For those in Toronto-Millions dying of aids in Africa

[The Observer.]

MILLIONS ARE DYING OF AIDS IN AFRICA - WILL NEW CANADIAN LEGISLATION HELP? Wednesday, April 7, 2004.

 

The Canadian government is proposing legislation to increase access to medicines in places like Africa - where the AIDS pandemic has so far taken the lives of at least 17 million people with many more expected to follow. Critics say that without key amendments the proposed Bill C-9 will not achieve its stated objective. They insist the legislation actually runs the risk of empowering the patent-holding big pharmaceutical companies while limiting the ability of generic producers and non-governmental organizations to produce or purchase the cheaper medicines. With a vote expected on Bill C-9 later this month, counterSpin debates whether this effort will help or hinder the struggle to make medicine available to those in the world who can least afford it.

 

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counterSpin airs live on CBC Newsworld on Wednesday nights at 8:00 pm Eastern, with repeats on Wednesday nights at 11:00 pm and 2:00 am ET , Saturdays at 8:00 am and 4:00 pm ET and Sundays at 11:00 am ET.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Audrey Huntley

 

counterSpin on CBC Newsworld

 

audreyh@counterspin.tv

 

http:// www.counterspin.tv

 

416.703.1269

[The Observer.]

if you guys are interested on attending the debate, by all means, if not, still this is an issue to be discussed, for i believe it will be the largest guinea pig experiment launched by canada, if passing this bill, to africa.

what do u guys think?!

[Vanquish_V12]

HIV, to some sounds like ching Ching !!

 

even at reduced cost u r only delaying and the risk of transmission is not effected.

 

i realy believe pharmceutical companies installed delay tactics to develop drugs that work on viral infection n direct most of their research on treatments after infection.

 

i hope the new set of reverse transcriptase inhibitors work otherwise, u can say bye bye to africa.

[The Observer.]

it has nothing with delay, other than testing, africans have become guinea pigs to a lot of things, the major issue now is, if they allow these pharmaceutical companies freedom to test their drugs on the people, the continent will be in a disaster of side effects to these medicine, worse those people are not like north americans, who could sue a pharmaceutical company, after a point of realization that it is medication A that causes this and that. so for those who are in Canada, you guuys have a say to stop this, because it would be madness.

[Vanquish_V12]

pharma companies have no desire in developing drugs that cure or prevent, there is no profit in that. their mission is treatment so they can profit from the patents.

 

also true, african have become somewhat of lab mice. lets face it, what other option do they have, plus is not like these drugs are complete shamble most of them are in phase 2 or 3 clinical stage and only require human testing. lets just hope it will satify all the ethical requirements established by research boards of the governing establishments.

 

without progress, people will keep gettin infected and continue to die.

[The Observer.]

what progress does this give to the african nations?

how about supporting the pharmaceutical companies there, interms of funding and providing machines to let the people help themselves, instead of dumping useless medications to the societies.

[Vanquish_V12]

lets get the facts straight.

 

these drugs they test in clinical stages are worth hundreds of millions n if they dont work the biggest losers are the investors n the companies.

 

they are based on sound science, but since human body is quite unpredictable to the way it reacts to drugs, human trails are very necessary, otherwise u can imagine the consequences.

 

progress is when you get to keep ur parents for 10-15 years longer before full blown AIDS kicks in n no drug can save them. africans are dyin at an incredible rate because they dont have access to present day approved drugs due to cost. how can u progress when the strength of ur people is being whiped out.

 

I believe we need to provide them with these drugs, but most importantly drug companies need to come up with preventative measures to infection

 

and if africans get to be the lab rats so wat, i mean europeans in the 18th, 19th centuries were the lab rats fo many of the vaccines we now benefit from.

 

peez