The TPPA: Say Goodbye to Generics
At present, both the US and New Zealand are at highest risk from the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), a nine country (US, Australia, New Zealand, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, Peru and Vietnam) free trade treaty currently being negotiated. Up till now, the US has been unwilling to negotiate a "free trade" agreement with New Zealand, owing to our antinuclear policy, which denies US naval vessels access to our harbors. Thus it's frankly embarrassing to see our new National (conservative) government tart themselves up like a cheap hooker, in their eagerness to trade away New Zealand's sovereignty, economic sustainability and public health.
Dr Jane Kelsey, New Zealand's foremost anti-globalization lawyer and activist, was among the protestors at the Chicago anti-TPPA kick-off rally over Labor Day. Other high profile TPPA opponents include Public Citizen, Knowledge Ecology, and Health Gap (international HIV-AIDS campaigners). All three groups are extremely concerned about TPPA provisions increasing the monopoly rights of pharmaceutical companies, which will make it virtually impossible for low income patients (especially in developing countries) to access low cost life-saving generic drugs.
Kelsey has written and spoken extensively about the TPPA, which first came to public attention in New Zealand thanks to a December 2010 Wikileaks cable. Although New Zealand's National-led government still refuses to release the full text of TPPA, substantial portions haves been leaked by various sources. Like the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI), it guarantees special rights to investors and forces the repeal of laws that interfere with the ability of multinational corporations to do business in New Zealand. This includes scrapping PHARMAC, our world-famous bulk drug purchasing agency (pharmaceutical companies hate PHARMAC because it forces them to discount their brand name drugs), as well as restricting our ability to put warning labels on cigarette packs and content labels on genetically modified foods. It would curtail the government's ability to regulate dodgy finance companies, as well as forcing us to allow mining in our forest reserves, fishing in our marine reserves and high rise hotels on our pristine beaches.
To follow TPPA negotiations and get involved in the anti-TPPA movement go to http://tppwatch.org/
*Free trade -- describes an approach to international trade that allows traders to trade across national boundaries without any interference from respective governments.
*Fair trade -- is closer to the original "free trade" concept (abolishing protective tariffs and quotas) promoted by Adam Smith in the Wealth of Nations. Smith advocated that wealth should flow naturally from richer to poorer nations, as a way of increasing innovation and productive capacity in both rich and poor countries. Fair trade is an organized social movement around a market-based approach that advocates for third world producers to be paid a fairer, higher price for their products, as well as higher social and environmental standards.
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