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Globally, pests (invertebrates, vertebrates, pathogens, weeds) can cause estimated annual losses of between 20% and 40%, but higher losses are disproportionately experienced by many low-income countries, as agriculture is the mainstay of the majority of the people and of national economies. Pests pose a major barrier to these countries’ ability to meet the aims of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG2, “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.” However, solutions, in the form of pest risk alert systems, coupled with major advances in technology, are now providing opportunities to overcome this barrier in low-income countries. In this paper, we review these systems and the advances in data availability, management and modeling and communication technology and illustrate how these can provide new and novel solutions for the development of agricultural pest and disease early warning and risk-mapping systems and contribute to improved food systems in low-income countries. In conclusion, we identify key areas for the UNFSS that will help guide governments in engaging with these developments.

Recent climate models have projected a global temperature increase of at least 1.5-2°C on present day temperatures, including a high likelihood of an increase in extreme temperatures experienced in inhabited places. Changes to observed precipitation patterns are likely with several regions predicted to experience an increase in heavy precipitation and others likely to experience more drought, and a precipitation deficit. There is a growing body of evidence to suggest these changing climatic conditions affect the distribution and phenology of pests and diseases of agriculture. As ectothermic organisms, arthropod pests and fungal diseases are sensitive to changes in mean temperatures and temperature ranges to which they are exposed, with warmer average conditions likely to increase development rates and more extreme temperatures likely to have a negative impact on development. Models which incorporate climate change projections indicate that pests and diseases may shift or increase their ranges in line with warming temperatures. Smallholder farmers are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, with farmers reporting negative impacts on crop production and needing to change farming practices in response to changing climates. In the face of changeable conditions, traditional pest management practices may not be as effective given the climate change induced changes which may be present in the ecosystems e.g. alteration of tritrophic interactions between pest and natural enemies. This paper gives an overview of current and recent projects where CABI and partners have developed and utilised existing technologies, methodologies and approaches that may help smallholder farmers to receive the necessary information to control pests and diseases in the context of changing climates. First, we cover the application of species distribution models and their benefits in highlighting areas at risk of pest incursion in the future. Second, we cover within season modelling approaches, driven by earth observation data sources to help farmers to make informed decisions on the best time to apply an intervention, in the face of changing within season temperatures. Finally, we report on CABI's activities associated with climate smart agriculture in South East Asia.

The focus of this submission is confined to the exercise of freedom of conscience by practitioners who refuse to do what they believe to be unethical or immoral in relation to euthanasia and assisted suicide (“medical assistance in dying”: EAS, MAiD). Unanticipated changes in a patient’s condition may trigger an urgent request for immediate provision of EAS that has already been approved. This can be problematic if the responsible EAS practitioner is unavailable to respond. EAS practitioners should be required to be available to respond to urgent requests once EAS has been approved. Falsification of EAS death certificates is contrary to accepted international standards and can be considered deceptive, unethical or professionally ill-advised. EAS practitioners unwilling to falsify death certificates should be accommodated by the College and Office of the Chief Coroner. Current policy does not give sufficient attention to criminal responsibility. Practitioners incur grave criminal liability if they facilitate EAS for patients they believe are ineligible. Persons in authority incur criminal liability if they attempt to compel them to facilitate EAS for such patients. Practitioner-patient discussion must be informed by the fact that counselling suicide remains a criminal offence. The policy fails to recommend reflection and caution in presenting euthanasia and assisted suicide as treatment options. Confirmation that objecting practitioners are not required to personally kill their patients is welcome, but this should not be seen as a concession. The Project also welcomes the statement that objecting practitioners are not obliged to assess EAS eligibility. However, the claim that they have a fiduciary duty to collaborate in killing their patients should be given no weight because it is not supported by the judicial decisions the College cites to that effect. Practitioners may have clinical reasons for refusing an EAS request; the policy statement to the contrary should be deleted. Overbroad expressions open to abuse for ideological reasons should be replaced (e.g., replace “impede access” with “interfere with access”). With respect to “effective referral,” the policy erroneously implies that refusal to make an effective referral for EAS amounts to patient abandonment. It demonstrates either confusion or hypocrisy and moral partisanship in relation to the moral/ethical significance of referral. College policy that practitioners unwilling to collaborate in killing their patients should take up hair restoration or leave medical practice may adversely affect access to health care and patient safety. To require unwilling citizens to collaborate in killing other people and punish or disadvantage them if they refuse is a dangerous and especially repugnant idea. It stands in violent contradiction to the solicitude for human life, dignity and freedom that ought to characterize a democratic society. This issue was not argued or even considered by the trial court or Ontario Court of Appeal in rulings on CPSO policy.

This submission includes an amendment to Bill C-7 that would add a section to the general provisions of the Criminal Code concerning homicide and suicide (Appendix “A”). It uses the language of the criminal law: inflicting death, homicide, suicide and the well-established and well-understood criminal concept of "parties" to acts. The proposed amendment would establish that, as a matter of law and national public policy, no one can be compelled to become a party to homicide or suicide, or punished or disadvantaged for refusing to do so. The amendment would not prevent the provision of euthanasia or assisted suicide by willing practitioners, nor rational arguments aimed at persuading practitioners to participate, nor the offer of incentives to encourage participation. It is an addition that does not otherwise change the text of Bill C-7. Nor does it touch the eligibility criteria proposed by the Supreme Court and subsequent cases. However, the amendment would prevent state institutions or anyone else from attempting to force unwilling citizens to be parties to killing someone or aiding in suicide. It would prevent those in positions of power and influence from harassing, punishing or disadvantaging anyone who refuses to be a party to inflicting death on others.

