From: PFLAG Dayton [mailto:daytonpflag@yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2005
Subject: Hate Crimes Legislation in Congress Today!
Urge Your Representative to Co-Sponsor the Transgender Inclusive Hate Crimes Bill!
Write, Call, Email Your Senators Today - Urgent Action Required
This morning Representatives Barney Frank (D-MA), IIeana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), John Conyers (D-MI); Christopher Shays (R-CT), and Tammy Baldwin (D- WI) will introduce a hate crimes bill in the House of Representatives that explicitly includes transgender protections. The Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2005 extends existing hate crimes laws that already cover crimes motivated by race, color, national origin and religion to include crimes based on actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, disability and gender identity (including gender-related characteristics). PFLAG has consistently advocated for hate crimes legislation that includes gay, lesbian, and bisexuality persons as well as the transgender community and is pleased to support legislation that includes ALL of our loved ones. Documented hate crimes based on sexual orientation are on the rise according to FBI statistics. Unfortunately, the FBI data does not report separately on crimes against those who are targeted for non-traditional gender expression. We know that 75% of anti-GLBT hate crimes are unreported and that only twenty-seven states and the District of Columbia have hate crimes laws inclusive of sexual orientation while only five of those and the District of Columbia are expressly transgender inclusive. Contact your Representative today and urge him/her to become a cosponsor of this important piece of legislation that will ensure that the entire GLBT community is protected.
Take Action NOW on Hate Crimes Legislation
Your representatives need to hear from you! Call, Email, Fax or Write and Urge him/her to cosponsor the Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2005! To locate your representative's contact information please go to http://www.vote-smart.org/. For talking points on Hate Crimes legislation please see PFLAG's 2005
To Much
- White Fang
- Ferndale, Michigan, United States
- 42, 6 foot 2, shaved head, lots of ink and steel, HIV positive, lovers of men and each other 43 years+, 420, no PNP, POZ40+, u=u, like friendly wrestling for top, bottom games, we like to film and share each other. Not hug up n looks, race but better clean yourself, man, we are civilized up to point. And if you bottom, just don't lay thee expecting someone else to do all the work.
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
CAFTA
Boston Globe
CAFTA will hurt people with HIV
By Rahul Rajkumar May 26, 2005
IF CONGRESS wants to get serious about promoting a culture of life, its members might start by saving 275,000 lives in Central America. That's the number of people infected with HIV in the countries party to the Central American Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA. The agreement,
which may be ratified by the end of the month, will force its signatories to strengthen rotections on patents owned by multinational pharmaceutical companies, thus preventing the manufacture and importation of many cheap generic drugs. In the countries bound by the agreement -- Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador -- generic
competition has allowed for widespread access to life-saving medicines. In Guatemala, some AIDS drugs are as much as 98 percent cheaper than their name-brand alternatives. The antiretroviral cocktail that costs $4,818 per year when marketed by GlaxoSmithKline as Combivir can be purchased by Guatemalans for $216 in generic form. Given the financial strain many Americans experience when purchasing drugs like Combivir, it's not difficult to imagine how devastating similarly elevated prices would be for the farmers and impoverished
city dwellers who make up the bulk of AIDS cases in Central America. In addition to increases in patent protection, CAFTA mandates that these governments protect regulatory data on medicines -- an unprecedented step that could effectively extend patents by a decade without any form of reprieve, even in a public health emergency. Data protection for medicines means that if a drug is not patented, or if a country can somehow maneuver around the patent, generic manufacturers would still be prohibited from selling the medicine unless they repeat costly
clinical trials. Since few generic manufacturers in Central America have the resources to conduct clinical trials, data protection will function as another obstacle to generic competition.
The theory behind patents is straightforward. By allowing pharmaceutical companies to recoup development costs along with a sizeable profit, they provide an incentive for future innovation. The problem is that innovation, as an end in itself, can be a hollow accomplishment. Drugs
must also be within reach of the people who need them most. Without cheap access to the fruits of innovation, many poor patients will die unnecessarily.
The nations of the World Trade Organization recognized this dilemma, when, as part of the 2001 Doha Declaration, they unanimously resolved that public health emergencies like HIV/AIDS may require circumventing patent rules. CAFTA flouts this global consensus and is widely
understood to be part of the Bush administration's larger systematic effort to undermine the WTO process -- that is, to use bilateral trade agreements to bully small developing countries into waiving their rights under the WTO's intellectual property rules. The WTO's rules allow
developing countries to implement patent laws that meet their individual needs.
The office of the US trade representative maintains that nothing in the agreement prevents governments from producing generic drugs and that it will result in increased access to life-saving drugs as stringent patent protection encourages innovation in drug development.
The first of these claims is, unfortunately, false. CAFTA's protection for drug test data ensures that while countries may be able to produce generic drugs, they won't be able to use them. The second statement is partially true but so disingenuous that it verges on outright deception.
