A11
B USINESS
THE BULLETIN • THURSDAY, APRIL 22, 2021
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BRIEFING
Amazon rolls out
pay-by-palm
Amazon is rolling out
pay-by-palm technology
at some Whole Foods
grocery stores near its
headquarters to make
paying quicker and more
convenient.
The technology, called
Amazon One, lets shop-
pers scan the palms of
their hands and connect
it to a credit card or Ama-
zon account.
After the initial setup,
which Amazon says takes
less than a minute, shop-
pers can scan their hand
at the register to pay for
groceries without having
to open their wallets.
Amazon first launched
the technology late last
year and at the time said
the technology could be
used at stadiums, office
buildings and other retail-
ers. So far, Amazon hasn’t
announced any takers.
A Whole Foods store in
Amazon’s hometown of
Seattle started using the
technology on Wednes-
day. Seven additional
Whole Foods locations
in the area will have it
installed in the coming
months.
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Europe outlines
AI regulations
Risky uses of artificial
intelligence that threaten
people’s safety or rights
such as live facial scan-
ning should be banned or
tightly controlled, Euro-
pean Union officials said
Wednesday as they
outlined an ambitious
package of proposed
regulations to rein in the
rapidly expanding tech-
nology.
The draft regulations
from the EU’s executive
commission include rules
for applications deemed
high risk such as AI sys-
tems to filter out school,
job or loan applicants.
They would also ban arti-
ficial intelligence outright
in a few cases considered
too risky, such as govern-
ment “social scoring”
systems that judge
people based on their
behavior.
The proposals are
the 27-nation bloc’s lat-
est move to maintain its
role as the world’s stan-
dard-bearer for tech-
nology regulation, as it
tries to keep up with the
world’s two big tech su-
perpowers, the U.S. and
China.
— Bulletin wire reports
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FDA | Johnson & Johnson vaccine
Inspection finds problems at factory
BY LINDA A. JOHNSON
Associated Press
The Baltimore factory hired
to help make Johnson & John-
son’s COVID-19 vaccine was
dirty, didn’t follow proper
manufacturing procedures and
had poorly trained staff, result-
ing in contamination of mate-
rial going into a batch of shots,
U.S. regulators said Wednes-
day.
The Food and Drug Admin-
istration released a statement
and a 13-page report detailing
findings from its just-com-
pleted inspection of the idled
Emergent BioSciences factory.
Agency inspectors said a
batch of bulk drug substance
for J&J’s single-shot vaccine
was contaminated with mate-
rial used to make COVID-19
vaccines for another Emergent
client, AstraZeneca. The batch,
reportedly enough to make
about 15 million J&J vaccine
doses, had to be thrown out.
Other problems cited in the
inspection report included
peeling paint, black and brown
residue on factory floors and
walls, inadequate cleaning and
employees not following pro-
cedures to prevent contamina-
tion between vaccine batches
and ingredients.
Nothing made at the factory
for J&J has been distributed,
the FDA noted. The nearly 8
million doses of J&J vaccine
given in the U.S. came from
Europe.
Emergent and Johnson &
Johnson said they are working
to fix the problems as quickly
as possible.
After quality problems sur-
faced late last month, J&J took
control of the factory. The
Biden administration is work-
ing to move AstraZeneca vac-
cine manufacturing to another
factory. AstraZeneca has yet to
seek emergency authorization
for use of its vaccine in the U.S.
The Baltimore factory halted
all production late last week at
the FDA’s request. The agency
hasn’t given emergency ap-
proval to the factory, which is
needed before any vaccine ma-
terial made there can be dis-
tributed.
All the bulk vaccine sub-
stance inside Emergent’s fac-
tory, plus early batches made
there and then put in vials and
packaged by other J&J contrac-
tors, are being stored and will
undergo additional testing by
the FDA, the agency said.
At the moment, use of the
J&J vaccine is on hold in the
U.S. as government health
officials investigate its possi-
ble connection to very rare
blood clots. Their decision on
whether to allow its use to re-
sume could come Friday.
‘VEHICLE MILES
TRAVELED’
MARIJUANA
Should states set
policy by its potency?
U.S. halts oil,
gas lease sales
from public lands
The U.S. Interior De-
partment is canceling
sales of oil and gas leases
on public lands through
June amid an ongoing re-
view of how the program
contributes to climate
change, officials said
Wednesday.
The action does not
affect existing leases, and
the agency has contin-
ued to issue new drilling
permits during the open-
ended review ordered
by the White House, said
Nada Culver, deputy di-
rector of the Bureau of
Land Management.
The petroleum indus-
try and its Republican
allies in Congress have
said the oil and gas mor-
atorium will harm the
economies of Western
states without putting a
significant dent in climate
change. There is no end
date for the review, but
an interim report due this
summer could reveal the
Biden administration’s
long-term plans for lease
sales.