Crop pests (weeds, insect pests and pathogens) are recognised worldwide as a serious challenge to agricultural production and threat to food security. Potential losses due to weeds, animal pests and pathogens have been reported at 34%, 18% and 16%, respectively. In monetary terms losses can be high, for example, annual smallholder losses due to just five invasive species in six African countries have been estimated at US$0.9–1.1 billion. Here, smallholder mixed maize farmers’ perceptions of the key constraints to their farming practices are considered. Semi-structured interviews with smallholder households, in addition to key informant interviews, reveal that farmers report insect pests, pathogens and weeds (collectively “pests”) as the main constraints to farm production. Farmers report yield losses experienced due to pests, together with control expenditure significantly affect net income whilst undermining other livelihood assets. Farmers in Mwea West are highly vulnerable to a range of pests including a number of invasive alien species. Importantly, the farmer perceptions in this study agree with major research studies and confirm the serious impacts of pests on smallholder livelihoods. In order to achieve positive livelihood outcomes there is an urgent need for support to improve smallholder food security; this is especially important for countries with low gross domestic product.

Participation in assisted suicide is described in HB1020 as the provision of "medical care," including prescribing or dispensing lethal medication and being present at a patient's suicide. Statutory affirmation that assisted suicide is not only permitted but is a form of "medical care" would likely have serious adverse consequences for objecting Indiana physicians.

In developing countries, invasive alien species (IAS) threaten smallholder farmer production and the food security of subsistence growers, but economic impacts are widely under-reported. Here, the economic impacts of IAS that threaten smallholder mixed maize farming in eastern Africa are presented. Maize is important for most smallholders and is commonly grown with horticultural crops and other cereals which collectively provide nutrition and income. These crops are also important for national economies. Estimates of the economic impacts of five major IAS: Chilo partellus , Maize Lethal Necrosis Disease, Parthenium hysterophorus , Liriomyza spp. and Tuta absoluta on mixed maize smallholders in six countries gave current combined annual losses of US$0.9–1.1 billion; and future annual losses (next 5–10 years) of US$1.0–1.2 billion.

In June, 2019, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte blamed the Catholic Church for obstructing government plans to reduce the country's birth rate and population. "They think that spewing out human beings by the millions is a gift from God," he claimed, adding that health care workers should resign if they are unwilling to follow government policy on population control for reasons of conscience. Duterte's authoritarian diatribe clashes with a ruling of the Supreme Court of the Philippines and turns the clock back to times of harsh and extreme rhetoric when the current law (commonly called the RH Act) was being developed. The RH Act was the product of over fourteen years of public controversy and political wrangling. It was of concern when it was enacted because it threatened some conscientious objectors with imprisonment and fines. In January, 2013, the Project reviewed the Act in detail. Project criticisms about the law's suppression of freedom of conscience were validated in April, 2014, when the Supreme Court of the Philippines struck down sections of the law as unconstitutional. Given the long history of attempts at legislative coercion in the Philippines and President Duterte's obvious hostility to freedom of conscience and religion in health care, the Project's 2013 review of the RH Act is here updated and republished. Assuming that the Philippines government's concern about population growth in the country is justified, it does not follow that it is best addressed by the kind of state bullying exemplified by President Duterte's ill-tempered and ill-considered eruption. Aside from the government's enormous practical advantage in its control of health care facilities, it has at its disposal all of the legitimate means available to democratic states to accomplish its policy goals. Not the least of these is persuasive rational argument, an approach fully consistent with the best traditions of liberal democracy, and far less dangerous than state suppression of fundamental freedoms of conscience and religion.

Public and professional discourse is often dominated by polarized factions primarily interested in expanding or restricting access to X. Few seriously attend to the meaning and significance of freedom, conscience, health, care — and freedom of conscience — except to the extent that such concepts can be made to serve a “pro” or “anti” agenda or to conform to notions of autonomy and contract.

. . to judge from the commentaries commissioned by the BMJ, the CMA leadership has not yet recognized that its decidedly non-neutral affirmation of euthanasia and assisted suicide as therapeutic, patient-centered medical services seriously undermines CMA support for objecting physicians. Dr. Blackmer correctly states that issues arising from the legalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide remain unsettled in Canada. He fails to disclose that one of them is whether or not the state can compel unwilling physicians to collaborate in suicide or homicide, and punish them if they refuse. The current situation in Canada demonstrates that this is not something medical associations can safely leave to be worked out after changing policy or law.

Fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda, is a crop pest native to the Americas, which has invaded and spread throughout sub-Saharan Africa within two years. Recent estimates of 20–50% maize yield loss in Africa suggest severe impact on livelihoods. Fall armyworm is still infilling its potential range in Africa and could spread to other continents. In order to understand fall armyworm's year-round, global, potential distribution, we used evidence of the effects of temperature and precipitation on fall armyworm life-history, combined with data on native and African distributions to construct Species Distribution Models (SDMs). We also investigated the strength of trade and transportation pathways that could carry fall armyworm beyond Africa. Up till now, fall armyworm has only invaded areas that have a climate similar to the native distribution, validating the use of climatic SDMs. The strongest climatic limits on fall armyworm's year-round distribution are the coldest annual temperature and the amount of rain in the wet season. Much of sub-Saharan Africa can host year-round fall armyworm populations, but the likelihoods of colonising North Africa and seasonal migrations into Europe are hard to predict. South and Southeast Asia and Australia have climate conditions that would permit fall armyworm to invade. Current trade and transportation routes reveal Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand face high threat of fall armyworm invasions originating from Africa.

Bowie’s latest book, Adorno and the Ends of Philosophy, supplies a simple thesis that flavors the entire text: Adorno can and should be viewed as ‘a major resource for contemporary philosophy’ (p. ...

This book contains 12 chapters covering a broad range of topics: economic, social and biodiversity impacts of invasive alien plants, rural community perceptions, policy framework responses, prevention and control experiences, and the net result of all of this on livelihoods and development as a whole. The particular value of classical biological control as a tool suitable for managing widespread invasive plants is discussed. Emphasis is given on the specific case of the highly aggressive invasive plant Mikania micrantha, which originates from Neotropical regions, as the species demonstrates so many of the issues involved. This plant invader is now widespread in Asia and the Pacific and negatively affects agriculture and natural ecosystems alike.

Liriomyza huidobrensis (Blanchard) is native to South America but has expanded its range and invaded many regions of the world, primarily on flowers and to a lesser extent on horticultural product shipments. As a result of initial invasion into an area, damage caused is usually significant but not necessarily sustained. Currently, it is an economic pest in selected native and invaded regions of the world. Adults cause damage by puncturing abaxial and adaxial leaf surfaces for feeding and egg laying sites. Larvae mine the leaf parenchyma tissues which can lead to leaves drying and wilting. We have recorded 365 host plant species from 49 families and more than 106 parasitoid species. In a subset of the Argentinian data, we found that parasitoid community composition attacking L. huidobrensis differs significantly in cultivated and uncultivated plants. No such effect was found at the world level, probably due to differences in collection methods in the different references. We review the existing knowledge as a means of setting the context for new and unpublished data. The main objective is to provide an update of widely dispersed and until now unpublished data, evaluate dispersion of the leafminer and management strategies in different regions of the world, and highlight the need to consider the possible effects of climate change on further regional invasions or expansions. Fil: Weintraub, Phyllis G.. Gilat Research Center; Israel Fil: Scheffer, Sonja J.. United States Department Of Agriculture. Agriculture Research Service; Estados Unidos Fil: Visser, Diedrich. Arc-vegetable And Ornamental Plants; Sudáfrica Fil: Valladares, Graciela Rosa. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina Fil: Soares Correa, Alberto. Universidade de Sao Paulo; Brasil Fil: Shepard, B. Merle. Clemson University. Coastal Research and Education Center; Estados Unidos Fil: Rauf, Aunu. Bogor Agricultural University. Faculty of Agriculture; Indonesia Fil: Murphy, Sean T.. CABI; Reino Unido Fil: Mujica, Norma. Centro Internacional de la Papa.; Perú Fil: MacVean, Charles. Saint Francis University; Estados Unidos Fil: Kroschel, Jürgen. International Potato Center. Global Crop Diversity Trust; Alemania Fil: Kishinevsky, Miriam. University of Haifa. Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology; Israel Fil: Joshi, Ravindra C.. Pampanga State Agricultural University; Filipinas Fil: Johansen, Nina S.. NIBIO-Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research. Division of Biotechnology and Plant Health. Department of Invertebrate Pests and Weeds; Noruega Fil: Hallett, Rebecca H.. University of Guelph; Canadá Fil: Civelek, Hasan S.. Mugla Siki Kocman University. Department of Biology; Turquía Fil: Chen, Bing. Chinese Academy of Sciences. Institute of Zoology. State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents; China Fil: Metzler, Helga Blanco. University of Costa Rica. Crop Protection Research Centre; Costa Rica

Understanding the ecology of plant species in their whole range (native and introduced) can provide insights into those that become problematic weeds in the introduced range despite being benign components of the vegetative community in the native range. We studied the morphological traits of Impatiens glandulifera in the native (Indian Himalayas) and introduced (UK) range and evaluated what influences natural enemies and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) have on plant performance. We compared height, total leaf area, root: shoot ratio, natural enemy damage and the colonisation of AMF from individual plants within and between ranges twice in 2010 during the months of June and August. In addition, in August 2010, we estimated the number of reproductive units (expressed as the sum of flowers, seed capsule and seeds) at each site. We found that all morphological traits varied between populations and countries, though in general introduced populations, and the semi-natural population in India, showed higher performance compared to natural native populations. There was only an indication that natural enemy damage, which was significantly higher in the native range, negatively affected reproductive units. Within the introduced range, the percentage colonisation of AMF was negatively associated with plant performance indicating that I. glandulifera may associate with an incompatible AMF species incurring a cost to invasive populations. We conclude that species which are heavily regulated in the native range, though still show high levels of performance, should be considered undesirable introductions into similar ecoclimatic ranges due to the potential that these species will become highly invasive species.

