Three Thousand People Living With HIV and supporters protest march in Delhi with a Plea to the Indian Government on 2nd March against EU-India Free Trade Agreement

[Guest guest]

Three Thousand People Living With HIV and supporters protest march in Delhi with

a Plea to the Indian Government:

TRADE AWAY OUR LIVES IN THE EU-INDIA FREE TRADE AGREEMENTâ€

 

New Delhi, 2 March 2011 – More than two thousand people living with HIV from

across India and Asia marched to Parliament Street in New Delhi today alongside

the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health. They urged the

Indian government to stand strong amid pressure from the European Union (EU) to

accept provisions in a free trade agreement (FTA) that would restrict access to

affordable medicines. The sensitive negotiations are taking place in Brussels

today.

 

We all rely on affordable medicines made here in India to stay alive,†said

Nepal-based Rajiv Kafle of the Asia Pacific Network of Positive People.  “We

don’t want to go back in time, to when our friends and loved ones just died

because they couldn’t afford the medicines they needed.

We are taking to the streets today, and many of us have come to Delhi to send a

very simple message to the Indian government: Don’t trade away our lives in

the EU-India FTA.

 

The EU is pushing for intellectual property (IP) provisions in the FTA that

exceed what international trade rules require.  The most damaging measure to

access to affordable medicines is so-called ‘data exclusivity,’ which would

act like a patent and block generic versions from the market, even for drugs

that are already off patent, or do not merit a patent to begin with under

India’s strict patent law. The EU continues to claim – falsely – that

these provisions will not harm access to medicines.

 

Data exclusivity has proven to be damaging to public health in free trade

agreements in other countries,†said Anand Grover, the UN Special Rapporteur

on the Right to Health.  “It would be a colossal mistake to introduce data

exclusivity in India, when millions of people across the globe depend on the

country as the ‘pharmacy of the developing world.â€

 

Affordable medicines produced in India have played a major role, for example, in

scaling up HIV/AIDS treatment to more than five million people in developing

countries.  India was able to produce more affordable versions of medicines

patented elsewhere because it did not grant patents on medicines until 2005,

when World Trade Organization rules required it to do so.  But when India

designed its 2005 patent law, it prioritized public health over company profits,

limiting patents to drugs that are new, and not just improvements of older

medicines.

 

India’s patent law has long annoyed multinational pharmaceutical companies,

and Novartis and Bayer have even tried to overturn the law in the courts,â€

said Loon Gangte, of the Delhi Network of Positive People.  “Having failed so

far, companies have now lobbied European governments to take up their fight for

pharmaceutical profits. But we’re in this fight for the long haul and will

resist any threat to our access to medicines whatever shape or form it comes

in.

 

The fact that India does now grant patents on medicines is already having a

chilling effect on generic production.  Several newer medicines to treat HIV,

hepatitis-C and cancer have already been patented in India and their more

affordable generic versions cannot be produced for several years to come. 

 

We have not been able to get generic versions of treatment for hepatitis-C that

affects people who currently and formerly used drugs and many people living with

HIV because the medicine is patented in India,†said Abou Mere of the Indian

Drug User’s Forum (IDUF). “And I don’t know any one of us who can afford

the Rs. 7 lakhs (over US$15,000) it costs in India for the full treatment.â€

 

The IP provisions the EU is pushing would make this difficult situation

significantly worse, by imposing even more restrictions on the production of

affordable generic medicines in the future.

 

Intellectual property in FTAs can undermine the right to health in many ways.

 For example, tobacco companies are using FTAs with intellectual property in

investment chapters to sue governments directly for their efforts to bring in

measures to protect public health.  

“As we speak, Philip is using the Switzerland-Uruguay trade agreement

to sue Uruguay for its decision to introduce larger and more graphic health

warnings on cigarette packs,†said Y.K. Sapru, of the Cancer Patients Aid

Association, which has long advocated for tobacco control measures in India. 

“The Indian government and the World Health Organization should wake up to the

fact that the Convention on Tobacco Control is also under attack in these FTAs. 

What the EU wants with this FTA places trade interests over human rights and, in

effect, may not be compliant with the International Covenant on Economic, Social

and Cultural Rights and other international instruments concerning the right to

health,†added the Special Rapporteur.  “Provisions pertaining to

intellectual property in the draft FTA should be urgently reconsidered.

 

Contact:  Sheila Shettle:  +91.98.7180.0723   Shailly Gupta: +91.98.9997.6108

In Solidarity

Manoj Pardeshi

National Coordinator, 

International Treatment Preparedness Coalition-India  (ITPC-India)

Board Member, 

Network Of Maharashtra By People Living With HIV (NMP+)

401 Ganga Prestige Arcade, Laxmi Road, 612 - A, Nana Peth, 

Pune, Maharashtra , India, Pin 411 002

Phone - +91 20 2633 6083 or 84 or 87

Cell - + 91 9923 797 326

Skype ID - manoj.pardesi1

www.nmpplus.net

www.itpcglobal.org