Increased protection for patent rights will certainly give drug companies larger profits, and this could theoretically lead to more innovation. However, the pharmaceutical market in Central America is so small that any increase in earnings will be negligible relative to the overall profits of the pharmaceutical giants. Patients in Central America will most likely end up getting nothing in return for the higher prices.
Congress will decide whether CAFTA goes into effect when it votes to ratify the agreement. Many lives ride on the outcome of this vote. Most of the 275,000 HIV-positive people in Central America will die needlessly without access to cheap antiretroviral drugs. Congress can
save these lives by voting down CAFTA and telling the Bush administration to renegotiate the agreement's intellectual-property provisions. Could there be any better way to demonstrate our
dedication to the culture of life?
Rahul Rajkumar is a member of Universities Allied for Essential
Medicines.
(c) Copyright
2005 The New York Times Company
------ End of Forwarded Message
CAFTA will hurt people with HIV
By Rahul Rajkumar May 26, 2005
IF CONGRESS wants to get serious about promoting a culture of life, its members might start by saving 275,000 lives in Central America. That's the number of people infected with HIV in the countries party to the Central American Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA. The agreement,
which may be ratified by the end of the month, will force its signatories to strengthen rotections on patents owned by multinational pharmaceutical companies, thus preventing the manufacture and importation of many cheap generic drugs. In the countries bound by the agreement -- Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador -- generic
competition has allowed for widespread access to life-saving medicines. In Guatemala, some AIDS drugs are as much as 98 percent cheaper than their name-brand alternatives. The antiretroviral cocktail that costs $4,818 per year when marketed by GlaxoSmithKline as Combivir can be purchased by Guatemalans for $216 in generic form. Given the financial strain many Americans experience when purchasing drugs like Combivir, it's not difficult to imagine how devastating similarly elevated prices would be for the farmers and impoverished
city dwellers who make up the bulk of AIDS cases in Central America. In addition to increases in patent protection, CAFTA mandates that these governments protect regulatory data on medicines -- an unprecedented step that could effectively extend patents by a decade without any form of reprieve, even in a public health emergency. Data protection for medicines means that if a drug is not patented, or if a country can somehow maneuver around the patent, generic manufacturers would still be prohibited from selling the medicine unless they repeat costly
clinical trials. Since few generic manufacturers in Central America have the resources to conduct clinical trials, data protection will function as another obstacle to generic competition.
The theory behind patents is straightforward. By allowing pharmaceutical companies to recoup development costs along with a sizeable profit, they provide an incentive for future innovation. The problem is that innovation, as an end in itself, can be a hollow accomplishment. Drugs
must also be within reach of the people who need them most. Without cheap access to the fruits of innovation, many poor patients will die unnecessarily.
The nations of the World Trade Organization recognized this dilemma, when, as part of the 2001 Doha Declaration, they unanimously resolved that public health emergencies like HIV/AIDS may require circumventing patent rules. CAFTA flouts this global consensus and is widely
understood to be part of the Bush administration's larger systematic effort to undermine the WTO process -- that is, to use bilateral trade agreements to bully small developing countries into waiving their rights under the WTO's intellectual property rules. The WTO's rules allow
developing countries to implement patent laws that meet their individual needs.
The office of the US trade representative maintains that nothing in the agreement prevents governments from producing generic drugs and that it will result in increased access to life-saving drugs as stringent patent protection encourages innovation in drug development.
The first of these claims is, unfortunately, false. CAFTA's protection for drug test data ensures that while countries may be able to produce generic drugs, they won't be able to use them. The second statement is partially true but so disingenuous that it verges on outright deception.
Increased protection for patent rights will certainly give drug companies larger profits, and this could theoretically lead to more innovation. However, the pharmaceutical market in Central America is so small that any increase in earnings will be negligible relative to the overall profits of the pharmaceutical giants. Patients in Central America will most likely end up getting nothing in return for the higher prices.
Congress will decide whether CAFTA goes into effect when it votes to ratify the agreement. Many lives ride on the outcome of this vote. Most of the 275,000 HIV-positive people in Central America will die needlessly without access to cheap antiretroviral drugs. Congress can
save these lives by voting down CAFTA and telling the Bush administration to renegotiate the agreement's intellectual-property provisions. Could there be any better way to demonstrate our
dedication to the culture of life?
Rahul Rajkumar is a member of Universities Allied for Essential
Medicines.
(c)
2005 The New York Times Company
------ End of Forwarded Message
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
How to save ourselves from our creation
A Path to Peace: How Art & AI Can Work Together Artificial intelligence has been used for centuries to create realistic and accurate i...
-
Pissed off I was heading to group the other night and this radio spot came on. I had heard it before and it pissed me off, but this time I h...
