May 2017

Happy Mother’s Day to all the Moms!: Law, Science, Technology and Beagles

Angela Fralish, MJLST Guest Blogger

Beagles are well-known as a quintessential family dog because they love humans and listen to their owners (most of the time). What is less known, is that those same traits are the primary reasons they are used in 95% of canine medical experimentation. Although, beagles are not biologically comparable to humans, they are compliant people-pleasers, making them ideal subjects for scientific experiments.

This reality is a hard pill to swallow for animal lovers and scientists alike. To scientists, research beagles are a necessary evil decreasing the pain and suffering of humans. To advocates, beagles are victims of unspeakable cruelty.

One law bridges the divide between these opposing views to help the beagles. The Beagle Freedom Bill, created by the Beagle Freedom Project (BFP), forges a compromise between animal rights lawyers, scientists and medical technologists. The Bill asks that ”tax-payer funded laboratories offer up the “experimentally-spent” dogs and cats for public adoption through rescue organizations.” In other words, once the beagle is no longer used for research, the dog is given a home instead of euthanasia. Minnesota was the first state to sign the Bill into law in 2014, and since then, 5 more states have joined. Currently, 5 additional states are considering adopting this law as well.

In addition to legislative measures, the BFP has found other ways to help research beagles. They have created new technology such as the Cruelty-Cutter app which helps shoppers easily scan products for humane animal testing, and sued the USDA demanding restoration of scrubbed animal records. The Beagle Freedom Project is a leader in animal science law and a great example of how lawyers, scientists and technologists can work together for the greater good of both humans and animals.

Scientists are working to replace this “necessary evil” as well. According to Dr. Teresa Arora’s article Substitute of Animals in Drug Research: An Approach Towards Fulfillment of 4Rs, research methods are being developed that are “superior to using animals to learn about human disease or predict the safety of new drugs [and include] stem cells, microdosing, DNA chips, microfluidics chips, human tissue, new imaging technologies, and post-marketing drug surveillance.” There is even a Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing at John Hopkins University and the NC3R in the UK.

For an employee of medical research looking to carve out meaning in their every day workweek, helping research animals through new collaborative measures is one way to answer the call. As a lawyer, scientists or technologist, you can help develop policy, arbitrate between groups, hold violators accountable, assist in medical technology development, vote for the Beagle Freedom Bill or adopt a research beagle. According to Congressman Earl Blumenauer, “members of Congress are realizing that protecting animals is not just the right thing to do, it’s also developing to become potent politically.” Congress will need help understanding the relationship between animal models and science in order to make improvements. That help will come from people who work in these fields on a daily basis.

The Beagle Freedom Bill highlights the plight of animals languishing in labs and promotes cruelty-free lifestyle choices everyone can make. Now that BFP has opened the door, it is time for all of us to show a little gratitude to the beagles for their sacrifice in advancing medical science such as chemotherapy and insulin. We can do this in our own unique ways, and although we can’t change the world for all beagles, for some beagles, we can change the world.

As Mahatma Ghandi stated, “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” I hope ours is one of progress.


Say Goodbye to Net Neutrality: Why FCC Protection of the Open Internet Is Over

Kristin McGaver, MJLST Guest Blogger

[Editor’s Note: Ms. McGaver’s blog topic serves as a nice preview for two articles being published in this Spring’s Issue 18.2, one on the FCC generally by researchers Brent Skorup and Joe Kane, and one on the Open Internet Order more specifically by MJLST Staffer Paul Gaus.]

Net neutrality is a complex issue at the forefront of many current online regulation debates. In these debates, it is often unclear what the concept of “net neutrality” actually entails, what parties and actors it affects, and how many different approaches to its regulation exist. Nevertheless, Ajit Pai—newly appointed chairman of the United States Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”)—thinks, “the issue is pretty simple.” Pai is openly opposed to net neutrality and has publicly expressed his intent not to enforce current FCC regulations pertaining to the issue with his recently acquired position of power. This is troubling to many net neutrality supporters. Open Internet advocates are rightfully concerned that Pai will hinder recent success for the advancement and protection of net neutrality achieved under former President Obama, resulting in the FCC’s 2015 “Protecting and Promoting the Open Internet” Regulation. With Pai at the FCC helm, net neutrality policy in the United States (“US”) is noticeably in flux. Thus, even though official policies protecting net neutrality exist on the books, the circumstances surrounding their enforcement and longevity leave much gray area to be explored, chiseled out, and set into stone.

Net neutrality is the idea that all Internet traffic should be treated equally. Yet, since 2003 when Tim Wu coined the term, scholars and commentators cannot agree on a standard definition since that very definition is at the base of a multi-layered over-arching debate. In the US, the most recent FCC articulation of net neutrality is defined by three principles—“no blocking, no throttling and no paid prioriti[z]ation.” These principles mean that ISPs should not be allowed to charge companies or websites higher rates for speedier connections or charge the user higher amounts for specific services. The new “bright-line” rules forbid ISPs from restricting access, tampering with Internet traffic, or favoring certain kinds of traffic via the use of “fast lanes.” Markedly, one thing the 2015 Regulation did not completely forbid is “zero-rating” or “the practice of allowing customers to consume content from certain platforms without it counting towards their data plan cap”—a practice many see as violating net neutrality. Even with this and other exceptions, the 2015 Regulation’s passing was not met without resistance: Republican Senator Ted Cruz from Texas tweeted that the 2015 Regulation was “Obamacare for the Internet.”

Additionally, net neutrality supporters and the FCC majority did not have long to bask in their success after the 2015 Regulation’s approval. The United States Telecom Association and Alamo Broadband quickly challenged it in a lawsuit. Because the new regulation re-classified ISPs as common carriers and therefore subject to the FCC’s authority, Telecom claimed that the FCC was overreaching, harming businesses, and impeding innovation in the field. Fortunately for the FCC, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld the 2015 Regulation in a 2–to–1 decision.

Yet, the waves are far from settling for the FCC and net neutrality supporters in the US. Following the D.C. Circuit’s 2016 decision, American company AT&T and other members of the cable and telecom industry signaled an intent to continue the challenge, potentially all the way to the Supreme Court. More importantly, the lead dissenter to the 2015 Regulation is now chairman of the FCC. In his first few months as Chairman, Ajit Pai declined to comment on whether the FCC plans to enforce the 2015 Regulation. Pai’s “no comment” does not look promising for net neutrality or for those hoping the US will maintain its intent to protect the open Internet as was articulated in the 2015 Regulation.

Although the 2015 Regulation remains on the books, the likelihood that it is carefully enforced, or really enforced at all, is pretty low. This leaves a total lack of accountability for breaching ISPs. Achieving a policy that is not entirely spineless is admittedly complicated in the context of an Internet that is constantly evolving and a market that is increasingly dominated by just a few ISPs. But, effective policies are not impossible, as evidenced by success in the European Union and several of their member states in setting policies that protect and promote net neutrality. It is clear from these examples that effective net neutrality regulation in the online context requires setting, maintaining, and enforcing official articulations of policy. However, with a clear signal from the FCC chairman to back away from the enforcement of a set policy, it will be as if no regulation exists at all.