# \[e-drug\] USA - Australia FTA; Impact on pharmaceuticals (2) **URL:** https://talk.edrugplus.org/t/e-drug-usa-australia-fta-impact-on-pharmaceuticals-2/19652 **Category:** e-drug **Created:** [May 20, 2004, 5:19am UTC](https://talk.edrugplus.org/t/e-drug-usa-australia-fta-impact-on-pharmaceuticals-2/19652 "2004-05-20T05:19:48Z") **Posts on this page:** 1 **Page:** 1
### Author: ![Dr\_Ken\_Harvey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47c2d/32.png) [@Dr\_Ken\_Harvey](https://talk.edrugplus.org/u/Dr_Ken_Harvey) #### Post date: [May 20, 2004, 5:19am UTC](https://talk.edrugplus.org/t/e-drug-usa-australia-fta-impact-on-pharmaceuticals-2/19652/1 "2004-05-20T05:19:48Z")
E-DRUG: USA - Australia FTA; Impact on pharmaceuticals (2) ---------------------------------------------------------- Dear Colleagues, On Tuesday, Australian Trade Minister Mark Vaile and his US counterpart, Robert Zoellick, signed the USA - Australia FTA. This is despite two on-going parliamentary inquiries in Australia that have received over 700 public submissions, the majority of which oppose the FTA, especially because of concern over its impact on the Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). Written submissions & oral testimony (Hansard transcripts) to these inquires can be accessed at: [http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/jsct/usafta/index.htm](http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/jsct/usafta/index.htm) and: [http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/committee/freetrade\_ctte](http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/committee/freetrade_ctte) The battle to oppose the FTA has now focused on the Australian senate where the Labor opposition, Greens, Democrats and independent senators hold the balance of power. The Senate can block FTA enabling legislation and thus scuttle the FTA (see press articles below). I urge all those concerned about the global implications of the USA push for bilaterally negotiated TRIPS Plus agreements to assist us in opposing the USA - Australia FTA. The key E-mail addresses to lobby are as follows: Labor: M.Latham.MP@aph.gov.au; Julia.Gillard.MP@aph.gov.au; senator.cook@aph.gov.au; senator.conroy@aph.gov.au Greens: senator.nettle@aph.gov.au Democrats: senator.ridgeway@aph.gov.au Independents: senator.murphy@aph.gov.au; senator.harradine@aph.gov.au; senator.lees@aph.gov.au; senator.harris@aph.gov.au At this time I keep in mind the following quotations from Edmund Burke who said, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing". And the German pathologist and health activist Rudolph Virchow who said, "Medicine is a social science and politics is nothing more than medicine practiced on a larger stage". Cheers Ken Dr. Ken Harvey, Council Member, Australian Consumers Association; Consultant, Therapeutic Guidelines Ltd.; Senior Lecturer, School of Public Health, La Trobe University; [http://users.bigpond.net.au/medreach/](http://users.bigpond.net.au/medreach/) Mobile: 0419 181910 --- Labor warns it may block trade deal By Tim Colebatch, Marian Wilkinson, Washington The Age May 20, 2004 Picture: Mark Vaile and Robert Zoellick sign the free trade deal in Washington. Labor may block the free trade agreement with the United States because of changes to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, the party warned yesterday. With the US Congress expected to approve the agreement in July, and the Australian Democrats and Greens committed to voting against it, it will be up to Labor to determine whether the Howard Government's biggest trade initiative becomes law. Trade experts expect Labor ultimately to endorse the pact, but Opposition trade spokesman Stephen Conroy said the party was still uncommitted, with concerns about costs to the PBS, quarantine laws and the film, TV and internet industries. The trade deal could face another barrier after a spokeswoman for US Democrat presidential candidate John Kerry said he had yet to decide whether he would support it. A group of experts on pharmaceutical policy, including two former members of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee, warned yesterday that changes to appease US drug companies could lift the cost of the scheme to taxpayers by 30 per cent, or $1.5 billion a year. "The text of the agreement is unbalanced and most of the measures increase the pricing power of US drug companies operating in Australia," the group said in a submission to the Senate committee examining the deal. "It is inconceivable, based on past practice, that they will not use that new pricing power." Senator Conroy said senior officials this week were unable to explain to the Senate committee how the new pharmaceutical review system would work. "There is still no decision on the structure and composition of the review process," he said. "This is a make-or-break issue for us. We believe we have the world's best system and nothing in the trade deal should be allowed to undermine it." --- See also: [http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/05/19/1084917650450.html](http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/05/19/1084917650450.html) [http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/05/19/1084917656305.html](http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/05/19/1084917656305.html) [http://www.econ.usyd.edu.au/drawingboard/digest/0403/harvey.html](http://www.econ.usyd.edu.au/drawingboard/digest/0403/harvey.html) --- -- To send a message to E-Drug, write to: e-drug@healthnet.org To subscribe or unsubscribe, write to: majordomo@healthnet.org in the body of the message type: subscribe e-drug OR unsubscribe e-drug To contact a person, send a message to: e-drug-help@healthnet.org Information and archives: [http://www.essentialdrugs.org/edrug](http://www.essentialdrugs.org/edrug)