Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, since 1998, every AIDS patient in Brazil for whom it is medically indicated gets for free the AIDS triple cocktail drug treatment. This is extraordinary because, according to U.N.-AID, in developing countries less than 10 percent of people with HIV/AIDS have access to the anti-retroviral therapy. The high price of many AIDS drugs, especially anti-retroviral drugs, is one of the main barriers to their availability in developing countries. Brazil can afford to treat AIDS because it does not pay market prices for anti-retroviral drugs. In 1998, the Brazilian government began making copies of brand name drugs, and the price of those medicines has fallen by an average of 79 percent. The U.N. and the World Bank have praised Brazil's AIDS drug program, but what did the U.S. do? The U.S. lodged a complaint with the WTO alleging that Brazil's program violated the agreement on intellectual property. Mr. Chairman, the people of America know that our country is a country with a big heart, but where is the heart here? USTR was wrong and offensive when it brought a WTO challenge against Brazil.”