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Oregon
considers
making fee
mandatory
come 2026
BY ANDREW THEEN
The Oregonian
ing in recent decades — from 4%
in 1995 to 12% in 2014 in mari-
juana seized by federal agents, for
example. Cannabis concentrates
sold in Colorado’s legal market
average about 69% THC, and
some top 90%, according to state
reports.
A sweeping 2017 examination
of cannabis and health by the
National Academies of Sciences,
Engineering, and Medicine listed
increasing potency among factors
that “create the potential for an
increased risk of adverse health
effects.”
Oregon lawmakers are con-
sidering a bill that would re-
quire owners of new, fuel-ef-
ficient cars and trucks to pay
a fee for every mile they drive
beginning in 2026.
The legislation is intended
to help address what transpor-
tation officials say is a grim
financial reality facing Oregon
and other states: Gas taxes are
not a sustainable way to pay for
highway and street maintenance
projects. That problem will only
become more worrisome as
vehicles become more fuel ef-
ficient, they argue. Oregon has
estimated its highway fund, of
which 40% comes from gas tax
revenues, will be insolvent by
2024 without significant action.
Oregon’s experiment with
a “vehicle miles traveled” fee
has been hailed nationally as
a bold step toward what will
eventually become a reality if,
or when, local governments no
longer can depend on gas taxes
because the transportation sec-
tor won’t run on fossil fuels. It’s
unclear whether Oregon’s bill
will move forward this session.
But the national conversation
has changed considerably as
the pay-as-you-go funding
mechanism has gained popu-
larity, including among some
advocates in the Biden admin-
istration and Congress and
through legislation in multiple
states, including a failed effort
in Republican-led Wyoming.
If passed, Oregon’s “vehicle
miles traveled” fee wouldn’t be
effective until July 2026. That’s
just the beginning of the ca-
veats. The House Bill 2342 fee
would apply only to owners of
new 2027 vehicles that don’t
use gas or get 30 miles or more
per gallon of gasoline.
See Marijuana / A12
See Gas tax / A12
Julie Jacobson/AP
The THC percentages of recreational marijuana are visible on the product packaging sitting on a countertop Monday in Mama-
roneck, N ew York.
BY JENNIFER PELTZ • Associated Press
NEW YORK —
A
s marijuana legalization spreads across U.S. states, so does a debate over whether to set pot
policy by potency. Under a law signed last month, New York will tax recreational marijuana
based on its amount of THC, the main intoxicating chemical in cannabis.
Illinois imposed a potency-re-
lated tax when recreational pot
sales began last year. Vermont is
limiting THC content when its le-
gal market opens as soon as next
year, and limits or taxes have been
broached in some other states
and the U.S. Senate’s drug-control
caucus.
Supporters say such measures
will protect public health by rop-
ing off, or at least discouraging,
what they view as dangerously
concentrated cannabis.
“This is not your Woodstock
weed,” says Kevin Sabet, the presi-
dent of Smart Approaches to Mar-
ijuana, an anti-legalization group
that has been pressing for potency
caps. “We need to put some lim-
itations on the products being
sold.”
Opponents argue that THC
limits could drive people to buy
illegally, and amount to beginning
to ban pot again over a concern
that critics see as overblown.
“It’s prohibitionism 2.0,” said
Cristina Buccola, a cannabis busi-
ness lawyer in New York.
“Once they start putting caps
on that, what don’t they put caps
on?”
THC levels have been increas-
OREGON
Farm building-code exemption bill passes House
BY MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Agricultural buildings aren’t cur-
rently subject to building codes in Or-
egon, but county code enforcers have
called into question whether structures
remain exempt if they’re used for non-
farm purposes, such as storing an old
car or housing a camper.
House Bill 2611 was proposed to
clarify the problem and avoid potential
litigation if farmers are eventually cited
The bill was amended by the House Agriculture and Natural Resources
Committee to clarify that farm buildings can have “incidental and
accessory” uses in addition to housing livestock, storing machinery and
other agricultural uses.
for code violations.
Farmers use their barns like home ga-
rages and shouldn’t face disqualification
for storing common items in them, said
Rep. Vikki Breese Iverson, R-Prineville.
“If that is the case, every farm in Or-
egon will lose their building code ex-
emption because the barns are almost
always used for farm uses and as a place
for personal storage,” she said. “This bill
will help Oregon farm families.”
The House voted 48-8 in favor of HB
2611, which is supported by the Oregon
Farm Bureau and the Oregon Property
Owners Association.
The bill was amended by the House
Agriculture and Natural Resources Com-
mittee to clarify that farm buildings can
have “incidental and accessory” uses in
addition to housing livestock, storing
machinery and other agricultural uses.
See Farm code / A12