework for
national health system passes Senate
“Senate passes health bill in Iyabo’s absence”
Vanguard (05/16/08) Emmanuel Aziken
http://allafrica.com/stories/200805160364.html
South Africa: XDR TB patients arrested after
protest at hospital
“Cops bust killer TB patients”
The Star (05/16/08) Matt Radler
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=13&art_id=vn20080516055945562C783504
South Africa: Lawyers say exclusion of HIV+
personnel unjustified, ignores government policy
“South African military AIDS policy faces
court challenge”
Agence France Presse (05/15/08)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080515/hl_afp/safricamilitarycourthealthaids_080515183807
South Korea: Cloning research regulations
intended to “enhance bioethics”
“New SKorean law tightens rules on cloning”
Agence France Presse (05/16/08)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080516/sc_afp/healthskoreacloninglaw
South Korea: Smugglers to be fined or jailed
for violating avian influenza prevention measure
“Police will step up fight against poultry
smugglers”
Korea Times (05/13/08) Park Si-soo
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/05/113_24098.html
Taiwan: Govt issues arrest warrant for man
being treated for MDR TB
“Hunt for TB victim who fled Taiwan hospital”
Straits Times (05/17/08) Ong Hwee
Hwee
http://www.straitstimes.com/Asia/China/Story/STIStory_238124.html
(subscription required)
United Kingdom: Rules to protect roadside
workers force removal of flowers
“Health and safety legislation kills off
blooms”
Northern Echo (05/16/08)
http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/mostpopular.var.2278173.mostviewed.health_and_safety_legislation
_kills_off_blooms.php
United Kingdom: Thousands fight to overturn
House of Lords decision preventing compensation
“Plea for justice over asbestos compensation”
Bradford Telegraph and Argus (05/18/08)
Paddy McGuffin
http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/newsindex/display.var.2278740.0.plea_for_justice_over
_asbestos_compensation.php
International: Author reports on spinoff
of Philip Morris International
“Alchemy, the safer cigarette, and Philip
Morris”
Lancet (05/17/08) Alan Blum
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673608607059/fulltext
(subscription required)
__________PHL
NEWS QUOTATION OF THE WEEK___________
“A child is not just a little adult.”
-- David S. Ludwig, Children’s Hospital Boston
obesity expert, on the effects of obesity on a child’s developing
body, and the need to address it early. [See Announcement item,
above.]
__________________LAW
BEHIND THE NEWS___________________
Last week, the U.S. Congress passed the Food,
Conservation and Energy Act of 2008, H.R. 2419. If enacted, the
Act, better known as the Farm Bill, will allot two-thirds of a $289
billion budget to public nutrition programs. President Bush has
pledged to veto the Act, but Congressional leaders say they intend
to override the veto.
Among many other provisions, the Farm Bill
would increase the ability of the federal government to pre-position
food supplies in overseas warehouses in the event of an emergency.
It would also improve the federal food stamp program (changing
its name to the “Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program”), and
expand the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, which provides free
fresh fruits and vegetable to low-income children in schools.
Other provisions would act to strengthen
food safety, and authorize the Secretary of Agriculture investigate
the issue of salmonella in pet turtles.
To read the text of the Farm Bill, visit
http://www2a.cdc.gov/phlp/docs/HR2419.pdf.
Title III -- Trade begins on page 519; Title IV -- Nutrition Programs
begins on page 575.
___________________________________________________________
The CDC Public Health Law News is
published each Wednesday except holidays, plus special issues when
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of charge. News content is selected solely on the basis
of newsworthiness and potential interest to readers. CDC and DHHS
assume no responsibility for the factual accuracy of the items presented.
The selection, omission, or content of items does not imply any
endorsement or other position taken by CDC or DHHS. Opinions expressed
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The News is published by the Public
Health Law Program, Office of Strategy and Innovation, Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services (DHHS). Rachel Weiss, J.D., Editor; Christopher
Seely, J.D., Associate Editor; Karen L. McKie, J.D., M.L.S., Editorial
Advisor.
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