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By Evelyn Pringle (about the author)
Become a Fan -- Page 2 of 4 page(s)
The economies of the countries in Central America are so poor that they cannot afford to buy a significant quantity of any product from the US. "With a combined national income of about $84 billion, the Gross National Incomes (GNI) of the countries range from $5.5 billion for Nicaragua to $23.5 billion for Guatemala," according to the CRS Report.
But then the true goal of CAFTA has never been about making money off these tiny countries. Three years ago the Bush administration admitted that the purpose of CAFTA was to instigate a drive for the passage of FTAA, in a January 16, 2002 press release upon opening of negotiations for CAFTA: "This negotiation will complement the United States ' goal of completing the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) no later than January 2005 by increasing the momentum in the hemisphere toward lowering barriers, " it said.
According to, Protectionism And Free Trade, by Harley Shaiken, "the DR-CAFTA is more a pleading of special interests than a free-trade deal. It manages simultaneously to fleece the people of six poor countries and to put U.S. workers in harm's way, " in Tom Paine, on May 31, 2005.
Bush Lobbies For Pharma
By now, the records of the House ethics committee confirm that the Bush administration and its puppets in Congress, do little more than provide a trolley for private gain. I for one am getting tired of watching these lobbyists doing their bidding while on the clock, in addition to tax payers having to foot the bill for all expense paid trips to foreign countries.
While pursuing these trade agreements, Bush is doing the bidding for Pharma, his party's top campaign contributor. CAFTA was clearly designed to protect the interests of large drug companies in Central America. Drug makers currently invested in Costa Rica include Abbott, GlaxoSmithKline, Eli Lilly and Bristol-Meyers Squibb. See Department of Commerce, US Commercial Service, Costa Rica Country Commercial Guide 2002.
CAFTA includes intellectual property rights for pharma, that extend the time a drug maker may keep test data secret which will result in an extension of monopolies because impoverished countries cannot afford to conduct their own clinical studies.
"For American drug companies," Harley Shaiken says, "this agreement extends the time period during which brand-name pharmaceuticals have exclusive access to markets, postponing the entry of generic drugs and thus limiting competition."
"The Bush Administration's trade negotiators have repeatedly pressured the developing countries to forgo their rights ... and to adopt intellectual property standards that impede access to essential medications," says a report by Rep Henry Waxman, (D-CA).
"For Central Americans, the cost of drugs will soar, straining budgets and gutting health care, " Shaiken writes, "The result may be a death sentence for many." Four of the 6 Latin American countries with the highest rate of HIV are in Central America. Hundreds of thousands of HIV patients could die as a direct result of CAFTA.
"In effect, the President's trade representatives have elevated the protection of pharmaceutical patents above the pressing health needs of developing countries," according to, Big Pharma's Free Ride, in Salon Magazine on August 12, 2005
War On The Supplement Industry
The dietary supplement industry has become a real threat to pharma as the number of people who stay healthy grows as a result of taking dietary supplements. In response to the threat, pharma has launched an undeclared all-out--global-war against the supplement industry.
The industry has already paid huge fines for illegal conduct aimed at supplement makers. Over the years, the US Department of Justice has brought actions against industry giants, Hoffman La Roche, Merck and others, for conspiring to fix prices of raw materials used to manufacture supplements, in violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.
In the case of LaRoche, the company was fined a record setting $540,000,000 for price fixing by creating a false shortage of raw materials for vitamin B3, in order to increase sales of their anti-cholesterol drugs.
Considering the fine, it does not require much of an imagination to recognize the financial motives behind the war. The customer base that pharma is after is enormous. Recent polls show that 60 to 70% of North Americans now use complementary medicines and dietary supplements.
In addition to those already discussed above, another gift to pharma is buried in the language of CAFTA in Section 6, which requires that all member countries form a Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary (SPS) committee for the purpose of insuring ongoing harmonization under the terms of the SPS Agreement in the WTO, according to the July 2, 2005, Urgent Alert Health Freedom Is Being Threatened, by Paul Anthony Tayler.
