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Greens List International and National Steps to Fight Global AIDS Epidemic. |
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Tuesday, August 3, 2004 GREENS LIST INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL STEPS TO FIGHT THE GLOBAL AIDS EPIDEMIC WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In the wake of the International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, Green Party leaders and candidates called on the White House to take important steps in the domestic and global fight against AIDS. The Bush Administration, after years of resistance that cost hundreds of thousands of lives, has relented and now supports making low-cost generic AIDS drugs available internationally. Until May, $15 billion earmarked for poorer nations could only be used for AIDS drugs approved by the FDA, which until then had only approved brand-name AIDS drugs. The FDA now says it will conduct fast-track reviews of low-cost versions. But the White House has allegedly back-tracked on the promise, and as French President Jacques Chirac has charged, is now pressuring countries to surrender their right to manufacture low-cost generics in return for trade agreements. "The WTO allows developing nations to ignore foreign patents in making AIDS drugs, but it doesn't prevent the U.S. from imposing patent restrictions when negotiating bilateral trade pacts," said Greta Browne, Pennsylvania Green candidate for U.S. Congress, 15th District. Figures cited at the International AIDS conference show only about 7% of the 6 million HIV infected people in poor nations receiving antiretroviral medicine. "Greens agree with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan: the U.S. must show global leadership in fighting AIDS," said Tom Hutchings Green candidate for the California Assembly, 33rd District (San Luis Obispo and northern Santa Barbara Counties), and benefits counselor for an AIDS/HIV non-profit. "With regions of Africa, Asia, Latin America, and eastern Europe facing destabilization because of the epidemic, AIDS is now a global security threat. Mr. Bush must pressure the IMF and World Bank to cancel the debt of developing nations, freeing up the financial resources necessary to fight AIDS." Unfortunately, while Congress authorized $3 billion for global AIDS in 2004 (one fifth of the $15 billion five-year package), Bush only asked for $2 billion and resisted Congress's request for emergency supplemental monies. Greens also note that $15 billion is only half of the $30 billion health experts estimate as the U.S.'s fair share. In addition to full funding for international AIDS treatment and prevention, Greens support the following demands from AIDS activists: The Bush Administration must stop restricting prevention programs to information about abstinence. "By blocking condom distribution and other AIDS prevention methods, the President is sacrificing lives in order to appease the religious right," said Carol Rittenhouse, Wisconsin Green candidate for Congress (6th District). "The greatest danger is in conservative and theocratic nations where women have little power over their own lives and gay people face brutal punishment and death. These populations need accurate, honest information on what they can do to save their own lives. Sermons about abstinence won't help a mother in Calcutta, a prostitute in Belgrade, a sexually active gay teen in Nairobi."
MORE INFORMATION: The Green Party of the United States Cobb/LaMarche 2004 Tom Hutchings for California Assembly, 33rd District Greta Browne for U.S. Congress (Pennsylvania, 15th
District)
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