Using the quasi-experimental setting of the Michael Vick dogfighting case, the researchers employed rich interview content to explore the question, “When a critical event occurs in the animal advocacy field, what motivates advocacy groups to respond?” The investigation reveals that what was thought to be one critical event was in actualitythreeunique yet interrelated critical events—(1) the revelation of the transgressions; (2) the punishment of the perpetrator; and (3) the decision about whether to ally with the perpetrator in advocacy. The study shows that legitimacy concerns, occasionally paired with reflections on organizational identity, influenced the decision-making of advocacy organizations across all three critical events, as each held the potential either to legitimize or to delegitimize the advocacy organizations and/or the perpetrator (i.e., Vick).

As part of a census of the Indian rhinoceros Rhinoceros unicornis a survey was conducted to measure the extent of invasion by the neotropical plant mikania Mikania micrantha across major habitats of Chitwan National Park important for the conservation of the rhinoceros. Previous work has demonstrated that this fire-adapted plant can smother and kill native flora such as grasses and sapling trees, several of which are important fodder plants of the rhinoceros. Here, additional studies were conducted on the risks of anthropogenic factors (natural resource collection and grassland burning) contributing to the spread and growth of the plant. Mikania is currently found across 44% of habitats sampled and almost 15% of these have a high infestation (> 50% coverage). Highest densities were recorded from riverine forest, tall grass and wetland habitats and this is where the highest numbers of rhinoceroses were recorded in the habitats surveyed during the census. Local community dependence on natural resources in the core area of the Park is high. The range and volume of resources (e.g. fodder) collected and the distances travelled all pose a high risk of the spread of mikania. Of greater significance is the annual burning of the grasslands in the Park by local communities, estimated at 25–50% of the total area. It is imperative, therefore, that core elements of a management plan for mikania incorporate actions to control burning, reduce spread and raise awareness about best practice for local resource management by local communities.

The decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in Carter v. Canada (Attorney General) changed the law on murder and assisted suicide by making exemptions in defined circumstances to permit euthanasia by physicians and physician assisted suicide. However, it did not change the reasoning that underpins the law on parties to offences - the same reasoning that triggered the commission of inquiry investigating Canada's complicity in the torture of Maher Arar, the same reasoning that sparked the Globe and Mail editorial about Canada's complicity in the abuse of Afghan detainees, and the same reasoning used by physicians and health care providers who would refuse to facilitate euthanasia or assisted suicide by referral.The reasoning that underpins the law on parties to criminal offences, civil liability and public policy on complicity in torture cannot be dismissed as ethically or legally irrelevant to the exercise and protection of fundamental freedoms of conscience and religion.The position some influential or powerful individuals or groups is that a learned or privileged class, a profession or state institutions can legitimately compel people to be parties to homicide or suicide - and punish them if they refuse. Nothing of the kind is stated or implied by the Supreme Court of Canada. This is not a reasonable limitation of fundamental freedoms, but a reprehensible attack on them and a serious violation of human dignity. From an ethical perspective, it is incoherent, because it posits the existence of a moral or ethical duty to do what one believes to be wrong. From a legal and civil liberties perspective, it is profoundly dangerous. If the state can demand that citizens must be parties to killing other people, and threaten to punish them or discriminate against them if they refuse, what can it not demand?

The Experts' recommendations are intended to extend and maximize the impact of the Carter ruling. They will effectively require all institutions, facilities, associations, organizations and individuals providing either health care or residential living for elderly, handicapped or disabled persons to become enablers of euthanasia and assisted suicide. This will entail suppression or significant restriction of fundamental freedoms.The broader the criteria for the provision of morally contested procedures, and the more people and groups captured in the Experts' enablers' net, the greater the likelihood of conflicts of conscience. Relevant here are recommendations to make euthanasia/assisted suicide available to mentally ill and incompetent persons, and to children and adolescents, even without the knowledge of their parents.The Experts' distinction between "faith-based" and "non-faith-based" facilities is meaningless. They impose identical obligations on both. All will be forced to allow homicide and suicide on their premises, or compelled to arrange for euthanasia or assisted suicide elsewhere.Likewise, they recommend that objecting physicians be forced to actively enable homicide or suicide by providing referrals, arranging direct transfers or enlisting or arranging the enlistment of patients in a euthanasia/assisted suicide delivery system. The Supreme Court did not rule that people ought to be compelled to become parties to homicide and suicide, but that is what the Experts recommend. This is not a reasonable limitation of fundamental freedoms, but a reprehensible attack on them and a serious violation of human dignity. Other countries make euthanasia and assisted suicide available without attacking fundamental freedoms. In this respect, the Experts' claim to have produced "a uniquely Canadian approach to this important issue" is regrettably accurate. They fail to provide any evidence that the suppression of freedom of fundamental freedoms they propose can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.

