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The Federal Food Safety System: A Primer

Description: This report discusses concerns about food safety, the resources required to ensure food safety, and whether federal food safety laws themselves, first enacted in the early 1900s, have kept pace with the significant changes that have occurred in the food production, processing, and marketing sectors since then.
Date: December 16, 2016
Creator: Johnson, Renée
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Military Medical Care Services: Questions and Answers

Description: This report includes questions and answers regarding various military medical care services. What is the purpose of the Military Health Services System, who is eligible to receive this care, and what is the DOD pharmacy benefit are among questions asked and answered in this report.
Date: December 16, 2004
Creator: Best, Richard A., Jr.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Influenza Antiviral Drugs and Patent Law Issues

Description: This report examines the role that intellectual property rights play in affecting the availability of a patented drug such as Tamiflu during public health crises. The report also explains one legal mechanism for increasing a patented drug’s production without the patent holder’s consent: governments may abrogate a pharmaceutical company’s patent rights by issuing compulsory licenses to other drug companies to manufacture generic versions of the drug.
Date: August 16, 2007
Creator: Yeh, Brian T.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The 2009 Influenza Pandemic: An Overview

Description: This report provides a synopsis of key events in the H1N1 pandemic response, followed by information about selected federal emergency management authorities and actions taken by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Health and Human Services (HHS), and state and local authorities.
Date: November 16, 2009
Creator: Lister, Sarah A. & Redhead, C. Stephen
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Coal Excise Tax Refunds: United States v. Clintwood Elkhorn Mining Co.

Description: In 1998, a U.S. district court held that the imposition of the coal excise tax, or black lung excise tax, on coal destined for export was unconstitutional. The process of refunding the tax has been controversial. This is because some coal producers and exporters have attempted to bypass the limitations in the Internal Revenue Code's refund scheme for bringing suit under the Export Clause in the Court of Federal Claims, seeking damages from the United States in the amount of coal excise taxes pa… more
Date: May 16, 2008
Creator: Lunder, Erika
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Public Health and Medical Preparedness and Response: Issues in the 110th Congress

Description: The 2001 terrorist attacks, Hurricane Katrina, and concerns about an influenza ("flu") pandemic have sharpened congressional interest in the nation's systems to track and respond to public health threats. The 109th Congress passed laws that reauthorized public health and medical preparedness and response programs in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and reorganized parts of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including the establishment of an Office of Health Affairs (OH… more
Date: June 16, 2008
Creator: Lister, Sarah A.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Iraqi Civilian Casualties Estimates

Description: This report presents various governmental and nongovernmental estimates of Iraqi civilian dead and wounded. The Department of Defense (DOD) regularly updates total U.S. military death and wounded statistics from Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). However, no Iraqi or U.S. government office regularly releases publicly available statistics on Iraqi civilian deaths or civilians who have been wounded. Statistics on Iraqi civilian dead and wounded are sometimes available through alternative sources, suc… more
Date: May 16, 2008
Creator: Fischer, Hannah
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Federal and State Quarantine and Isolation Authority

Description: This report provides an overview of federal and state public health laws as they relate to the quarantine and isolation of individuals, a discussion of constitutional issues that may be raised should individual liberties be restricted in a quarantine situation, and federalism questions that may arise where federal and state authorities overlap. In addition, the possible role of the armed forces in enforcing public health measures is discussed, specifically whether the Posse Comitatus Act would … more
Date: August 16, 2006
Creator: Swendiman, Kathleen S. & Elsea, Jennifer K.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Biotechnology, Indigenous Peoples, and Intellectual Property Rights

Description: This report examines intellectual property right in pharmaceuticals in a particular context, namely, medicinal products and processes derived from the biodiversity resources of areas inhabited by indigenous peoples. This report discusses the international law regarding intellectual property rights in traditional knowledge and the American laws regarding traditional knowledge.
Date: April 16, 1993
Creator: Axt, Josephie R.; Corn, M. Lynne; Lee, Margaret Mikyung & Ackerman, David M.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Science, Technology, and Medicine: Issues Facing the 106th Congress, First Session

Description: Science, technology, and medicine is playing an integral part in many of the policy issues that are coming before this Congress. Legislative action in certain areas directly affects the progress of science, technology, and medicine (STM). And advances in those areas can significantly affect broader public policy issues. This issue brief provides an overview of several of those issues and identifies CRS reports that treat them in more depth.
Date: July 16, 1999
Creator: Rowberg, Richard E
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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AIDS in Africa

Description: Sub-Saharan Africa has been far more severely affected by AIDS than any other part of the world. The United Nations reports that 29.4 million adults and children are infected with the HIV virus in the region, which has about 10% of the world's population but more than 70% of the worldwide total of infected people. This report discusses this issue in detail, including the cause of the African AIDS epidemic, the social and economic consequences, response and treatment, and U.S. policy.
Date: May 16, 2003
Creator: Copson, Raymond W.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Ergonomics in the Workplace: Is It Time for an OSHA Standard?

Description: Improper ergonomic design of jobs is one of the leading causes of work-related illness, accounting for perhaps a third of employers’ costs under state workers’ compensation laws. Due to the wide variety of circumstances, however, any comprehensive standard would probably have to be complex and costly, while scientific understanding of the problem is not complete.
Date: January 16, 2001
Creator: Rappaport, Edward B.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Cost of Prescription Drugs for the Uninsured Elderly and Legislative Approaches

Description: The purpose of this report is to explain why many of those who are least able to afford high drug costs are those who are most frequently charged the most. This report describes the basic economic theory underlying price differentiation and, in the context of the pharmaceutical market, analyzes the role and behavior of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), pharmaceutical manufacturers, and retail pharmacies, respectively. It also looks at a number of the criticisms that have been made of the practi… more
Date: January 16, 2001
Creator: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service. Resources, Science, and Industry Division.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Hatch-Waxman Act: Proposed Legislative Changes Affecting Pharmaceutical Patents

Description: This record provides information about The Hatch-Waxman Act: Proposed Legislative Changes Affecting Pharmaceutical Patents. Congressional interests in the cost of Pharmaceuticals have focused attention on several areas where the federal government has policies and programs.
Date: January 16, 2003
Creator: Schacht, Wendy H. & Thomas, John R.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Tobacco Settlement: Issues

Description: Since 1994, 41 states and Puerto Rico have sued the tobacco industry to recover the medical costs of treating smokers. On June 20, 1997, a group of state attorneys general and industry lawyers announced that they had reached a settlement that would protect the tobacco companies from civil liability in return for annual industry payments of $365.5 billion over 25 years to reimburse states for their tobacco-related medical costs, and pay for tobacco control programs to reduce tobacco use among te… more
Date: October 16, 1998
Creator: Redhead, C. Stephen
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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