Bush's Aids 'gift' has been seized by industry giants (US blocks generics)

[papau]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/wto/article/0,2763,1061786,00.html

Bush's Aids 'gift' has been seized by industry giants

Now the US may block the provision of cheap generic drugs for Africa

Naomi Klein Monday October 13, 2003 The Guardian

<snip>...He has since reconsidered....he may sabotage a plan to send cheap drugs to countries ravaged by Aids. In August, the World Trade Organisation announced a new deal on drug patents that was supposed to give poor countries facing health problems the right to import generic drugs. But the deal seemed unworkable: the United States, at the behest of the pharmaceutical lobby, had successfully pushed for so many conditions that the agreement exploded from a straightforward 52 words to a sprawling 3,200-word maze.

Countries wanting to import cheap generics must jump through multiple hoops to prove they are truly in need, unable to afford patented drugs and incapable of producing the medicines domestically. Meanwhile, there is no guarantee that there will be a sufficient supply of drugs for them to buy, since the deal also puts up hurdles for countries wanting to export. "A 'gift' tightly bound in red tape," declared a coalition of NGOs, including Médecins Sans Frontières and Third World Network. <snip>

<snip>The Canadian government, under intense pressure from Aids activists and the United Nations, is trying to put the WTO agreement into practice. In September, the government announced plans to amend its patent law to allow the manufacture of generic versions of patented drugs exclusively for export to poor countries ....The agreement he praised when it was just a feel-good press release is now, according to Bale's recent statements, a "dead end" and "window dressing", resulting in a "negative black eye for Canada". <snip>

· A version of this article appears in the Nation ("Any government considering joining the FTAA should be hearing deafening alarm bells. Naomi Klein explains.")

[realFedUp]

1. Aren't other countries making these drugs cheaper...

I recall reading that Argentina was making these...
Is the US trying to block other countries from selling
them cheaply to Africa?