Current published records indicate that the red palm mite (RPM), Raoiella indica Hirst, has a much broader host range in the New World than in the Old World. Therefore, a series of studies were carried out in Kerala, India in 2009 and 2010 to elucidate the presence or absence of R. indica colonies on hosts in addition to coconut Cocos nucifera L., and betel-nut palm, Areca catechu L., the only previously reported host plants in India. We evaluated the following: RPM numbers on coconut and Musa spp. grown in Kerala; the presence of RPM on coconut and bananas grown as a mixed crop; and the possible presence of RPM on palms and other selected plant species mostly grown as ornamentals or reported to be hosts of the RPM in the NewWorld. Results showed that RPM was found in extremely low numbers on Musa spp., never clearly colonizing those plants. The pygmy date palm, Phoenix roebelenii O´Brien, was found to be an additional breeding host in Kerala, as multi-generational colonies were found on a plant of this species. Possible reasons for observed differences in RPM host ranges between the Old World and the New World are discussed.

Transgenic Bt cotton, engineered to continuously produce activated delta-endotoxins of the soil bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis, holds great promise in controlling Helicoverpa armigera and other lepidopteran pests. However, it also may impact the invertebrate community, which needs to be clarified. The effects of Bt cotton on two nontarget insects, Aphis gossypii and Orius sauteri, were assessed under semifield and laboratory conditions. Mean total duration of nymphal stages of A. gossypii was shorter (5.9 versus 6.3 d), and rm was higher (0.418 versus 0.394) on conventional Simian 3 (the most frequently planted non-Bt cotton in northern China) than on Bt transgenic NuCOTN 33B (the first Bt cotton commercially planted in China). Mean duration of fourth-instar O. sauteri was significantly longer on transgenic GK-12 (3.7 d) than on NuCOTN 33B (3.2 d), but no different from Simian 3. Mean total mortality was significantly lower on Simian 3 (3.7%) than on GK-12 (14.8%). During the fourth instar, the predator consumed a significantly higher number of prey on Simian 3 (202.3 prey) than on NuCOTN 33B (159.0), whereas the mean total number of A. gossypii prey consumed during the nymphal stage was significantly higher on Simian 3 (336.8 prey) and GK-12 (330.3 prey) than on NuCOTN 33B (275.7). No detrimental effects were detected on development (nymphs, adults, and progeny eggs), fecundity, longevity, and egg viability of O. sauteri on Bt cotton aphids compared with non-Bt cotton aphids. These results suggest that Bt cotton cultivars GK-12 and NuCOTN 33B have no direct effect on nontargets A. gossypii and O. sauteri. Germplasm divergence may account for the negative effects observed on A. gossypii and O. sauteri when reared on NuCOTN 33B or NuCOTN 33B-fed aphids. The biological meanings of the small difference observed between GK-12 and Simian 3 on survival of O. sauteri will require close monitoring over longer time periods.

DELPHI is an expert system that has been developed to predict possible degradants of pharmaceutical compounds under stress testing conditions. It has been programmed with the objective of finding relevant degradation pathways, identifying degradant structures, and providing tools to the analytical chemist to assist in degradation identification. The system makes degradant predictions based on the chemical structure of the drug molecule and precedent from a broad survey of the literature. A description of DELPHI's treatment of molecular perception is described as are many features of the heuristic degradation rules it uses to capture and apply chemical degradation knowledge. DELPHI's utility for capturing institutional knowledge is discussed in relation to an analysis of degradation prediction results for 250 molecules of diverse chemical structure collected over 5 years of use. As such, it provides a reliable, convenient, and rapid tool for evaluating potential pathways of chemical instability of pharmace...

In the first week of September, the Canadian Medical Association was reported to be “seeking ‘clarity’” about whether or not physicians who perform euthanasia should misrepresent the medical cause of death, classifying death by lethal injection or infusion as death by natural causes. The question arose because it was understood that the Quebec College of Physicians was “considering recommending” that Quebec physicians who provide euthanasia should declare the cause of death to be the underlying medical condition, not the administration of the drugs that actually killed the patient.

The Project finds the proposed policy concerning the exercise of physician freedom of conscience generally satisfactory. Unfortunately, in its current form, the proposed policy could be understood to mean that objecting physicians cannot or should not discuss euthanasia and assisted suicide with patients. This is inconsistent with recent advice from the College of Family Physicians, and it inadvertently introduces bias against objecting physicians. However, this can easily be corrected by rewording the draft to bring it more closely into line with existing College policy on moral or religious beliefs.The draft does not clearly indicate that patients must be advised about the possibility that the drugs may not cause death as expected. The patient should be asked to provide direction as to what the physician should do in the event of incapacitation by failed physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia. This situation would be particularly problematic for physicians willing to assist with suicide but not provide euthanasia. The killing of an incapacitated patient in such circumstances may be legally questionable even within the terms of the Carter ruling. At a minimum, the Project suggests that physicians should not undertake to provide assisted suicide unless they are also willing to provide euthanasia.The proposed policy seems to envisage the possibility of delegation of aspects of the lethal act to other physicians or health care workers. This increases the likelihood of conflicts of conscience, particularly in urgent situations. While it seems unlikely that physicians will be expected to provide euthanasia and assisted suicide on an urgent basis, there is evidence that this expectation could develop when there is a delay between final approval and the provision of the procedures. Among other things, the Project recommends that the responsible physician should personally administer the lethal drug or be personally present when it is ingested, remain with the patient until death ensues, and be continuously available for this purpose once the procedure has been approved.This submission also recommends that the policy should include provisions to protect physicians, applicants for medical school and medical students from discrimination. The Project's view is that if the draft policy is revised in accordance with its recommendations, the result will be entirely satisfactory from the perspective of ensuring protection of conscience for physicians, without impeding patient access to euthanasia and assisted suicide.Finally, it is unlikely that the College will encounter procedures more contentious than euthanasia and assisted suicide. If the revisions proposed in this submission are accepted, the Project suggests that the part of the policy dealing with physician freedom of conscience could be adopted as a standard policy applicable to all morally contested procedures and services. This would very likely make it unnecessary for the College to revisit the issue of physician freedom of conscience every time social and technological developments give rise to new morally contested procedures.

