[Ip-health] 25 year patents? This was inevitable

Fri Aug 22 01:37:01 2003

This was inevitable. Without having to point out that
the present project is to roll back patents, not extend
them, it bears reminding that until barely a decade and
a half ago, the idea of patents on health products was
laughable in far more than half the world--about 3/4 of
the world prohibited them as undesirable, as well as
immoral. It was only the US campaign to extend this to
make up for our industral failures that led GATT, of
all inappropriate bodies, to adopt this as one of its
goals. The one most important international agenda
item, certainly more important than terrorism because
TRIPS will increasingly become the source of economic
inequality that helps breed terrorism, is probably to
roll back TRIPS.

This kind of literature will only increase unless TRIPS
is rolled back, signaling that the world has had enough
of this nonsense.

Mickey Davis

Quoting Rene Shen <rshen@fas.harvard.edu>:

> Hi,
> this guy talks about an extension of patents to
> 25 years in FTAA.  I can't
> find any such number in the draft negotiating
> text.
> http://www.ftaa-
alca.org/ftaadraft02/eng/ngipe_1.asp#5.Art.8
>
>
> I assume he means with the compensation for
> delays and such?  Is there a 25
> year baseline number anywhere?
>
> Rene
>
>
> At 07:07 PM 8/20/2003 -0500, Richard Elliott
> wrote:
> >--
> >[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative
> ]
> >
> >Below is an excerpt of a speech by Maude
> Barlow, chairperson of the Council
> >of Canadians, at the recent "Global Health is a
> Human Right!" summit
> >organized by the Global Treatment Access Group
> (GTAG), a working group of
> >Canadian NGOs advocating for the right to
> health globally.  The Council of
> >Canadians is an active member of the GTAG. This
> excerpt has been reprinted
> >and recently distributed in Canadian
> Perspectives, the Council's quarterly
> >action-oriented bulletin to its members, which
> number more than 100,000 in
> >over 70 chapters across Canada.
> >
> >Included in the bulletin is a postcard about
> the WTO to Canada's trade
> >minister (available at:
> http://www.canadians.org/documents/postcard2.pdf)
> >which includes a demand that Canada reinstate
> compulsory licensing to allow
> >access to lower-cost generic drugs.
> >
> >More info about GTAG is available
> >at
> >
(http://www.aidslaw.ca/Maincontent/issues/cts/GTAG_descr
iption-e_March%202003.pdf)
> >
> >***************************************************
> >Patenting Rights: A Global Wrong
> >
> >Reprinted from the Summer 2003 issue of
> Canadian Perspectives
> >By Maude Barlow
> >
> >The following is an excerpt of a speech given
> by Maude Barlow to the Global
> >Health Is a Human Right! conference held in May
> 2003 in Ottawa.
> >
> >There are more than 32 million men, women and
> children infected with
> >HIV/AIDS in developing countries; this year
> alone, a whole generation in
> >some devastated countries will be wiped out.
> Only the lack of access to
> >clean water comes anywhere close in comparison
> to this tragedy. Every 8
> >seconds a child dies of water-borne disease =AD a
> mind-numbing statistic of
> >the same outrageous category.
> >
> >The sad truth is that these deaths are
> preventable. With a concerted effort
> >by an engaged and enraged international
> community, we could radically ease
> >the suffering of millions on our way to
> eradicating AIDS forever. Why then,
> >in spite of the United Nations Declaration of
> Commitment on HIV/AIDS and
> >the establishment of both the Global Fund and
> an international action plan,
> >as well as scores of international meetings, is
> the situation getting worse?
> >
> >Unfortunately, our governments, including the
> Canadian government, say one
> >thing and do another. While mouthing all the
> right pious platitudes, they
> >have formed a global royalty surrounding and
> protecting a set of corporate
> >interests historically unprecedented in their
> power. The suffering of
> >millions is, for the global royalty, an
> unfortunate but inevitable
> >by-product of this power and the ideology
> behind it.
> >
> >Corporate-driven globalization has brought to
> the world a new form of
> >colonialism and slavery=97what Vandana Shiva
> calls global economic apartheid.
> >It has created a form of war=97against diversity,
> of big against small, of
> >rich against poor, of technology against
> nature. These are wars of
> >peacetime, occurring daily in the lives of
> billions, expressions of a
> >system that puts profit above life, commerce
> above justice, and corporate
> >power above community.
> >
> >The basic antiretroviral drugs taken for
> granted in the West would keep
> >millions alive and leading productive lives,
> but the price tag of
> >U.S.$10,000=AD$15,000 a year is well above the
> annual income of most people
> >in the Third World. Tragically, the answer =AD
> access to cheaper generic
> >drugs =AD is opposed by one of the most powerful
> lobbies of all time.
> >
> >The pharmaceutical industry is dominated by a
> handful of giants =AD Merck,
> >Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Eli Lilly,
> Bristol-Myers Squibb, Johnson & Johnson
> >=AD and they wield enormous clout. There was a
> time not long ago when these
> >corporations were merely the size of nations.
> Now, after a frenzied
> >three-year period of megamergers, they are
> behemoths that outweigh entire
> >continents.
> >
> >The drug companies operate like a cartel,
> seeking to exercise monopoly
> >control. They were the key influence in
