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Protection Against Genetic Discrimination:
A Comparative Overview of Policy Positions
--Subhash Chandra Singh
Genetic tests are the newest addition to a growing variety of medical tests. All medical tests are designed to provide important information about the state of health. For genetic tests, as for other medical tests, there can be tension because of anticipation of the test, and the results can be troubling for people who receive bad news. Yet many people consider genetic tests—and the information they provide—to be different from other types of medical tests. This means that a genetic test, which provides information about the genetic status of one person, can also alert others in the family to the fact that they also may have the same mutation. More than other types of testing, a genetic test of a single individual can be viewed as a test of a whole family. The discriminatory use of genetic information might occur in certain contexts such as that of employment and insurance, which may create hardship for people in different manner. This paper critically examines how the people are unfairly treated because of their actual or perceived genetic variations. © 2015 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Redressal of Consumer Grievances: A Perspective
--V G Ranganath
The Preamble to Consumer Protection Act provides for better protection of the interests of consumers and for that purpose to make provision for the establishment of consumer councils and other authorities for the settlement of consumer’s disputes and for matters connected therewith. Nowadays, lots of cases are found in our country where the innocent/ignorant people are defrauded by misleading advertisement, unfair trade practice, and medical negligence by unqualified and unregistered medical practitioners. The Supreme Court has repeatedly expressed the view that the governments and statutory authorities should be model or ideal litigants and should not put forth false, frivolous, vexatious, technical (but unjust) contentions to obstruct the path of justice. The Court has to keep in mind that the special period of limitation has been prescribed under the Act for filing appeals and revisions in consumer matters and the object of expeditious adjudication of the consumer disputes will get defeated if the appeals and revisions which are highly belated are entertained. © 2015 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Implementation of Labor Laws Inside SEZs in India:
A Perfect Example of Economic Development
Versus Social Security
--Kasturi Bhagat
The question of economic development at the cost of social development has stirred many controversies in the history of independent India. The objective of this paper is to examine the social security of laborers inside the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in India. A cursory reading of the SEZ Act, 2005, does not reveal if the labor legislations in India are same inside and outside the SEZs. The only evident piece of information that the Act is clear about is that labor in the SEZs is subject to a modified regime which aims at non-implementation of labor laws within the SEZs in India. This paper further evaluates the question of formation of trade unions within the SEZs. Further, it evaluates the possibility of the workers going on a strike within the SEZs. The author proposes creation of a new legal regime for the implementation of labor laws within the SEZs. © 2015 IUP All Rights Reserved.
‘Inhuman Business in Human Law’: Human Organ
Transplantation and the Legal Position
--M Madhuri Irene
Human organ transplantation has been recognized as one of the most effective medical advances of the century as it ensures the gift of life to patients with terminal failure of vital organs. However, for its success, it requires the participation of other fellow human beings and society. The increasing incidence of vital organ failure and the inadequate supply of organs, especially from cadavers, have created a wide gap between organ supply and organ demand, which has resulted in very long waiting times to receive an organ as well as an increasing number of deaths while waiting. These events have raised many ethical, moral and societal issues regarding supply and the methods of organ allocation. The legislation called the Transplantation of Human Organ Act (THOA) was passed in India in 1994 to streamline organ donation and transplantation activities. Despite the enactment of THOA, organ commerce and scandals are regularly reported in the Indian media. In most instances, the implementation of the law has been flawed, and more often than not, its provisions have been abused. Hence, clarity in such legislation is very much needed to put an end to commercial exploitation of organs. © 2015 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
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