Trading In Water

VIRTUALLY since the dawn of human civilization, the total amount of fresh water available for human consumption and use has practically remained constant. It is just half a per cent of the total water on … Read more

Toxic Texan Throws Out Kyoto Treaty

IT took very little time after becoming US President for George W Bush to shed the centrist image carefully projected during the presidential campaign and embrace the far right conservative platform, for which his Republican … Read more

The CNG Mess Delhi Today, All India Tomorrow?

THE capital city of Delhi, among the most polluted cities in the world, has been set by the Supreme Court upon a chaotic and painful course of having to ensure that all public transport buses … Read more

Earthquake

THE devastating earthquake in Gujarat centred in the Kutch region reminds us once more of the devastation that can be unleashed by natural events. The loss of tens of thousands of lives, the injuries caused … Read more

Earth Day… or Was It?

LAST week many people all over the world observed Earth Day, on the thirtieth year since it was declared, and the national dailies carried photographs of the Prime Minister with school children carrying placards and … Read more

Living In Strange Times: The AIDS Epidemic And WTO — Welcome Address to FMRAI Conference

We live in strange times indeed. If we look at the reporting on public health, even in India, we will conclude that the Mad Cow disease or BSE is the most serious public health menace … Read more

‘Animal Liberation’: From Prejudice To Theology

THE media gave wide publicity recently to an apparently trivial little item. The well-known ‘animal-rights’ activist and Hollywood bimbo of yesteryear, Brigitte Bardot, as a mouthpiece of the militantly extremist animal-rights organisation, PETA, had offered … Read more

Access to Essential Drugs

AN International symposium on TRIPS and access to medicines was organised by the National Working Group on Patent Laws and Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) on June 4. This was followed by a Working … Read more

TRIPS Agreement under Attack

The global Pharmaceutical Industry, for once, has become the villain rather than the darling of the international media. Publications as diverse as the British Medical Journal, the Time Magazine, the New York Times, and even … Read more

Decontrol of Drug Prices

THE wolves are baying at the door, once again calling for further decontrol in the prices of drugs. Since comprehensive price controls were imposed on drugs in 1979, drug companies have continuously clamoured for their … Read more

Research Tailored to Fit Corporate Agendas

Twenty-eight men and women were already dead while an expert panel of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) were huddled together to decide what government regulators should do about Warner-Lambert’s controversial diabetes drug Rezulin. … Read more

US Drug MNCs Bare Their Fangs

THE Indian government has prepared a draft of the amended Patents Act, designed to comply with the obligations under the WTO agreement. The draft is going through a process of consultations, and is likely to … Read more