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5. U.S. is a climate bully
Cables disclosed by Wikileaks in 2010 present the U.S. using what The Guardian called "spying, threats and promises of aid" to get international support for the 2009 Copenhagen Accord an industry-friendly international climate deal with non-binding agreements to lower emissions. (Climate activist Naomi Klein described, at the time, the accord as "nothing more than a grubby pact between the world's biggest emitters".)
The State Department sent a secret cable to foreign embassies seeking human intelligence, or "dirt," on UN diplomats regarding climate policy. And, as reported by Democracy Now!, the cables also indicated that the U.S. cut funding to Bolivia and Ecuador after both governments opposed the accord.
Bill McKibben, founder of the climate organization 350.org, said the cables exposed that "the U.S. was both bullying and buying countries into endorsing their do-little position on climate."
6. International organizations consulting with Big Pharma
In 2009, Wikileaks revealed documents that the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA) gave its members a report by the UN's World Health Organization(WHO)'s Expert Working Group on research and development financing.
IFPMA members include pharmaceutical giants like Bayer, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer and Sanofi, and the organization represents these entities when dealing with the UN. What makes the Wikileaks document dump significant is that the working group gave IFPMA access to these documents months before their scheduled public release, suggesting that the UN's health expert group was more accountable to the pharmaceutical industry than to its own member states.
"The compilation of documents shows the influence of 'Big Pharma' on the policy making decisions of the WHO," Wikileaks commented when publishing the files.
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