General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsReport: US Bullying at TPP Negotiations for Big Pharma Profits
http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/TPV3/Voices.php/2013/11/24/report-us-bullying-at-tpp-negotiations-fThe world should stand up to the United States. US corporations are not more important than peoples lives.
A key dispute in the TPP negotiations is the patents on pharmaceutical drugs and medical procedures. Long patents inflate the profits of the pharmaceutical industry by not allowing less expensive generic drugs on the market. This means that people around the world will not be able to afford critical, often life-saving, drugs and medical procedures. It also means that countries like Japan, Australia and New Zealand that have national health care systems will see the cost of healthcare rise to a breaking point, undermining some of the best health systems in the world.
In order for the US to get its way, Stan McCoy, Assistant US Trade Representative for Intellectual Property and Innovation, is chairing the meetings on intellectual properties and medicines. He has been using bullying tactics to force countries to agree to positions that will harm people in the countries negotiating the TPP, including the US.
mother earth
(6,002 posts)More Power to Corporations to Attack Nations
Extreme Foreign Investor Rights & Private Enforcement Would Promote Offshoring, Attacks Against Our Laws
*Rights to acquire land, natural resources, factories without government review
*Risks and costs of offshoring to low wage countries eliminated
*Special guaranteed minimum standard of treatment for relocating firms
*Compensation for loss of expected future profits from health, labor environmental, laws (indirect or regulatory takings compensation)
*Right to move capital without limits
*New rights cover vast definition of investment: intellectual property, permits, derivatives
*Ban performance requirements, domestic content rules. Absolute ban, not only when applied to investors from signatory countries
Under this regime, foreign investors can skirt domestic courts and laws, and sue governments directly before tribunals of three private sector lawyers operating under World Bank and UN rules to demand taxpayer compensation for any domestic law that investors believe will diminish their "expected future profits." Over $3 billion has been paid to foreign investors under U.S. trade and investment pacts, while over $14 billion in claims are pending under such deals, primarily targeting environmental, energy, and public health policies.
Laelth
(32,017 posts)-Laelth
Berlum
(7,044 posts)The TPP sucks - a corporate rip off of the Planet & the people.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)octoberlib
(14,971 posts)Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)there will be no talk of "rights" for little people. National governments are the only mechanism, other than revolt, that can work against concentrated power and as such, must be subjugated by the Bill of Corporate Rights that these so-called trade agreements are creating.
If you are in your 20s or 30s, this is The Most Important Thing in the World and if you don't band together and stop it, you absolutely will live to regret it.
solarhydrocan
(551 posts)lying thieving rat bastards belong in jail, not their private jets making $400,000 per day
Drug Company Accused of Bribing Doctors
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=131602
Bribery And Corruption In The Pharmaceutical Sector
http://www.financierworldwide.com/article.php?id=11025
GlaxoSmithKline fined $3bn after bribing doctors to increase drugs sales
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/jul/03/glaxosmithkline-fined-bribing-doctors-pharmaceuticals
Bribery 'routine' for foreign pharmaceutical firms in China
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-23662909
That's just a few from the first page of a search- from the last year.
Criminals on the loose.
And apparently no one will stop it
Recursion
(56,582 posts)Is there any indication in other reports?
Recursion
(56,582 posts)This says he's bullying other countries and has adopted a strategy of exhaustion. I'm curious what specifically those two things mean.
marmar
(76,991 posts)nt