Sign on Letter to European Union


¡HEALTH IS NOT NEGOTIABLE!
Add your signature by sending a message to the following e-mail adhesionescarta@gmail.com untill November 4th, 2010.-
Thanks!

Dear members of the EU Negotiation Team
We write as networks of people living with HIV and NGOs from Latin America and the Caribbean to demand you to stop current negotiations between India and the European Union – negotiations that only pharmaceutical industry will benefit from and claim profit over human rights in the name of free trade.
We want to express our deep concern about the push for a high(er) level protection of intellectual property right provisions in the Free Trade Agreement (FTA), particularly because the provisions go well beyond the international legal requirements of the Word Trade Organisation TRIPS agreement – violating WTO rules and the principle of universal access to medicines.   The pursuit of such provisions demonstrates a total disregard for the lives of millions of patients of all over the world that are currently dependent on generic medications from India.  Disruption of treatment regimes will cause irreparable damage that will accelerate drug resistance, an emerging issue that is already compromised by TRIPS Plus patent provisions which limit access to 2nd and 3rd line treatment due to prohibitively high prices maintained by pharmaceutical monopolies.
The EU push to include TRIPS-Plus provisions in FTA negotiations also undermines India’s right to protect the public health and interests of its citizens.  Public health safeguards adopted by the Indian government have enabled an environment to produce and export affordable, generic versions of drugs that were otherwise unaffordable, supplying over 80% life saving treatments to PLHIV across the globe.
We demand the EU halt their shameful and aggressive trade agenda in order to guarantee that the Indian generic industry is able to continue its critical role in supplying low-cost, quality assured generic medicines. 
¡HEALTH IS NOT NEGOTIABLE!