A Michigan-based legal group on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to review and overturn a decision that found President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law constitutional.
In the first of several appeals likely to reach the high court, the Thomas More Law Center said it asked the justices to review a U.S. appeals court ruling last month that Congress had the power to require that Americans buy health insurance.
The group argued in the appeal that Congress exceeded its power under the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution by requiring that Americans either obtain insurance or pay a fine by 2014. It urged the court to strike down that provision.
The appeal was the first challenge of the healthcare law to reach the Supreme Court under its normal procedures. In April, the justices rejected the state of Virginia's request to review the law before an appeals court had ruled.
At least two other appeals courts are considering challenges to the law, including one by Virginia and another by more than half the U.S. states. Once the appeals courts rule, those cases are likely to be appealed to the Supreme Court.
The law, which aims to provide medical coverage to more than 30 million uninsured Americans, has wide ramifications for the health sector, affecting health insurers, drugmakers, device companies and hospitals.
Legal experts have said they expect the Supreme Court to ultimately decide whether it is constitutional, most likely during its upcoming term that begins in October.
The Thomas More Law Center filed its lawsuit on March 23, 2010, the day that Obama signed the law. The lawsuit argued that Congress could not regulate how Americans paid for healthcare services and insurance.
The law is also likely to be a major issue during Obama's re-election campaign and congressional elections.
Sources : http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/27/us-usa-healthcare-court-idUSTRE76Q7AB20110727
Showing posts with label Mesothelioma. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mesothelioma. Show all posts
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Canada Blocks UN Asbestos Resolution
Members of the Canadian delegation blocked a UN resolution that would list chrysotile asbestos as a hazardous material.
The resolution, called the Rotterdam Convention, lists several grades of hazardous materials.
The convention rules stated that materials labeled as “Annex III” would compel exporters of toxic chemicals to warn importers of the hazards involved with the material.
The resolution would also give countries that import dangerous substances the right to refuse to allow the material into their borders if they did not have adequate safety precautions in place.
Michael Stanley-Jones, a UN spokesman for the meeting, said that Canada and several other countries, including three former Soviet states, would not vote to approve listing “white” asbestos in the hazardous materials list.
Mr. Stanley-Jones also said that the listing of asbestos would be tabled until the next meeting of the trade treaty signees in two years.
Labor unions, worker safety organizations and environmental activists have been working for several years to stop Canada’s exportation of asbestos.
Only two asbestos mines, both in Quebec, continue to produce the dangerous fibers.
Although the mines employ only about thee hundred people in small towns near Montreal, the issue of closing the mines and enforcing stricter safety regulations has created a political firestorm in Canada’s only French-speaking province.
Some pro-asbestos concerns in Quebec paint the argument as a case of English-speakers attempting to enforce their standards on independent-minded Quebec.
However, Quebec exports more asbestos than it uses.
Both federal and provincial officials have worked to remove the material from schools and government buildings around the country, including the Prime Minister’s residence in Ottawa.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper defended the use and exportation of asbestos when he campaigned in Quebec leading up to last May’s general election.
The people who depend on the mines for their incomes believe that chrysotile can be used safely if workers employ the proper precautions.
In countries that import asbestos for their shipbuilding industries, such as India, Indonesia and Pakistan, most workers do not have access to breathing masks, special coveralls, or other protective gear.
Governments in those countries also either do not have adequate safety regulations in place or do not have the resources to enforce them.
A report from the World Health Organization estimates that more than 90,000 people will die of mesothelioma and other asbestos-related disorders this year.
Most industrialized nations have either banned or severely restricted the use of asbestos, which was prevalent in the mid-1900s as a source of insulation and fireproofing.
Numerous scientific studies have established that asbestos exposure can lead to a rare form of lung cancer called mesothelioma. As a worker inhales asbestos dust, microscopic fibers work their way through the lung tissue and into the pleural mesothelium, the protective layer around the lungs.
The fibers alter the cells and turn them into malignant tumors. The disease can lay dormant for decades, but it is often fatal by the time doctors can diagnose the problem. Most patients rarely live more than two years after they receive their mesothelioma diagnosis.
Sources:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/24/us-un-chemicals-idUSTRE75N46J20110624
The resolution, called the Rotterdam Convention, lists several grades of hazardous materials.
The convention rules stated that materials labeled as “Annex III” would compel exporters of toxic chemicals to warn importers of the hazards involved with the material.
The resolution would also give countries that import dangerous substances the right to refuse to allow the material into their borders if they did not have adequate safety precautions in place.
Michael Stanley-Jones, a UN spokesman for the meeting, said that Canada and several other countries, including three former Soviet states, would not vote to approve listing “white” asbestos in the hazardous materials list.
Mr. Stanley-Jones also said that the listing of asbestos would be tabled until the next meeting of the trade treaty signees in two years.
Labor unions, worker safety organizations and environmental activists have been working for several years to stop Canada’s exportation of asbestos.
Only two asbestos mines, both in Quebec, continue to produce the dangerous fibers.
Although the mines employ only about thee hundred people in small towns near Montreal, the issue of closing the mines and enforcing stricter safety regulations has created a political firestorm in Canada’s only French-speaking province.
Some pro-asbestos concerns in Quebec paint the argument as a case of English-speakers attempting to enforce their standards on independent-minded Quebec.
However, Quebec exports more asbestos than it uses.
Both federal and provincial officials have worked to remove the material from schools and government buildings around the country, including the Prime Minister’s residence in Ottawa.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper defended the use and exportation of asbestos when he campaigned in Quebec leading up to last May’s general election.
The people who depend on the mines for their incomes believe that chrysotile can be used safely if workers employ the proper precautions.
In countries that import asbestos for their shipbuilding industries, such as India, Indonesia and Pakistan, most workers do not have access to breathing masks, special coveralls, or other protective gear.
Governments in those countries also either do not have adequate safety regulations in place or do not have the resources to enforce them.
A report from the World Health Organization estimates that more than 90,000 people will die of mesothelioma and other asbestos-related disorders this year.
Most industrialized nations have either banned or severely restricted the use of asbestos, which was prevalent in the mid-1900s as a source of insulation and fireproofing.
Numerous scientific studies have established that asbestos exposure can lead to a rare form of lung cancer called mesothelioma. As a worker inhales asbestos dust, microscopic fibers work their way through the lung tissue and into the pleural mesothelium, the protective layer around the lungs.
The fibers alter the cells and turn them into malignant tumors. The disease can lay dormant for decades, but it is often fatal by the time doctors can diagnose the problem. Most patients rarely live more than two years after they receive their mesothelioma diagnosis.
Sources:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/24/us-un-chemicals-idUSTRE75N46J20110624
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