G7 and an alienated humanity vanguardngr.com vanguardnews
THE Group of Seven, G7, the club of the richest countries in the world, met Monday in France to discuss their affairs and peep into the affairs of other countries. Like the United States, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Japan, Italy, and Canada wined, dined and decided the fate of the world, they invited five African countries: Rwanda, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Egypt and South Africa, to observe on behalf of Africa and seep some wine.
At their meeting, as usual, they took unilateral decisions and made magisterial declarations without consulting other humans. For instance, they declared: “The G7 wants to overhaul the World Trade Organisation in order to more efficiently protect intellectual property, solve disputes more quickly and stop unfair practices.” Although the WTO is made up of 164 countries, the words of these seven are virtually law.
In 1986, AZT manufactured by Burroughs Wellcome in the United States was the only anti-HIV drug available and it was sold for $8,000 per patient a year. In 1991, an Indian researcher, Rama Rao, developed a chemical synthesis of AZT and Dr Yusuf Hamied of the Indian Cipla company manufactured it, crashing the cost of the drug to $730 per patient a year! It, of course, violated the so-called intellectual property, but it was saving millions of lives.
To worsen matters for the rich companies, he was willing to make the technology available free for African countries willing to produce the drugs. Dr Hamied, in addition, decided to provide free nevirapine, the drug limiting transmission of HIV/AIDS from mother to child. The transnational drug companies and their backers were forced to back down. As a result, millions of lives have been saved. The G7 is not showing concern about health rights taking precedence over intellectual property rights.
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