The enzymatic desymmetrization/resolution of epoxydiols generated from the basic epoxidation and reduction of 1,4-naphthoquoinone, 5-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone and 5,8-dihydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone is described. 2,3-Epoxy-1α,2α,3α,4α-tetrahydronaphthalene-1,4-diol and 5,8-diallyloxy-2,3-epoxy-1α,2α,3α,4α-tetrahydronaphthalene-1,4-diol were desymmetrized in the presence of isopropenyl acetate using Burholderia cepacia lipase and Candida antartica lipase B, respectively. An enzymatic resolution of 8-benzyloxy-2,3-epoxy-1α,2α,3α,4α-tetrahydronaphthalene-1,4-diol using B. cepacia lipase in isopropenyl acetate is also described.

The Ontario Human Rights Commission made a serious error in 2008 when it attempted to suppress freedom of conscience and religion in the medical profession on the grounds that physicians are "providers of secular public services." In publicly perpetuating this error, the Commission has contributed significantly to anti-religious sentiments and a climate of religious intolerance in Ontario. Both were on display earlier this year when it became front page news and a public scandal that three physicians had told their patients that they would not recommend, facilitate or do what they believed to be immoral, unethical, or harmful. The physicians had followed the guidelines of the Canadian Medical Association and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario. Physicians must advise patients about treatments or procedures they are unwilling to recommend or provide for moral or religious reasons, so that patients can seek the services elsewhere, but are not required to help patients obtain services or procedures they believe to be wrong.The arrangement is a compromise that safeguards the legitimate autonomy of patients and preserves the integrity of physicians, but it has been continually attacked by activists who want to compel objecting physicians to provide or facilitate abortion and contraception, and, lately, euthanasia. Essentially, the activists assert that physicians have a duty to do what they believe to be wrong because they must not act upon their moral or religious beliefs.However, it is incoherent to include a duty to do what one believes to be wrong in a code of ethics, the very purpose of which is to encourage physicians to act ethically and avoid wrongdoing. Moreover, one cannot practise medicine without reference to beliefs, whether they reflect a secular ethic or a religious one, and neither a secular ethic nor a religious ethic is morally neutral. Thus, demands that physicians must not act upon their beliefs or must practise medicine in a morally “neutral” fashion are unacceptable because they are impossible.The demand that physicians must not act upon religious beliefs because medical practice is a secular profession is unacceptable because it is erroneous. The Supreme Court of Canada has acknowledged that a secular society is not faith-free; it includes both religious and non-religious believers, and rational democratic pluralism must make room them all. The full bench of the Court has warned that to disadvantage or disqualify the exercise of religiously informed conscience in public affairs is an illiberal distortion of liberal principles.If it is legitimate to compel religious believers to do what they believe to be wrong, then it is equally legitimate to compel non-religious believers to do what they think is wrong; everyone would have a duty to do what is believed to be wrong. Hence, the compromise worked out by the Canadian Medical Association not only safeguards the integrity of physicians and legitimate autonomy of patients, but protects the community against the temptation to give credence to a dangerous idea: that a learned or privileged class, a profession or state institutions can legitimately compel people to participate in what they believe to be wrong - even gravely wrong - even murder - and punish them if they refuse.Freedom of conscience and freedom of religion are not unlimited, but the mantra, "the freedom to hold beliefs is broader than the freedom to act on them" is inadequate. More refined distinctions are required to address the difficulties that arise in a pluralist democracy. One of them reflects the two ways in which freedom of conscience is exercised: by pursuing good and avoiding evil. There is a significant difference between preventing people from seeking perfection by doing the good that they wish to do and destroying their integrity by forcing them to do the evil that they abhor. As a general rule, it is fundamentally unjust and offensive to force people to support, facilitate or participate in what they perceive to be wrongful acts; the more serious the wrongdoing, the graver the injustice and offence. It is a policy fundamentally opposed to civic friendship, which grounds and sustains political community and provides the strongest motive for justice. It is inconsistent with the best traditions and aspirations of liberal democracy. And it is dangerous, since it instills attitudes more suited to totalitarian regimes than to the demands of responsible freedom.This does not mean that freedom of conscience exercised to preserve personal integrity can never be limited. It does mean, however, that even the strict approach taken to limiting other fundamental rights and freedoms is not sufficiently refined to be safely applied here. Like the use of potentially deadly force, if the restriction of preservative freedom of conscience can be justified at all, it will only be as a last resort and only in the most exceptional circumstances. When the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario receives complaints from patients who have been unable to obtain services they want, the College should help connect the patients with willing service providers. That would be more helpful than attempting to suppress freedom of conscience and religion in the medical profession.

