PHA-Exchange> Avian Flu: WTO should review intellectual property rules

[claudio at hcmc.netnam.vn]

 from Third World Network <twnet at po.jaring.my> -----
   
www.twnside.org.sg


In view of a possible avian flu pandemic, Consumers International (CI) has 
called on the WTO's TRIPS Council to clarify the 30 August 2003 decision 
regarding the implementation of paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaration on TRIPS 
and Public Health.

The 30 August 2003 decision by the WTO General Council allows generic copies of 
medicines made under compulsory licences to be exported to countries that 
cannot produce, under certain conditions.

All WTO member countries are eligible to import under this decision but 23 
developed countries have said they will not use the system for imports.  These 
23 countries which have opted out as importers, plus another ten who had to opt 
out as a condition of joining the EU, will result in hundreds of millions of 
people who will not be able to obtain generic medicines for stockpiles, as 
countries will not have the capacity to produce the medicines.

The opt-out provision creates the likelihood that the costs of producing 
stockpiled medicines will be high and this will reduce the capacity to produce 
and result in lower levels of stockpiles everywhere.

So far no country has notified the WTO that they intend to use the 30 August 
2003 decision as either an importer or an exporter.  With countries both in the 
North and South at risk of a public health emergency should an avian flu 
pandemic occur, and the fact that stockpiles of medicine are far under-sourced, 
'the lack of WTO notifications is damning evidence that the current system is 
not working', says CI.



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