possible state dept amendment regarding access to drugs in Africa, Asia and Israel

[James Love <love@cptech.org>]

If Representative Sanders can get a few co-sponsors, he will
offer this amendment on the State Department authorization, 
which will come up tomorrow or thursday, it appears.
If anyone can get a co-sponsor, they should contact
Danielle LeClair in Rep Sanders office at
202.225.4115, Danielle.LeClair@mail.house.gov

Jamie

-----------------
H.L.C.
AMENDMENT TO H.R. 2415
OFFERED BY MR. SANDERS OF VERMONT
Page 35, after line 9, insert the following (and con-form
the table of contents accordingly):
SEC. 211. PROHIBITION ON INTERFERENCE WITH INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
LAW RELATING To PHARMACEUTICALS OF CERTAIN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 

No employee of the Department of State shall take any action to
deter or to otherwise interfere with any intellectual property
law or policy of any country in Africa or Asia (including Israel)
that is designed to make pharmmceuticals more affordable if such
law or policy, as the case may be, complies with the Agreement on
Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights referred to
in section 101(d)(15) of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act 12
(19 U.S.C. 3511(d)(15)).




----------------------------
Subject: possible state dept amendment re: south africa and aids
 Date: Tue, 13 Jul 1999 15:51:23 -0400
  From: "LeClair, Danielle" <Danielle.LeClair@mail.house.gov>

-----------------------------------
hi everyone- bernie might offer the following amendment to the state
department authorization bill this week.  however, unless we have great
support from the progressives and congressional black caucus, we really
can't go ahead.  if you could let me know by tomorrow a.m. if your boss
can
cosponsor and speak on the amendment, i'd very much appreciate it-
what's
happening is that countries in africa, asia, and israel are trying to
import
the least expensive prescription drugs to their countries instead of
paying
high prices from the drug companies.  this has been found to be legal
under
a WTO trade agreement (called TRIPS).  the u.s. gov't is taking steps to
discourage these nations from trying to find the lowest prices and our
amendment would prevent this.  these drugs are so expensive in south
africa
and other nations, and hundreds or even thousands of people are dying
every
week waiting for affordable drugs for hiv/aids, malaria, TB, etc.  this
is
an important pro-prescription drug, minority, aids, low-income, and
foreign
affairs amendment.
thanks for your help-
danielle
rep. sanders

July 13, 1999

EXPLANATION OF REP. SANDERS' AMENDMENT TO H.R. 2415 REGARDING
PHARMACEUTICALS

Rep. Sanders (I-VT) will offer an amendment to prevent the United States
government (State Department employees) from imposing restrictions on
any
Asian or African country or Israel if that country imports prescription
medications from other nations instead of directly from a pharmaceutical
company in order to benefit from the lowest price available in the
world.
This practice is in accordance with the World Trade Organization/TRIPS
trade
agreement.  These nations are "parallel importing" these drugs, as the
practice is called, in order to treat AIDS patients who cannot afford
the
extremely expensive medications to treat that disease, as well as
patients
with other diseases such as malaria, meningitis, etc.





-- 
James Love, Director, Consumer Project on Technology
I can be reached at love@cptech.org, by telephone 202.387.8030,
by fax at 202.234.5176. CPT web page is http://www.cptech.org