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Now is an important time in human history. Viral outbreaks threaten lives and make headlines. We see new diseases appear and spread across the planet. We map our genetic code. And we now share the planet with lifeforms of our own creation. A global communication system keeps us informed. But a global system of trade agreements plays a very important role we do not hear so much about. These trade agreements govern, among other things, patent protection for intellectual property. When a nation accepts a trade agreement treating medicines as intellectual property, it can find itself ill-equipped to confront public health crises like outbreaks of viruses and disease. Genetic material, too, can become protected intellectual property, although the courts of different nations disagree on just what material and how protected it might be. Once the subject of futuristic science fiction novels, the commodification and ownership of human genetic material has become our reality in the 21st century. The two essays in this booklet address the ethical concerns as well as the practical, administrative realities for the offices and courts where governments make decisions that affect all of us; our health, our genetic code, and our future.

Consider two substances, each with a body of research confirming its toxicity to human beings. People consume one of the substances for pleasure, and the other for its supposed health benefits. The World Health Organization actively bands nations together to reduce the marketability and consumption of the former, yet promotes the latter as an effective health measure. The essays in this book examine the policies governing these two substances: tobacco and fluoride. Tobacco control policies have gained significant traction as nations around the world evaluate the success of Australia's recent laws concerning cigarette packaging. Given impetus by the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, these policies have met with little public resistance, their sole opponents the companies which manufacture tobacco products. At the same time, another movement has gained traction: the opposition to adding fluoride to municipal water systems. Though the World Health Organization advocates fluoridation, a growing number of researchers and voters have called its touted benefits into question. Unlike tobacco, the efforts to eliminate fluoride have met resistance from the medical establishment. What is the future of these two substances, each known to have harmful effects on human beings and yet viewed so differently in the court of public opinion? The two essays in this book will answer that question.

The FCC's 2015 Open Internet Order reclassified high-speed broadband Internet access as a telecommunications service subject to common carriage requirements under Title II of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. This change resulted from decades of technological convergence, litigation, and increasing popular and political pressure. The Order's service requirements and ban on paid prioritization, though contentious, paved the way for the FCC's vision of nationwide broadband. But the future of net neutrality and the 2015 Order remain uncertain. Since the Order's enactment in 2015, changes in FCC leadership have followed in the wake of the 2016 presidential election. What will happen next? This booklet is now updated with the February 2017 essay "Two Years of Net Neutrality: A Policy Analysis Follow-Up". It updates court decisions which were pending at the time of the original essay. It also reviews the litigation the FCC used to enforce the 2015 Order, and it addresses the changes in the FCC's leadership since the Order's enactment.

From cyberspace to outer space, public policy shapes our lives, our planet, and our future. The ten essays collected in Laws That Shape Our Lives examine such controversial policy measures as net neutrality, tobacco packaging, water fluoridation, same-sex marriage, and the patenting of biological & genetic material. Written in an academic style based on research and primary source documents, Laws That Shape Our Lives presents a comprehensive analysis of the history, major points of debate, and the current state of affairs of these topics and more. Laws That Shape Our Lives takes a look at public policy on the municipal, state, national, and international levels where decisions are made which affect us all. Whether you are a student of public administration or simply interested in getting a sense of the bigger picture, Laws That Shape Our Lives will provide an informative and in-depth experience of the world of public policy.