A policy decision to allow the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway — a company with a poor safety record – to run its trains through a town in Québec with single person crews resulted the fourth deadliest railway disaster in Canadian history in 2013. Eight years later, Transport Canada is still suffering from safety issues.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
Industries have blocked or delayed new regulations and pushed to remove or dilute existing regulations by framing regulations as detrimental to creating jobs and wealth.
Coal-fired power plants are a source of mercury that people can ingest by eating fish.
Mark Wilson/Getty Images
The Biden administration is moving to revive mercury limits for coal-fired power plants. A scientist explains mercury’s health risks and the role power plants play.
People gather to protest COVID-19 vaccine mandates and masking measures during a rally in Kingston, Ont., in November 2021. Ottawa’s proposals to bypass publishing vaccine mandate guidelines goes against the principles of good governance.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Lars Hagberg
In a time-honoured tradition of Canadian democracy, government regulations become public when they appear in the Canada Gazette. That’s why Ottawa’s proposal to bypass that step is so troublesome.
Managing climate change requires a systems approach, with strategic coordination across all sectors.
Elenabs via Getty Images
Former Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter explains what Biden’s “all hands on deck” approach could look like as the new administration takes on five big climate challenges.
Weak regulation and a lack of mandatory inspections have increased fire risks for the one in four homes with rooftop PV panels. Here’s what we need to do to be safer.
Facebook and the other social media platform companies are facing a reckoning for their handling of disinformation.
AP Photo/Noah Berger
The major social media firms have taken a largely piecemeal and fractured approach to managing the problem.
The Boeing 737 MAX is expected to take to the skies again following a review of the MCAS system which was responsible for two crashes in 2019.
Jason Redmond / Getty Images
The Boeing 737 MAX, which has been grounded since 2019 following two fatal crashes, is expected to be cleared to fly again. An aviation law expert proposes a way to improve the certification process.
An unregulated economy leaves the economically disadvantaged at the mercy of the rich and powerful
Novikov Aleksey/Shutterstock
While nursing homes have accounted for more than half of COVID-19 deaths in some states, they’ve barely been a factor in others. Three experts explain why.
The pipeline of pharmaceuticals is easily disrupted.
Gumpanat/iStock via Getty Images Plus
Drug shortages occur regularly in the US, even in the best of times. The pharmaceutical supply chain embodies ‘just in time’ shipping and has little built-in redundancy.
Secondhand smoke may come from many miles away.
David Tadevosian/Shutterstock.com
Bioprinting, an offshoot of 3D printing, is advancing so rapidly that regulators have been caught off guard. Two legal scholars argue patients and manufacturers would benefit from clearer rules.
Ethical frameworks, rules, laws: all try to have their say.
Tati9/Shutterstock.com
CRISPR technology could have momentous effects if it’s used to edit genes that will be inherited by future generations. Researchers and ethicists continue to weigh appropriate guidelines.
Mark Zuckerberg has been asked before to fix how Facebook is used by others for no good, now he wants others to help find solutions.
EPA/Steplanie Lecocq
Scientists and ethicists have called for a five-year moratorium on editing human genes that will pass on to future generations. Yes, society needs to figure out how to proceed – but is this the best way?
The damage to coal ash sites from Hurricane Florence demonstrates how a community’s vulnerability to natural disasters is closely linked to how stringent environmental regulations are.
The porn industry has long placed an emphasis on young girls.
Reuters/Russell Boyce
Joachim Seel, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Andrew Mills, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory et Ryan Wiser, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Large-scale solar and wind tend to push energy prices down, which sounds great as a consumer. But that makes keeping the grid in constant balance harder.
Professor of Intellectual Property and Innovation Law; Director Centre for Intellectual Property Policy and Managament (CIPPM), Bournemouth University, Bournemouth University