HONG KONG, Dec 16: The amendment to the Trade Related Intellectual Property System (TRIPS) hailed by WTO members fails to ensure an access to affordable medicines needed for AIDS treatment.

Health experts worldwide have denounced the amendment to TRIPS as a bad deal, which they feel will cripple an effective response to public health needs. “How can a system that requires order-by-order, drug-by-drug and country-by-country procedures is seen as an improvement,” argues Mauro Guarinieri, chair of the Global Network of People living with HIV and AIDS (GNP+).

Pascal Lamy, WTO Director General, Peter Mandelson, EU Trade Commissioner, Rob Portman, US Trade Representative, and Harvey Bale, director of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers, all herald the TRIPS amendment as a great success, claiming it is proof of the WTO taking into account the needs of developing countries.

In reality, the WTO decision of December 6 introduces in the agreement a cumbersome and more restrictive mechanism than the already existing flexibilities. The amendment goes against the primacy of health over trade, a principle that was unanimously approved in Doha by the WTO.

AIDS organizations worldwide denounce the hypocrisy and gross exploitation of people’s needs and rights to health under the new agreement.

“Pascal Lamy and others wanted to make sure the issue was off the table before Hong Kong, and to use it to cover up the fact that the current talks are complete failure,” says Wim Vandevelde, board member of the European AIDS Treatment Group.

The countries endorsing this amendment include the same which committed to universal access to anti-retroviral by 2010. “What these countries are showing here is complete schizophrenia,” says Guarinieri. “With this amendment they go against the grain of their earlier commitments. Moreover, some of them are also engaging in bilateral TRIPS plus negotiations, pushing for more restrictive provisions than those actually required by TRIPS.”

“This is the same scenario we witnessed in Cancun where developing countries were caving in on health in the hope of getting benefits in other areas,” says Khalil Elouardighi of ACT-UP Paris. “Benefits developing countries will never receive,” he added.

The AIDS organizations have urged the WTO member countries to make sure the primacy of health is not undermined by the current solution, to protect their citizens’ legitimate aspiration to enjoy full access to life-saving medications, and to turn down a solution that only serves the interest of rich countries and of pharmaceutical companies.