Gilbert Gutknecht: “it was Will Rogers who said, ``All I know is what I read in the newspapers,'' and I was reading yesterday's Wall Street…”

“it was Will Rogers who said, ``All I know is what I read in the newspapers,'' and I was reading yesterday's Wall Street Journal, and I would invite my colleagues to read the Wall Street Journal of yesterday, as well, because there is a story there that is just shameful about American policies as it relates to prescription drugs. Let me read from this article from the Wall Street Journal front page yesterday. Let me read a couple of paragraphs. In fact, the headline is, ``Empty Shells: As U.S. Balks on Medicine Deal, African Patients Feel the Pain,'' and the subtitle is ``Big drug makers protecting their patents seek limits to a global trade accord, searching for insulin in Chad.'' As one reads the article, it is shameful. Let me just read a couple of paragraphs for the benefit of Members. ``Wealthier countries where drugs are produced and patented promised 18 months ago at global trade talks in Qatar to loosen patent restrictions in order to ease shortages and reduce prices. It was just after September 11, and the U.S. led the rhetorical charge, eager to demonstrate its desire to battle suffering among the world's poor while mounting a war on terrorism. But last December when all of the other 143 countries in the World Trade Organization had lined up behind a new plan on the trade of medicines, the United States blocked the proposal.”