[Ip-health] News: HIV/AIDS Activists Protest Central America Trade Talks

[Kate Krauss]

Dow Jones Business News
HIV/AIDS Activists Protest Central America Trade Talks

December 9, 2003


WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Twelve HIV activists protesting drug-patent
provisions under negotiation between the U.S. and Central American
governments were arrested Tuesday in Washington.

The protest action was led by ACT UP, a group calling for more affordable
generic HIV/AIDS drugs, and is part of broader protests planned for the
week. They complain that patent protection measures demanded by the U.S.
will restrict poor countries' access to cheaper drugs.


The protesters blocked traffic by lying across the street at the corner of
Connecticut Ave. and L Street, just outside the Mayflower Hotel where talks
between U.S. and Central American trade officials are ongoing. In January,
the U.S. launched negotiations on a Central American Free Trade Agreement
with El Salvador (news - web sites), Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras and
Guatemala.


"We have an obligation to stand and demand that (President George W.) Bush
put public health and access to medicines first, not his greedy drive to
pander to Big Pharma," said Jose DeMarco, an ACT UP activist arrested by the
police.


Drug companies argue that patent protection is essential to ensure that
money is invested into research for new drugs.


"Patent protection is the only thing ensuring new medicines to combat this
disease and others," said Mark Grayson, senior communications director for
the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. Grayson said there
are international intellectual property agreements that set up guidelines
for poor countries to purchase generic medicines.


CAFTA protesters said in this agreement the U.S. is pushing for tougher
restrictions than those it agreed to in the so-called Doha Declaration which
established a procedure for countries to set aside drug patents in public
health emergencies.


A spokesman for the U.S. Trade Representative denied this. "We fully support
countries having the ability to get access to life-saving medicines. Nothing
in the agreement will detract from the Doha access to medicines," said USTR
spokesman Rich Mills.