The Star Online: World Updates
The Star Online: World Updates |
- Row flares over global fight against fake medicine
- Suspected North Korea missile parts seized en route to Syria in May
- Suspected North Korea missile parts seized en route to Syria in May
| Row flares over global fight against fake medicine Posted: 13 Nov 2012 08:51 PM PST LONDON (Reuters) - A group of experts calling for a global treaty to stop the lethal trade in fake medicines has been barred from attending a World Health Organisation meeting, highlighting deep divisions that are blocking progress on the subject. Leading academics and health professionals hoped to provoke debate on the need for a new international law to prevent falsified and substandard drugs reaching the market with a paper published in the British Medical Journal on Wednesday. Their article, which sets out a clear case for a fake drugs treaty similar to existing ones on money laundering and human trafficking, comes a week before 100 states hold the first meeting of its kind to discuss the problem in Buenos Aires. But lead author Amir Attaran of the University of Ottawa said he was told on Monday by the World Health Organisation (WHO) that he and other non-governmental representatives could not attend, following an objection by India. A WHO spokeswoman declined to comment on the details of particular invitations but said it was up to member states to determine who was permitted to attend. Indian officials, whose government is wary of multinational drug firms using the issue to curb competition, were not immediately available for comment. Attaran called it a "scandal" that only government officials would be at the meeting in Argentina to discuss strategy. The clash exposes distrust among governments, the pharmaceutical industry and healthcare campaigners about how to tackle fake and dangerous medicines, which are a growing problem in both poor countries and rich. Risks include ineffective material packaged as medication and real drugs made in poor conditions. In developing countries, the WHO estimates that more than 10 percent of medicine may be fake or substandard, with bogus malaria drugs a particular threat in parts of Asia and Africa. But the danger is real in the rich world, too. Earlier this year, fake vials of Roche's cancer drug Avastin were found in the United States, while a recent U.S. meningitis outbreak, due to contaminated steroid injections, shows the country is not immune to quality problems. In the European Union, medicines are now the top illicit product seized at the border and authorities have found fake versions of drugs purporting to come from companies including Sanofi, Eli Lilly and AstraZeneca. LAW TOUGHER ON TOBACCO THAN FAKE DRUGS The need for action seems clear enough - but advancing the debate involves navigating some big divides. India, whose large drugs industry produces cheap generic versions, is concerned that Western governments backed by Big Pharma are using the fight against fakes as a cover to restrict trade in unpatented medicines much needed by the world's poor. Some health activists support New Delhi's charge that worries about counterfeit drugs are being hijacked by "Big Pharma" global pharmaceutical companies to protect their profits and patented products against legitimate generic competitors. In east Africa, for example, international drug companies have taken advantage of anti-counterfeiting laws that are sometimes poorly drafted to curb sales of otherwise legitimate generics, threatening the availability of essential drugs. India is particularly resistant to any role for pharmaceutical firms in setting the agenda, and Brazil has expressed similar concerns in the past. Given the distrust, the authors of the paper in the BMJ - who include leaders of nursing, pharmacy and public health bodies - argue there is a need to find neutral ground to address what appears to be a gaping hole in international law. They point out that thanks to a new convention on tobacco control, international law is now tougher on counterfeit cigarettes than it is on fake medicines. "We hope that this will form the basis for getting some consensus on a definition of counterfeit drugs, which would then be transferable into a legal instrument," said another of the paper's authors, Martin McKee of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The lack of a treaty means there is no agreement on which medicines are illegal and criminals can do business in countries where laws or enforcement are lax. There is also no requirement for police and prosecutors to co-operate across borders. (Editing by Alastair Macdonald) Copyright © 2012 Reuters |
| Suspected North Korea missile parts seized en route to Syria in May Posted: 13 Nov 2012 08:49 PM PST UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A shipment of graphite cylinders usable in a missile program and suspected to have come from North Korea were found in May aboard a Chinese ship en route to Syria in what appears to have been a violation of U.N. sanctions, diplomats said on Tuesday. South Korean officials seized the shipment of 445 graphite cylinders, which had been declared as lead piping, from a Chinese vessel called the Xin Yan Tai, U.N. Security Council diplomats told Reuters on condition of anonymity. South Korean authorities stopped the ship at the South Korean port of Busan, the envoys said, adding that the cylinders were intended for a Syrian company called Electric Parts. South Korean officials informed the Security Council's North Korea sanctions committee about the seizure on October 24, the envoys said, adding that China had offered to help investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident. "It appears the cylinders were intended for Syria's missile program," a diplomat said. "China assured us they will investigate what looks like a violation of U.N. sanctions." Diplomats said the graphite cylinders appeared to be consistent with material usable in a ballistic missile program and that South Korea would be jointly investigating the case with China. The shipment to Syria was arranged by a North Korean trading company, diplomats said. One diplomat said the Syrian company that was to have received the cylinders may be a subsidiary of the North Korean Korean trading firm. North Korea is barred from importing or exporting nuclear and missile technology under U.N. Security Council sanctions imposed on Pyongyang because of its nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009. There are U.S. and European Union sanctions on Syria, but no U.N. arms embargo against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has led a 20-month military campaign against an increasingly militarized opposition. Russia and Iran have been Assad's main arms suppliers. Earlier this year, the Security Council's Panel of Experts on North Korea, a group of independent experts that monitors compliance with the U.N. sanctions regime, said it was investigating reports of possible weapons-related deals between Pyongyang and Syria as well as Myanmar. "The DPRK (North Korea) continues actively to defy the measures in the (U.N. sanctions) resolutions," the panel said in May. Copyright © 2012 Reuters |
| Suspected North Korea missile parts seized en route to Syria in May Posted: 13 Nov 2012 08:24 PM PST UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A shipment of graphite cylinders usable in a missile program and suspected to have come from North Korea were found in May aboard a Chinese ship en route to Syria in what appears to have been a violation of U.N. sanctions, diplomats said on Tuesday. South Korean officials seized the shipment of 445 graphite cylinders, which had been declared as lead piping, from a Chinese vessel called the Xin Yan Tai, U.N. Security Council diplomats told Reuters on condition of anonymity. South Korean authorities stopped the ship at the South Korean port of Busan, the envoys said, adding that the cylinders were intended for a Syrian company called Electric Parts. South Korean officials informed the Security Council's North Korea sanctions committee about the seizure on October 24, the envoys said, adding that China had offered to help investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident. "It appears the cylinders were intended for Syria's missile program," a diplomat said. "China assured us they will investigate what looks like a violation of U.N. sanctions." The shipment to Syria was arranged by a North Korean trading company, diplomats said. One diplomat said the Syrian company that was to have received the cylinders may be a subsidiary of the North Korean Korean trading firm. North Korea is barred from importing or exporting nuclear and missile technology under U.N. Security Council sanctions imposed on Pyongyang because of its nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009. There are U.S. and European Union sanctions on Syria, but no U.N. arms embargo against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has led a 20-month military campaign against an increasingly militarized opposition. Russia and Iran have been Assad's main arms suppliers. (Reporting By Louis Charbonneau) Copyright © 2012 Reuters |
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