On the recordMay 11, 2005
when you carry this along to its conclusion, what we have is a condition where the people in the poorest countries cannot protect their health. So we are looking at their life expectancy beginning to decline, and one of the reasons is because they cannot afford the cost of the prescription drugs. And just as people here are held hostage by the pharmaceutical companies with the high cost of prescription drugs, imagine what it is like for these poor people in Central America, who are making a tenth, if that, of what we make in this country, and they are paying a high cost for prescription drugs because the pharmaceutical companies want these trade agreements which protect their patents and will not permit generics to get the help to people that need it the most.
Source
govinfo.gov




