Senate Approves Kennedy-Feinstein-Feingold
Amendment to Help Fight HIV/AIDS
May 15, 2002

Washington, DC - The U.S. Senate has approved a proposal by Senators Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Russell Feingold (D-WI) to address the HIV/AIDS crisis in developing countries by allowing these countries to use "compulsory licensing" thereby increasing access to pharmaceuticals to treat the disease.

The following is a statement by Senator Feinstein:

"Mr. President, I rise today to express my thanks to Senator Baucus and Senator Grassley for accepting the Kennedy-Feinstein-Feingold amendment to Trade Promotion Authority. Our amendment instructs our trade negotiators to respect the Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health adopted by the World Trade Organization at the Fourth Ministerial Conference at Doha, Qatar.

This amendment is essential for the developing countries of the world as they confront public health crisis, such as the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

The Doha declaration simply recognizes the right of these countries to use practices such as "compulsory licensing" to gain access to affordable pharmaceutical drugs. These practices are fully consistent with international law, specifically the TRIPS agreement which is the presumptive legal standard for intellectual property rights.

Without these practices, the vast majority of HIV/AIDS patients in the developing world would not be able to afford the more expensive drugs from American pharmaceutical companies and, as a result, they would suffer and die.

The statistics compel us to action. HIV/AIDS is now the leading cause of death in sub-Saharan Africa. Worldwide, it is the fourth biggest killer. At the end of 2001, an estimated 40 million people globally were living with HIV/AIDS; there were 5 million new infections and 3 million deaths as a result of the disease. In the last twenty years, we have come a long way, but we are still losing because people are still dying.

Sub-Saharan Africa houses about 10% of the world's population but more than 70% of the worldwide total of infected people. 95% of all HIV/AIDS cases are of those living in developing countries.

An estimated 25.3 million people are living with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa and 19.3 million Africans have died of AIDS, including 2.3 million last year. This has meant an increase to a cumulative total of 12.1 million AIDS orphans, which is expected to increase to 42 million by the year 2010. An estimated 600,000 African infants become infected with HIV each year through mother-to-child transmission, either at birth or through breast-feeding.

These statistics are what they are in spite of the tools we have to ease the situation.

The Kennedy-Feinstein-Feingold amendment is by no means the perfect solution and there is a great deal of work yet to be done. But it is an important step for the United States to maintain a leadership role in the global effort against HIV/AIDS.

We should not punish countries of the developing world for using different tools to provide affordable treatment for their citizens who are suffering. We should be a partner and a leader in this effort.

Again, I thank the managers of this bill for accepting the amendment and I look forward to working with them again on this important international health issue."