Become a Fan -- Page 2 of 4 page(s)
But then the true goal of CAFTA has never been about making money off these tiny countries. Three years ago the Bush administration admitted that the purpose of CAFTA was to instigate a drive for the passage of FTAA, in a January 16, 2002 press release upon opening of negotiations for CAFTA: "This negotiation will complement the United States ' goal of completing the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) no later than January 2005 by increasing the momentum in the hemisphere toward lowering barriers, " it said.
According to, Protectionism And Free Trade, by Harley Shaiken, "the DR-CAFTA is more a pleading of special interests than a free-trade deal. It manages simultaneously to fleece the people of six poor countries and to put U.S. workers in harm's way, " in Tom Paine, on May 31, 2005.
Bush Lobbies For Pharma
By now, the records of the House ethics committee confirm that the Bush administration and its puppets in Congress, do little more than provide a trolley for private gain. I for one am getting tired of watching these lobbyists doing their bidding while on the clock, in addition to tax payers having to foot the bill for all expense paid trips to foreign countries.
While pursuing these trade agreements, Bush is doing the bidding for Pharma, his party's top campaign contributor. CAFTA was clearly designed to protect the interests of large drug companies in Central America. Drug makers currently invested in Costa Rica include Abbott, GlaxoSmithKline, Eli Lilly and Bristol-Meyers Squibb. See Department of Commerce, US Commercial Service, Costa Rica Country Commercial Guide 2002.
CAFTA includes intellectual property rights for pharma, that extend the time a drug maker may keep test data secret which will result in an extension of monopolies because impoverished countries cannot afford to conduct their own clinical studies.
"For American drug companies," Harley Shaiken says, "this agreement extends the time period during which brand-name pharmaceuticals have exclusive access to markets, postponing the entry of generic drugs and thus limiting competition."
"The Bush Administration's trade negotiators have repeatedly pressured the developing countries to forgo their rights ... and to adopt intellectual property standards that impede access to essential medications," says a report by Rep Henry Waxman, (D-CA).
"For Central Americans, the cost of drugs will soar, straining budgets and gutting health care, " Shaiken writes, "The result may be a death sentence for many." Four of the 6 Latin American countries with the highest rate of HIV are in Central America. Hundreds of thousands of HIV patients could die as a direct result of CAFTA.
"In effect, the President's trade representatives have elevated the protection of pharmaceutical patents above the pressing health needs of developing countries," according to, Big Pharma's Free Ride, in Salon Magazine on August 12, 2005
War On The Supplement Industry
The dietary supplement industry has become a real threat to pharma as the number of people who stay healthy grows as a result of taking dietary supplements. In response to the threat, pharma has launched an undeclared all-out--global-war against the supplement industry.
The industry has already paid huge fines for illegal conduct aimed at supplement makers. Over the years, the US Department of Justice has brought actions against industry giants, Hoffman La Roche, Merck and others, for conspiring to fix prices of raw materials used to manufacture supplements, in violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.
In the case of LaRoche, the company was fined a record setting $540,000,000 for price fixing by creating a false shortage of raw materials for vitamin B3, in order to increase sales of their anti-cholesterol drugs.
Considering the fine, it does not require much of an imagination to recognize the financial motives behind the war. The customer base that pharma is after is enormous. Recent polls show that 60 to 70% of North Americans now use complementary medicines and dietary supplements.
In addition to those already discussed above, another gift to pharma is buried in the language of CAFTA in Section 6, which requires that all member countries form a Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary (SPS) committee for the purpose of insuring ongoing harmonization under the terms of the SPS Agreement in the WTO, according to the July 2, 2005, Urgent Alert Health Freedom Is Being Threatened, by Paul Anthony Tayler.
Evelyn Pringle is a columnist for OpEd News and investigative journalist focused on exposing corruption in government and corporate America.
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author
and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
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