Updated: Sept. 25, 2012 (Initial publication: Sept. 19, 2011)

Sectorial Analysis

Main information

An advertisement broadcast in Burkina Faso for an insecticide did not reveal its health risks. The national media regulator published a decision on September 6, 2011 ordering that it be taken off the air and “requested” that the media refrain from broadcasting advertisements dangerous for human health and dignity.

Updated: May 29, 2012 (Initial publication: May 16, 2012)

Breaking news

In India, a special Department of the Ministry of Health control the drug sector and issue market authorisations for medicines, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO). A report of the Indian Parliament has concluded that responsibilities within the Organisation had not respected the rules of regulation and not required that drugs are subject to mandatory tests before issuing to them an authorisation on the market, and even if some of them are banned in other countries. The conclusion of the report is that such a breach cannot be only explained by collusion between regulator and pharmaceutical industry. The Government will initiate an investigation.

Updated: May 29, 2012 (Initial publication: May 18, 2012)

Breaking news

In the United Kingdom, the Medicine and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, by noting the wrongdoing of the scandal of the Breast implants PIP and the clumsy way in which this type of scandal, alarming the population, had been resolved by health authorities, has commissioned a study in January 2012 to analyse this crisis and learn from it behavior lessons for similar crises. On May 14, 2012, the report was published. This report advised the regulator, when it is faced with this type of crisis, to expand its sources of medical information before making provisions, that it didn't do sufficiently. The regulator must also communicate as much as possible with the victims on the one hand (first circle) and the public (second circle) to give information, reassure and encourage good medical behavior.

Updated: May 9, 2012 (Initial publication: April 15, 2012)

Breaking news

Vogel, David, The Politics of precaution: Regulating Health, Safety and Environmental Risks in Europe and the United States, Princetown University Press, 2012, 332 pp.

Updated: Jan. 13, 2012 (Initial publication: Jan. 11, 2012)

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Updated: Sept. 19, 2011 (Initial publication: Sept. 16, 2011)

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