Bay Area Reporter - March 16, 2001
John Iversen

The Red Cross, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, and the South African ambassador to the U.S. weighed into the fray. In London the International Red Cross released a blistering statement. "The current system of allocating resources and development and of pricing life-saving drugs needs to change because it leaves out at least 30 million people who are dying from infectious diseases every year," said Alvaro Bemejo, heatlh director of the international disaster relief organization.

Bemejo supported South African moves to produce or import cheap generic AIDS drugs and criticized present efforts. "What we are seeing today is a piecemeal approach between a number of governments and pharmaceutical companies brokered by UNAIDS. This is a first step, but not enough. It certainly should not be seen as a way forward."

In Washington, D.C., nearly 500 people marched from the South African Embassy to the headquarters of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers' Association.

At issue was the PMA lawsuit against Nelson Mandela and the South African government. The PMA lawsuit, filed in February 1998, has forbidden South Africa from producing generic AIDS drugs or importing them at the world's lowest price. That price is now $347 from an Indian company (ironically named Hetero) versus the Glaxo/Bristol-Myers Squibb price of $11,000 annually per person. Since the inception of the lawsuit over 400,000 South Africans have died of AIDS.

The demonstrators in Washington were welcomed by South African Ambassador Sheila Sisulu. Other speakers represented Oxfam (the world's largest hunger relief organization), Doctors Without Borders, ACT UP/Philadelphia, and the Gray Panthers.

In Chicago, Jackson hosted a press conference to call on the PMA to resolve the case. "They are in a very weak position to be arguing for their rights when people are dying. They give the impression that they're willing to sacrifice lives to profit," he said.

Last week the International Chemical, Energy and Mine Workers Union (ICEM) restated its support for South Africa. "We believe that South Africa and other countries have the right to buy appropriate pharmaceuticals at prices they can afford," the union said in a statement. ICEM represents 20 million workers worldwide in the pharmaceutical and chemical industries. Last week also saw Merck, the largest U.S. pharmaceutical firm, unilaterally drop the price of Crixivan by 90 percent for most developing countries. Merck excluded Brazil by name from the offer as Brazil has raised the ire of drug companies. Brazil produces its own triple therapies and gives them free to all HIV-infected citizens.

Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California) also reissued her bill to prohibit trade sanctions against South Africa and provide $25 million in aid. "I truly believe that the AIDS crisis is worse than the bubonic plague. I truly believe that this crisis can wipe out sub-Saharan Africa as we know it today. It is mega in its impact on the world, and I have a very hard time reconciling the position of the pharmaceutical companies with what is happening today," Feinstein said.

In a rather odd move, the World Health Organization released a bold statement on the side of the South African government in the PMA lawsuit. The next day the WHO retracted the statement saying it couldn't take sides in a legal dispute.

In an effort to sort out all the information, Global Exchange and other groups will hold a teach-in on Thursday, March 29 at 7:30 p.m., at Oakland's Java House, 3306 Lakeshore Avenue. The featured speaker will be Mark Hunter, who just returned from working seven months in South Africa in a province where one in three adults is infected with HIV. For more information, call (415) 255-0796.
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