MSF Urges Countries Not to Trade Away Health as Trans-Pacific Trade Pact Negotiations Intensify

Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam/New York, August 22, 2013–The far-reaching Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) should be a force for improving health outcomes for the more than half a billion people in twelve countries affected by the pact, but instead negotiators are moving towards finalizing a deal that in fact would restrict access to affordable medicines and constrain governments’ ability to protect the health of their citizens, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said today. Trade representatives from the U.S. and 11 Pacific Rim countries are in Brunei to negotiate the terms of the agreement, including U.S. proposals for intellectual property (IP) standards that are the most aggressive ever seen in a trade agreement with developing countries.   “Despite more than 18 months of persistent opposition from its trading partners, the U.S. government has refused to back down from its demands for intellectual property rules designed to impede timely access to affordable generic medicines,” said Leena Menghaney, MSF Access Campaign Manager, who is attending the negotiations. “The U.S. is keen to block developing country governments from any attempt to control abusive patenting or limit drug patent terms to the internationally-agreed 20 years. These efforts are a repudiation of the U.S. government’s own prior commitments to balance commercial pharmaceutical interests with the public health i...
Source: MSF News - Category: Global & Universal Source Type: news