A 25 year old woman could not obtain a prescription for contraceptives at a clinic because the physician did not prescribe them for reasons of "medical judgment as well as professional ethical concerns and religious values." She obtained the prescription at a clinic two minutes away. A crusade was started against the physician and two colleagues with the same views. Crusaders argued that in a 'secular' state health care system, physicians should be forbidden to act on their moral or religious beliefs. Physicians who refuse to prescribe contraceptives face a difficult challenge, since aggressive contraceptive promotion has left most people unaware of alternatives. Further, the social progress of women is widely attributed to contraceptives, so that failure to provide them risks an adverse reaction. Nonetheless, based on a respectful understanding of female fertility cycles and other factors, plausible reasons can be given to justify refusal to prescribe contraceptives and recommendation of Natural Family Planning. The Supreme Court of Canada has acknowledged that secularists are believers, no less persons with religious beliefs. There is no legal warrant for the idea that a secular state must be purged of the expression of religious belief. The claim that a secular state or health care system is "faith-free" is radically false. Both religious belief and secularism can result in narrow dogmatism and intolerance, as demonstrated by the crusade against the physicians. Since the practice of medicine is an inescapably moral enterprise, every decision concerning treatment is a moral decision. Since the practice of morality is a human enterprise, the secular public square is populated by people with many moral viewpoints. To discriminate against religious belief is a distortion of liberal principles. Moreover, if religious believers can be forced to do what they believe to be wrong, so can non-religious believers. This would establish a destructive and dangerous 'duty to do what is wrong.' It is essential to maintain the integrity of physicians and well-being of patients. After abortion was legalized, a difficult compromise emerged that safeguards both, while protecting the community against a purported 'duty to do what is wrong.' Nonetheless, some people are trying to entrench that duty in medical practice, moving from a purported duty to provide or facilitate abortion to a duty to kill or facilitate the killing of patients by euthanasia. It is unacceptable to compel people to commit or even to facilitate what they see as murder, and punish or penalize them if they refuse. It is equally unacceptable to insist that physicians must not act upon beliefs, because it is impossible; one cannot act morally without reference to beliefs. Such policies are inconsistent with the central place occupied by individual conscience and judgment in a liberal democracy. Freedom of conscience can be adequately accommodated in a society characterized by a plurality of moral and political viewpoints if appropriate distinctions are made. The first of these is the distinction between the exercise of perfective freedom of conscience: pursuing an apparent good - and preservative freedom of conscience: refusing to participate in wrongdoing. The state can sometimes legitimately limit perfective freedom of conscience by preventing people from doing what they believe to be good, but it does not follow that it is equally free to suppress preservative freedom of conscience by forcing them to do what they believe to be wrong. To force people to do something they believe to be wrong is always an assault on their personal dignity and essential humanity, and it always has negative implications for society. It is a policy fundamentally opposed to civic friendship, which grounds and sustains political community and provides the strongest motive for justice. It is inconsistent with the best traditions and aspirations of liberal democracy, since it instills attitudes more suited to totalitarian regimes than to the demands of responsible freedom. Even the strict approach taken to limiting other fundamental rights and freedoms is not sufficiently refined to be safely applied to limit freedom of conscience in its preservative form. Like the use of potentially deadly force, if the restriction of preservative freedom of conscience can be justified at all, it will only be as a last resort and only in the most exceptional circumstances. That a young woman had to drive around the block to fill a birth control prescription does not meet this standard.

After a young woman had to go to a clinic in the next block to get birth control pills, a crusade was started against three physicians who decline to prescribe contraceptives that spilled into mainstream media and earned a blog posting by Professor Carolyn McLeod on Impact Ethics. Professor McLeod objects to the physicians’ practice for three reasons. First: it implies - falsely, in her view - that there are medical reasons to prefer natural family planning to manufactured contraceptives. Second, she claims that refusing to refer for contraceptives and abortions violates a purported “right” of access to legal services. Third, she insists that the physician should not have used a written notice, but met the patient to explain himself and then helped her to obtain contraception elsewhere by referral. However, there is still room in the medical profession for critical thinking; note that the Canadian Medical Association Code of Ethics requires physicians to advise patients if their views are not representative of those of the profession as a whole. While a face-to-face meeting with patients is normally preferable, it may actually be preferable for walk-in clinic patients to be advised promptly by the receptionist when they arrive. Professor McLeod makes surprising and erroneous claims that if freedom of conscience and religion is not limited, Muslim physicians would refuse to accept female patients, and Catholic physicians would deny care to women who have had previous abortions. This bespeaks a complete lack of intellectual engagement with Islamic medical ethics and with Catholic moral theology. Her claim that physicians “cannot act on moral beliefs that prevent them from providing referrals for standard services” is contradicted by Canadian Medical Association policy and by the 25,000 member Ontario Medical Association (OMA). A central goal of Professor McLeod’s Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) funded project is to entrench in medical practice a duty to refer for or otherwise facilitate morally contested procedures. From the perspective of many objecting physicians, this amounts to imposing a duty to do what they believe to be wrong. Two other leaders of this insist that objecting physicians also be forced to refer for euthanasia and assisted suicide. That the state can legitimately compel people to do what they believe to be wrong and punish them if they refuse is a dangerous idea that turns foundational ethical principles upside down. CMA and OMA policy on freedom of conscience safeguards the legitimate autonomy of patients and the integrity of physicians. The policy also protects the community against a particularly deadly form of authoritarianism: a demand that physicians kill their patients or help to arrange for the killing, even if they believe doing so is wrong.

