"Activists See CAFTA as Gift to Big Pharma"

[GreenPartyVoter]

WASHINGTON -- With the U.S. House of Representatives due to vote this week on the fate of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), international health activists are warning that the intellectual property provisions included in the pact could spell death for hundreds of thousands of poor people.

They blame the lobbying clout of ''Big Pharma,'' the brand-name pharmaceutical companies that have successfully inserted language in the accord, which covers the Dominican Republic as well as the nations of Central America, to prevent cheaper, generic drug manufacturers from selling their products, including life-preserving anti-retroviral treatments for AIDS victims, to needy patients in the region.

''With CAFTA, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, operating at the behest of BIG Pharma, has imposed on Central America and the Dominican Republic a trade deal that will deny millions access to life-saving and essential medicines,'' according to Robert Weissman, co-director of Essential Action, a public interest group here.

''The region's combined economy is about the size of Columbus, Ohio, and its poor populations mostly cannot afford high-priced brand-name pharmaceuticals. But what for Big Pharma is dollars and cents is life and death for the people of Central America,'' he said.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0727-03.htm

[Robbien]

1. Congressman Pallone is on dailykos asking for your help to stop CAFTA

Please call your Representative now! Capitol toll-free numbers:


1-877-SOB-U-SOB

1-866-340-9281

1-800-718-1008

[ulysses]

2. if it walks like a sack of shit and talks like a sack of shit...

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. So do they have the support for it or not?

[ulysses]

4. looks like it'll be very close.

I think we have a real chance, if some of the "yes" Dems will wake the fuck up.

[Robbien]

5. My God, Mellissa Bean in Illinois is being threatened

by the Unions who did a big fund raiser for her last week. And she is still saying she will vote for it.

She is in a heavily GOP district. The Unions organized a hugh GOTV campaign for her, and she is still voting yes.

She needs to be swamped with calls.

[ulysses]

6. sounds to me

like someone is changing her view of who her base voters are.