Center for Public Health Initiatives, University of Pennsylvania
Scott Burris, JD •
Center for Public Health Law Research
Alexander Wagenaar, PhD •
University of Florida
This study, published in American Journal of Preventive Medicine, details state distracted-driving policy across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The study finds, as of 2011, 39 states and the District of Columbia had at least one form of restriction on the use of mobile communication devices in effect..
This study presents an empirical analysis of domestic violence case resolution in North Carolina from 2004 to 2010. The study finds that penalities, at least as set at the current levels, do not deter future arrests and convictions.
It finds 44 states and Washington, DC, passed youth sports TBI laws between 2009 and 2012. No state’s youth sports TBI law focuses on primary prevention. Instead, such laws focus on increasing coaches’ and parents’ ability to identify and respond to TBIs and reducing the immediate risk of multiple TBIs.
Aaron Kesselheim, MD, JD, MPH, of the Division of Pharmacoepidemiology & Pharmacoeconomics at Brigham and Women’s Hospital discusses the effects on medical innovation of statutes that provide additional intellectual property rights or related incentives to pharmaceutical, medical device, and biotechnology developers in the U.S.
Increasing concern about obesity and other nutrition-related health problems spurred governments to develop more robust and targeted approaches to foster healthier diet at a population level. Government routinely uses its regulatory power to alter activities and behaviors that influence public health, for example the New York City ban on the use of transfats in restaurants. Yet, in some scenarios, government may more effectively promote positive change through other means, including its purchasing or procurement authority.