An Act Respecting End-of-Life Care ("ARELC") is intended to legalize euthanasia by physicians in the province of Quebec, a legally contentious project because of Canadian constitutional law. This paper does not take a position on the desirability of euthanasia or assisted suicide, but reviews ARELC in detail from the perspective of physicians who do not wish to be involved with such procedures for reasons of conscience. The Table of Contents following this summary outlines the paper, which consists of nine parts and three appendices. Each part opens with an abstract.Part 1 offers an overview of ARELC and closes with a review of the long term prospects for the implementation of the law. Part 2 discusses the law in detail, including definitions of key terms and procedural requirements. It also explains how a revision of the original text authorizes two different kinds of euthanasia: a regulated process for competent patients, and an unregulated process for incompetent patients. This aspect of the new law has not received attention.The issue of slippery slopes is addressed in Part 3, with particular reference to the guidelines provided in the law. Part 4 considers the tension among health care workers generated by the killing of patients, and closes with an overview of the institutional and legal mechanisms available to implement the law. Appendices "A" and "B" provide detailed information about these mechanisms.Most physicians do not personally kill patients even in jurisdictions where euthanasia or assisted suicide are legal. This fact collides with ARELC’s declaration that access to euthanasia is a right. Part 5 discusses the implications of this collision in Quebec. Appendix "C" provides statistics on physician participation in euthanasia and assisted suicide.Since most physicians will not actually kill patients, and most euthanasia proponents do not insist that objecting physicians should do so, attacks on freedom of conscience are more likely to take the form of demands that physicians facilitate the procedure by referral or other means. Accordingly, Part 6 uses the criminal law and examples of capital punishment, torture and female genital mutilation to explore the concept of morally significant participation in what is believed to be wrong.Physicians may have reasons other than conscientious objection for refusing to kill a patient. The various reasons for refusal and ARELC’s provision for conscientious objection are noted in Part 7, including the continuing criminal prohibition of euthanasia by Canadian criminal law. Of particular interest is the extent of immunity from prosecution being sought by physicians, and the degree of immunity that the government is actually willing to grant.ARELC exempts palliative care hospices from the requirement to provide euthanasia, but the exemption has been challenged and hospice administrators are concerned that the legalization of the procedure will eventually compromise their operations. Part 8 offers an overview of the challenges and their concerns.As a general rule, it fundamentally unjust and offensive to human dignity to require people to support, facilitate or participate in what they perceive to be wrongful acts; the more serious the wrongdoing, the graver the injustice and offence. Thus, it was a serious error to include this a requirement in Code of Ethics for Quebec physicians and pharmacists. Part 9 uses the concept of "examined emotions" to demonstrate that this error became intuitively obvious to the College des medecins and College of Pharmacists when the subject shifted from facilitating access to birth control to facilitating the killing of patients.

Pauesia juniperorum has been selected as a potential agent for the biological control of Cinara cupressivora, an important introduced pest of conifers in Africa. As part of the pre-introductory assessment studies, selection of different host age categories for oviposition was studied in choice and no choice experiments. The duration of development and adult size of parasitoid progeny developing in different host age categories were compared. The effects of parasitism on survival and reproduction of five categories of the apterous morph of the host ranging in age from 3-15 days was also studied. The age of hosts had a significant influence on the degree with which different categories were parasitized. Host defensive behaviour, which increased with age, influenced the outcome of attempts by the parasitoid to oviposit. The effect was greater in older hosts, but in young hosts their small size was more important in enabling aphids to escape parasitism. The duration of development decreased while adult size i...

Cinara sp. nov., previously identified as Cinara cupressi (Buckton) (Homoptera: Aphididae), is an important alien aphid pest of cypresses and junipers, and invaded Africa in the late 1980s. The work reported here was carried out as part of a larger programme aimed at the classical biological control of the aphid in Africa. Basic life history attributes including life table statistics of the aphid were quantified in order to facilitate the development of efficient aphid culturing methods and essential baseline information necessary for the culturing of potential parasitoid biological agents prior to selection for introduction to Africa. Developmental rates and fecundity were studied under four constant temperatures (10 degrees C, 15 degrees C, 20 degrees C, and 25 degrees C). The effects of several plant nutrients (nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus) supplied at different dose levels on life history attributes of Cinara sp. nov. were also studied. Unlike most other aphids, the apterous morph of Cinara sp. nov. developed through only three instars, and the alate four instars. The aphid is highly aggregative and exploits a wide range of feeding sites from young green branches to woody stems. The developmental period of Cinara sp. nov. ranged from 9.3 days at 25 degrees C to 22.3 days at 10 degrees C and the developmental threshold was 0.61 degrees C. Reproduction was delayed, because of the longer duration of development, and nymph production decreased with decreasing temperature. The intrinsic rate of increase ranged between 0.117 at 25 degrees C and 0.060 at 10 degrees C. Aphid size increased significantly as temperature was lowered. Wing formation was not induced when apterae were reared for up to three generations at each constant temperature but continuous crowding in the supply cultures held at 21 degrees C resulted in a high number of alates being formed. No appreciable effects of the different plant nutrients, supplied either singly or in combination, on the duration of instars or overall survival could be detected.