US won't give aid for generic HIV drugs

[dArKeR]

By Christelle Terreblanche

As South Africa starts rolling out the world's biggest HIV and Aids treatment programme, an unexpected stumbling block is hindering attempts to provide medication to the estimated four million sufferers in sub-Saharan Africa.

An attempt by the Bush administration to make its $15-billion (about R105-billion) Aids treatment grants conditional to brand-name medicines has aid workers and activists, as well as South Africa's pharmaceutical industry, up in arms.

Some are planning protests.

The matter has caused tensions that could erupt at the World Health assembly this month, to be attended by Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, the health minister.

http://iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=13&art_id=vn20040509101804573C786518&set_id=1

Is this Christian Republican Morality?

[arcane1]

1. treatment without massive profit is Un-American

apparently


this was never anything more than a huge check to Bush's big Pharm cronies :puke:

remember the "smiling, clapping, happy black man" planted in the SOTU audience, so that Bush would have good PR imagery when he announced this b.s.?

[Toucano]

2. If Bush went to the treasury

and wrote out a check payable to BigPharma, his kool-aid drinking supporters would still praise him.

Look for this story to get buried.

They won't even be asked to justify such a ridiculous and criminal policy.

[Bluebear]

3. "Is this Christian Republican Morality?"

Yes. Indeed it is.

[mbperrin]

4. You fellers know that spendin' without big

profits is Unamerican!!!

Are you now or have you ever been a buyer of generic goods?

Just answer the question....

[Purrfessor]

5. Let me get this straight. According to Republicans, Indians are very smart

people (some Republicans would even say Indians are better educated and therefore smarter than American workers) who also work for less money than Americans, so it's understandable why we outsource jobs to India. Outsourcing is good, they say.

But somehow Indian drug companies are not capable of producing safe drugs, even though they employ the very same Indian workers whom Republicans praise. In addition, the reason Republicans suspect that Indian-manufactured generic drugs are less safe than the brand name drugs produced in the US, is because the Indian drugs are cheaper.

Someboy needs to explain logic to this group of criminals operating out of the White House, because they certainly don't seem to recognize the fallacy of their arguments.

Near the end of the article is the real reason Republicans denigrate Indian-manufactured generic drugs:

A representative of South Africa's fledgling ARV industry, who did not want to be named, said: "There are strings attached to the donor funding, they want the money to be given back to US companies.

Funny how it takes somebody from South Africa to point out the true reasoning behind Bush's demands that American money can only be used to purchase American drugs. It's called money laundering: funneling money from American taxpayers to the drug industry.

[0007]

6. bttft