-Caveat Lector- 3/15/01 Why does South Africa's leaders care more about the World Trade Organization's corporate protectionism, than about its four million citizens dying of aids? It's a rhetorical question really. Joshua2 ================================================================= South African president urged to declare state of emergency due to AIDS epidemic By SUSANNA LOOF, Associated Press JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (March 13, 2001 1:38 p.m. EST) Opposition leaders want President Thabo Mbeki to invoke a state of emergency to give South Africans with HIV access to cheaper generic drugs. That won't happen, the country's health minister, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, said Tuesday. Invoking a state of emergency won't solve the dilemma, she said. "The issue of affordable medicines cannot be reduced to a one-dimensional debate on declaring a national emergency to secure anti-retroviral drugs for AIDS management," she said. The intensity of the debate over declaring a state of emergency has shown how divided South Africa - with 10 percent of its 45 million citizens infected with HIV - remains on the AIDS issue. By 2010, the average life expectancy rate in South Africa is expected to drop to 36 because of the epidemic. A South African law allows the import of cheap, generic medications in the case of a national emergency. But it has never been put into force because of a lawsuit filed by many of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies. That court challenge has been postponed to April 18. Tony Leon, leader of the opposition Democratic Alliance, said he planned to ask during a parliamentary session Wednesday President Mbeki to declare a state of emergency. The act, which would give the president wide-ranging powers to create new regulations, is not perfect for the AIDS crisis, his spokesman, Anthony Hazell, acknowledged Tuesday. Instead of battling the pharmaceutical firms in court, South Africa should look into narrowing the law to suit the drug firms better, he said. "It's not ideal, because it's too broad, but all we have at the moment," he said. But at the very least, calling for action would widen debate over how South Africans can gain access to cheaper AIDS drugs, he said. Declaring the epidemic a national emergency could prove counterproductive because it would infringe on South Africans' rights and surround AIDS policy with legal requirements, said Zachie Achmat, chairman of the Treatment Action Campaign, which has joined the government in the lawsuit. Achmat dismissed the opposition group's move as a political ploy. "The Democratic Alliance is playing games. It is not serious about HIV and AIDS." Achmat's group is calling for the government to draft a comprehensive treatment plan. "We want the government to handle this as an emergency without necessarily declaring it," he said. South Africa's biggest trade federation, the Congress of South African Trade Unions, on Monday repeated its appeal for Mbeki to declare the epidemic a national disaster. The group, an ally of the ruling African National Congress, first called on the government to declare the epidemic an emergency in August 1999. The trade federation accused the Democratic Alliance of "political opportunism," but spokesman Sipiwe Mgcina said Tuesday, "We welcome all the people who are joining the bandwagon." ======================== South Africa's Mbeki says state of emergency not needed By MIKE COHEN, Associated Press CAPE TOWN, South Africa (March 14, 2001 4:20 p.m. EST) - President Thabo Mbeki, rejecting calls Wednesday to declare a state of emergency allowing South Africa to import cheaper generic drugs, said it was not necessary to deal with its AIDS crisis. Most of the 4.5 million South Africans estimated to be HIV-positive cannot afford the drugs that could prolong their lives. Declaring a state of emergency would allow South Africa to produce the generic, cheaper drugs without breaking World Trade Organization rules on bypassing patent laws. But Mbeki told parliament a state of emergency is not needed because South Africa has its own law permitting both importation and production of generic drugs. "We see no reason why we should not rely on the more comprehensive legislation approved by this Parliament," Mbeki said. That 1997 law, however, has been stalled by a lawsuit brought by major drug companies, arguing the act gives South Africa arbitrary, unfettered power to control the import and price of medicines. Mbeki said the government would have to await the court's decision. The case, which came to trial on March 5, has been postponed to April 18, and no outcome is expected for several months. The Democratic Alliance, the country's largest opposition party and the Congress of South African Trade Unions, urged Mbeki to invoke the state of emergency. Mbeki said states of emergency could only be declared to restore peace and order when the life of the nation was threatened. "Last year an estimated 250,000 South Africans died of AIDS," Tony Leon, leader of the Democratic Alliance, said. "It is estimated that more than 4 million South Africans are sick or dying of AIDS at the moment and if that isn't an emergency, it is difficult to know what is." Because South Africans know how serious the AIDS crisis is, the government did not need to declare an emergency to underscore that point, Mbeki said. Mbeki said no government had used the World Trade Organization rules allowing patent laws to be bypassed in cases of emergency. The pharmaceutical giant Merck and Co. has said it would sell two key AIDS medications to poor countries at about one-tenth their U.S. price. Also Cipla, an Indian-based generic drug manufacturer, has applied to the South African government for a compulsory license, essentially permission to sell cheap versions of patented AIDS drugs in the country. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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