Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2007. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bangkok Post - April 29, 2007
Kultida Samabuddhi
The organisation was not a "non-profit" organisation working on the protection of intellectual property and innovation as it had claimed, but in fact a proxy of the American pharmaceutical businesses, he said.
USA for Innovation on Wednesday kicked off an advertising campaign against "Thailand's Theft of American Assets".
The campaign includes a full-page advertisement in the Wall Street Journal, and highlights a recent movement by the Thai 'military regime' to steal American medical innovations, according to the organisation.
Over 35,00 letters would be delivered to President George W Bush, US administration officials and the congressional leadership urging Washington to "take retaliatory action in the form of trade or economic sanctions or the removal of military aid".
The advertisement, under the headline "Slouching Towards Burma", says Gen Surayud Chulanont is taking Thailand down Burma's path, by lining the military's pockets with pay increases of $9 million and new military spending of $1.1 billion.
"Then coup leaders hastily imposed draconian measures on foreign-owned companies like capital controls, restrictions on business advertising and stealing American assets for military benefit," the advertisement says, referring to Public Health Minister Mongkol na Songkhla's recent decision to break the patent of Aids and heart disease drugs produced by US drug firms, including Abbott Laboratories and Merck.
"In a global economy, American innovation is our comparative advantage.
We urge President Bush and the Congress to protect America's interest and the people of Thailand," it says.
The agency also ran an online action campaign on its website, www.usaforinnovation.org, where people could petition Thai ambassador to Washington Krit Garnjana-Goonchorn.
Another activist said Ken Adelman, USA for Innovation's executive director, is a senior counsellor at Edelman Public Relations Worldwide, which runs public relations campaign for several giant drug firms in the US including Abbott, Merck, and Sanofi-Aventis.
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