Last year the Guatemalan Congress passed legislation to allow the sale of generic drugs to give its citizens more consumer choice and to bring down the price of name-brand drugs. Consumers in Guatemala cheered them on. Then the U.S. drug industry and its allies in the Bush administration moved in. Even though international trade law and World Trade Organization rules allow the sale of generics in member countries, the U.S. trade representative told Guatemalan leaders there will be no Central American Free Trade Agreement unless the Guatemalan government gives the drug companies what they want. Not surprising, and against the vociferous opposition of millions of Guatemalans, the government repealed its own public health law.

Rep. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio
Author of “Myths of Free Trade:
Why American Trade Policy Has Failed”