> inserting intellectual property
> >rights in global and regional trade deals and
> are perhaps the best evidence
> >that free trade is anything but. For these
> giants do not seek a
> >competitive, open international drug market,
> but a closed and protected
> >monopoly for their products.
> >
> >They have the same kind of power base in
> Canada. Eight of the top ten drug
> >companies in Canada are foreign-owned
> brand-name corporations. The Canadian
> >lobby, Rx&D (formerly the Pharmaceutical
> Manufacturers of Canada), was the
> >key player behind the passage of Bill C-91, the
> NAFTA-compatible law that
> >repealed Canada=92s compulsory licensing system
> and extended monopoly
> >protection to 20 years. As a result, Canadian
> drug prices soared =AD rising
> >by 342 percent in just 15 years =AD as did the
> market share of patent drugs.
> >
> >Firmly ensconced in a position of great
> influence, the patent drug
> >companies in Canada call the shots. They are
> seeking the right to advertise
> >drugs directly to consumers, as they do in the
> United States, and to
> >protect their privileged position at the Health
> Protection Branch of Health
> >Canada. They don=92t want government to tamper
> with their =93right=94 to keep a
> >generic company in court for two years simply
> by alleging patent
> >infringement. But their highest priority is to
> continue to block the export
> >of Canadian generic drugs to the Third World.
> >
> >So it is little wonder that Canada is
> supporting a TRIPS-plus regime at the
> >upcoming FTAA negotiations, where the drug
> companies are seeking a patent
> >extension to 25 years. Or that Canada is a
> cheerleader for GATS, exposing
> >medicare to the cold shower of international
> competition in order to
> >promote Canada=92s fledgling health care industry
> abroad. Or that
> >International Trade Minister Pierre Pettigrew
> backed off his promise not to
> >extend NAFTA=92s Chapter 11 investment provisions
> to the rest of the
> >hemisphere the moment George W. Bush had a
> =93word=94 with Jean Chr=E9tien at the
> >Summit of the Americas in Quebec City three
> years ago.
> >
> >The single most important action we civil
> society groups of the QUAD (WTO
> >leadership) countries can do in this global
> struggle against HIV/AIDS is to
> >fight our own governments and corporations and
> the policies and ideologies
> >they are forcing on an increasingly divided
> world. This is global class
> >warfare; it is clear which side the Canadian
> government has taken. Let us
> >make it equally clear where our movement
> stands.
> >
> >In that our governments no longer even attempt
> to appear fair, in that they
> >listen only to the voice of their corporate
> elite, the only chance the
> >world has for a system of real and sustained
> social justice is civil
> >society =AD ordinary people. We are going to have
> to become what some
> >commentators called =93the other superpower,=94
> referring to the massive street
> >protests that gathered on the eve of the recent
> war. We must renew our
> >fight against the WTO, the GATS and the FTAA =AD
> something we have let slide
> >in recent years =AD and challenge the immoral
> power and monstrous greed of
> >the patent drug transnationals.
> >
> >The suffering of millions with AIDS is not
> inevitable; it is the natural
> >consequence of a system based on winners and
> losers. A system that has lost
> >its soul. A system that is destroying the
> planet in the name of economic
> >freedom. Everything is for sale in their world
> =AD the fish before they are
> >caught, the rain before it falls, the seed deep
> in the forest, the very
> >building blocks of life. It cannot be
> sustained. Unlimited growth has the
> >same DNA as the cancer cell. We will not stop
> the suffering of millions of
> >AIDS-afflicted people until we confront
> corporate-driven, pro-privatization
> >globalization. To confront this system is our
> greatest task.
> >
> >Maude Barlow is the Volunteer National
> Chairperson of the Council of
> >Canadians.
> >
> >(Available on-line in English at
> >http://www.canadians.org/display_document.htm?
COC_token=3DCOC_token&id=3D717&isdoc=3D1&catid=3D262
> >
> >and in French at
> >http://www.canadians.org/display_document_fr.htm?
COC_token=3DCOC_token&id=3D595&isdoc=3D1&catid=3D197.)
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >(on leave until September 2003)
> >Richard Elliott
> >Director, Policy & Research / Directeur,
> politiques et recherche
> >Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network / R=E9seau
> juridique canadien VIH/sida
> >890 Yonge Street, Suite 700, Toronto, Canada
> M4W 3P4
> >Tel : +1 (416) 595-1666 Fax +1 (416) 595-0094
> >E-mail: relliott@aidslaw.ca Web:
> www.aidslaw.ca
> >
> >The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network is a
> partner organisation of the
> >AIDS Law Project of South Africa, and a
> non-governmental organization in
> >Special Consultative Status with the Economic
> and Social Council of the
> >United Nations. //
> >Le R=E9seau juridique canadien VIH/sida est un
> organisme partenaire du AIDS
> >Law Project
> >de l'Afrique du Sud et ONG dot=E9 de statut
> consultatif sp=E9cial aupr=E8s du
> >Conseil =E9conomique
> >et social des Nations Unies.
> >
> >Please help fight world hunger. One click a day
> sends FREE FOOD to
> >fight malnutrition, AIDS and other diseases.
> See: http://www.thehungersite.com
> >--
> >
> >_______________________________________________
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>
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