DRUG-CRAZED

The anthrax crisis in the United States has thrown into sharp contrast the double standard world of the 'haves' and 'have-nots'.

In the wealthy corner we have America and Canada who this week threatened drugs manufacturer Bayer that unless it reduced the price of its anthrax antibiotic drug Cipro, it would change its laws, override Bayer's patent and get other companies to make cheap copies of the drug. Tommy Thompson, US Secretary of Health and Human Services, said "They are going to either meet our price-or else we're going to go to Congress and ask for some support to go in and do some other business." Not surprisingly Bayer caved in and will now sell America and Canada cheaper Cipro at the knock down wholesale price of 95c a pill - rather than the original $4.50.

Bayer, who had initially threatened to sue the Canadian government for breach of patent, were one of the 39 corporations that took South Africa to court when the country said it would use emergency legislation to make cheap generic drugs to treat people with AIDS. The corporate court action collapsed after worldwide condemnation. The hypocrisy of America and Canada must be sickening for the developing world. For many years, the US has been acting as the pharmaceutical industry's policeman, threatening trade sanctions against any country that wanted to make cheap drugs for its population.

Only last month nearly sixty developing countries asked for a declaration to be agreed at next months World Trade Organisation (WTO) meeting in Qatar to re-interpret WTO rules to give governments the right to have access to affordable medicines. For example, AIDS medicine, which costs $20,000 with patents costs just $200 without. However, this declaration was blocked by Switzerland, Japan - Canada and the United States. Mimicking the line of the pharmaceutical corporations, they argued that the protection of pharmaceutical patents is necessary to encourage research into new drugs. Unless of course those cheap drugs are needed urgently for those countries with the financial clout to cower corporations and break world trade rules.

Trick or Treaty?

President Bush recently refused to sign an agreement strengthening the 1972 Convention on Biological Weapons, despite it being ratified by 140 other countries. Last month it was revealed that the Pentagon had secretly built a germ factory in the Nevada desert capable of producing enough deadly bacteria to kill millions of people. One proposal awaiting approval is the manufacture of a more potent version of anthrax using genetically engineered biological agents. So while the American public is worrying about anthrax attacks, their own government is developing biological weapons, but rest assured readers the development of lethal germs to wipe out millions of people is for 'defensive' measures only.

yes it is true, these pictures have no connection to the article, but they have symbolism

The threat of severe biological weapons attacks probably doesn't come from terrorists but countries. As Prof. Barbara Rosenberg, from the federation of American Scientists' Working Group on Biological Weapons says: "... these attacks now are nothing compared to what is waiting for us in the future when it becomes possible to genetically engineer new kinds of agents. These things are not easy to do it's much more likely that these attacks would come from a country, not a terrorist group."

naked Arnie = the powers bared

cool porkie on grill = we might be havin' fun, but we're fucked, get it?

Another threat to the world comes from chemical weapons; Russia has 40,000 tonnes of the stuff it is supposed to destroy in the next few years. The USA is committed to destroy its stockpiles as well, but how will we know it has destroyed them? Go and inspect their stockpiles? Er, well you can't, you'll just have to take their word for it. The 1997 Chemical Weapons Treaty allows "challenge inspections", where any country can demand to inspect another countries stockpiles, but the USA has a unilateral exemption from this. There is an Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), whose job it is to inspect military/industrial premises, but the OPCWs work has been severely hampered by the USA not paying its dues and blocking OPCW inspectors.

The US have become experts at opting out of and blocking weapons treaties, justifying this with excuses of self-defence and national security. But while they say they do not use chemical or biological weapons directly against populations, they have been poisoning people through the "war on drugs" in Colombia where over 300,000 people have been displaced because of the US funded spraying of poisonous pesticides in their country. Now that's what CRACKED calls paying a high price for 'freedom'. * For information on biological weapons check out www.sunshine-project.org * For more information about America's secret biological warfare programme read "Germs: Biological Weapons and America's Secret War." By J. Miller, S. Engelberg and W. Broad (published by Simon and Schuster).

Some more facts for you to mull over:

Number of people in Africa infected with AIDS: 25 million

Number of people in Africa who have died of AIDS: 17 million

Number of people who have died of anthrax in America: 3