E-drug: ACT UP-Paris: access to treatment in poor countries
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ACT UP-Paris
Press Statement
MONDAY 27 MAI, 5 :00 A.M. GMT
Access to Treatment in Poor countries
The True Face of Pascal Lamy
Pascal Lamy, the European trade representative, who presented himself as the
spearhead of the fight for access to medicines , is finally returning to the
bosom of Big Pharma as shown by the proposals of the European Commission in
the negotiations at the TRIPS Council.
Last November at Doha the Member States of the WTO instructed the TRIPS
Council to find a solution before the end of 2002 making it possible for
generic producing countries to export generics to countries which aren�t
producing themselves. Now the proposals of the European Commission, which
play down the importance of universally recognized public health needs, run
counter to the spirit of the Doha declaration on "TRIPS and Public Health",
and restrict the export of generics by all possible means:
1) through discrimination :
For the European Commission, countries wishing to use generics would have to
prove they are sufficiently poor, weak or incapable of producing generics on
their own, that their needs are genuine or that the illness they are
combating is sufficiently serious(cf www.actupp.org/article510.htlm -- in
French only). According to Ga�lle Krikorian of Act Up-Paris: �not only is
the procedure obscene, but the Commission simply denies the sovereignty of
such countries and the fundamental rights of their people. It denies the
fact that sick people in poor countries who suffer from illnesses or
symptoms that are not deadly, but severely debilitating, such as arthritis,
chronic depression or polio, have the same rights as people in rich
countries to have access to health care or live without pain.�
2) through constraint :
The European Commission is trying to impose on producing as well as
importing countries a whole array of restrictions and safeguards the only
purpose of which is to limit the very production of generics. For Act
Up-Paris, �such measures are absurd as well as unethical. It is up to rich
countries, which already have the means at their disposal to regulate and
control imports, to make sure they monitor imports at their own borders.�
Besides, by requiring from countries wishing to import generics that they
give innumerable guarantees and justify the legitimacy of their policy in
many different ways, the European Commssion makes them the easy targets for
the very same pressures and threats that have prevented them so far from
issuing compulsory licences and obtaining generics. Thereby it serves only
one interest, that of the pharmaceutical lobby, which dreads the coming of
pharmaceutical products onto the markets of rich countries.
Pascal Lamy claims �he has been fighting for two years to make the
international community aware of the necessity of a drastic cut in the price
of medicine to combat the major epidemics of the South� But the battle is
not over for the sick and their right to benefit from the export of generics
is at stake.
Pascal Lamy asserts �it is possible to modify the broad lines of
globalization in a way that serves the interests of communities.� However,
by putting forward the question of differential pricing- which is nothing
but an agreement with brand-name companies- he only serves the interests of
pharmaceutical companies and dismisses the fundamental question of the
export of generics. Europe and the WTO are expected, on the contrary, to
allow countries wishing to use generics to do so as easily as if they were
able to produce them on their own.
(1) See his book ; P. Lamy, Le vicaire du diable, Chap. 5 : � Ce n�est pas
notre affaire : sida et labos �, Paris, 2002.
(2) From Cotonou to Doha. Meeting of the Trade Ministers of Pacific,
Caribeans and Africa, Bruxelles, November 5, 2001.
(3) See his book ; P. Lamy, Le vicaire du diable, Chap. 5 : � Ce n�est pas
notre affaire : sida et labos �, Paris, 2002.
Contact : Ga�lle Krikorian, tel : + 33 6 09 17 70 55 � + 33 1 49 29 44 89.