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http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/264277/no-to-obama-pharma-in-asia
Bangkok Post EDITORIAL
No to Obama's pharma in Asia
Published: 2/11/2011 at 12:00 AM
There is trouble on the horizon for all hopeful members and would-be
joiners of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP). The TPP is
a US-led initiative, started by President Barack Obama at the end of
2009. Its rather lofty aim is to bring free trade to the entire Asia-Pacific
region, in stages. A Pacific free-trade zone is the almost mythical
goal of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group. The theory is that
if the United States and eight other disparate countries can agree on
free trade, then all the other nations will quickly join.
That is a good theory, but after two long years and nine high-level
negotiating sessions, the TPP is far closer to falling apart than coming
together. The basic reason is simple: free trade pacts depend upon excruciatingly
detailed contracts, appendices, exceptions and side agreements. In the
last two negotiating sessions, the US delegation has almost entirely
reversed its liberal policies on intellectual property protection, specifically
on medical drugs and pharmaceutical products. That is bad news for the
TPP, terrible news for Thailand. This very likely will derail the TPP
talks or even cause them to fail entirely.
Free trade agreements always are sold by their promoters as win-win
propositions. This is misleading at best. There are many winners in
free trade, and in general consumers and businesses gain. The public
gets generally lower prices and companies get opportunities to expand
trade abroad. Free-trade advocates are correct that opening up borders
to commerce produces far more winners than losers. But that is a stark
admission that free trade also produces losers. This is why negotiating
FTAs must be meticulous.
President Obama launched the TPP talks as a repudiation of sorts against
his predecessor. The Obama administration vowed that "We are back"
in Asia, after what it claimed was years of neglect by the Bush government.
But George W Bush had taken the US into a far more liberal stance on
copyrights, trademarks and patents. Mr Obama is now rolling back the
Bush-era stance on medical patents. Mr Bush basically acceded to demands
from developing countries, led by Thailand, for access to affordable
medicines. It was Mr Bush who backed down when challenged by the Ministry
of Public Health over drugs for Aids and heart disease. He accepted
that the right to affordable medicine trumped strict patent enforcement.
The new policy under Mr Obama specifically returns the right of "big
pharma" to retain and expand its patent rights. That means a monopoly
on any "new" drug and on all marketing. US negotiators at
the past two TPP sessions threw these proposals on the table nonchalantly,
as if they meant nothing. Civil society groups leapt on the issue, putting
the entire TPP proposal at risk.
Of course, pharmaceutical firms have the legal right to protect their
massive investments in developing helpful new drugs. Under Mr Bush,
the US did not completely back the drug firms, meaning they were subject
to public pressure. Mr Obama has fundamentally reversed that. Any country
trying to challenge drug firms will find themselves doing battle with
US diplomacy and trade sanctions.
Opposition abroad and among NGOs is near-unanimous. Medicins Sans Frontieres
calls the US policy reversal "a dangerous new standard" that
will deny drugs to millions. Peter Maybarduk of Public Citizen says
the Obama administration is forcing developing countries to trade away
their access to medicines. This is a bad decision by the US and Mr Obama
should drop that requirement immediately.
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