LETTER TO SECRETARY ALBRIGHT

Madeleine Albright, Secretary of State
United States Department of State
Washington, D.C. 20520
BY FAX: (202) 647-0122, 647-7120

We the undersigned, from all over the world, are writing to express our concern at the manner in which the United States government is intervening in the domestic affairs of numerous other nations regarding their intellectual property laws. The ability of a nation to develop its laws is a sovereign and inalienable right; indeed, it is one which the United States Congress absolutely defends for itself.

Whereas it is true that many nations are presently adopting new legislation to develop their intellectual property laws in ways consistent with various international agreements to which they subscribe, it is not true that it is the United States responsibility nor its right to interfere with their national democratic processes for doing so.

Furthermore, the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is not the only international agreement with which nations may wish to conform.

The Convention on Biological Diversity, which the U.S. has yet to ratify, stipulates that parties cooperate to ensure that intellectual property rights "are supportive of and do not run counter to" the objectives of the convention: namely, the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, and the equitable sharing of its benefits. This convention also obligates the parties, subject to their national law, to "respect, preserve and maintain knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities."

The International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) provides for "Farmers Rights." It recognizes farmers as innovators entitled to intellectual integrity and access to the germplasm and technologies they have developed collectively over many generations.

Each of these is an international agreement in which negotiators have balanced the trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights of the WTO with the community-related aspects of humanitys intellectual heritage.

Please note, also, that the TRIPs Agreement allows each WTO member much discretion in formulating its domestic law to best serve the public interest. It allows members to exclude from patentability "diagnostic, therapeutic and surgical methods for the treatment of humans and animals" and it allows them to exclude inventions which, if commercially exploited, would threaten "ordre public or morality, including to protect human, animal or plant life or health or to avoid serious prejudice to the environment." The TRIPs Agreement also gives nations the substantive discretion whether to provide for patents or for a "sui generis" system of protection for plant and animal varieties and procedural discretion regarding the "exhaustion of rights," permissions for "parallel imports," and "other use without authorization of the Rights Holder."

It is legally irresponsible and morally dishonorable for the United States to utilize its political leadership and economic might toward influencing the way in which each sovereign nation and its peoples interprets these provisions and develops domestic policy and law to implement these several international agreements.

In light of these many considerations, we call to your attention a letter sent by the U.S. Department of State to the Royal Thai Government (RTG) regarding draft Thai legislation allowing Thai healers to register traditional medicines. Dated April 21, 1997, the letter advises the RTG that "Washington believes that such a registration system could constitute a possible violation of TRIPs and hamper medical research into these compounds" despite the fact that Thailand is not obliged to comply with TRIPs until at least 2000 and medical practices may be exempted. The State Department letter requests a copy of the draft legislation and official responses to 11 questions, beginning with the question: "What is the relationship of the proposal to the granting of patent protection in Thailand?" and ending with the question: "Does the RTG envision a contractual system to handle relationships between Thai healers and foreign researchers in the future?"

We the undersigned believe that the U.S. letter constitutes an inappropriate attempt to influence Thailands domestic initative toward balancing the objectives of TRIPs, the CBD, and the International Undertaking. The Department of State should withdraw the letter and issue an apology for interfering in Thailands legislative prerogatives. Moreover, we are concerned that the questions asked in the State Department letter imply an interest on the part of the U.S. government to facilitate the transfer of traditional Thai knowledge to U.S. researchers, and their eventual solicitation of patents on this knowledge. In the first place, we do not believe any government should encourage the privatization of knowledge already in the public domain. In the second place, we believe the use of patents to commercialize and monopolize living material rests on ethically and environmentally unsustainable foundations. The letter also illustrates a fundamental contradiction in United States policy. On the one hand, the U.S. has insisted at meetings of the FAO Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture that Farmers' Rights are a matter of national policy, and need not be recognized at the international level. On the other hand, the U.S. is interfering as Thailand takes steps to develop national law recognizing the rights of farmers and local communities.

We have also learned recently that the United States government has threatened the Ecuadorian government with the cancellation of trade preferences if its national Congress does not ratify a bilateral agreement on intellectual property rights negotiated between the executive branches of the two countries. According to a June 1, 1997 article in Ecuadors newspaper "El Universo," these threats affect some 400 products of export interest to the Ecuadorian economy, and the possible loss of $80 million worth of income from its exports to the U.S. of uncanned tuna and fresh fish. We believe these commercial threats interfere in Ecuadors domestic democratic process, and in any case are an inappropriate tool for reaching harmony in the development of international law.

We are well aware that the U.S. utilizes its commercial power to achieve its own objectives quite frequently. Ecuador is not the only target of U.S. trade sanctions aimed to influence other countries congressional or parliamentary processes. On March 31, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) released its 1997 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers, and added Ethiopia, Panama and Paraguay as well as Ecuador to its list of countries which the USTR believes limit U.S. commercial interests. Earlier this month, the U.S. Ambassador to India announced that "certain areas of research and training will be closed to cooperation" if India fails to amend its patent laws, threatening some 130 scientific projects presently supported by the U.S.-India Fund. The U.S. has also filed formal complaints with the WTO against India as well as Pakistan regarding their national patent laws governing pharmaceutical and agricultural chemical products.

And last April, completely ignoring the WTO dispute settlement process, the United States unilaterally cancelled $260 million worth of Argentinas trade benefits under the General System of Preferences on grounds that Argentinas intellectual property laws did not comply with "international standards." Nor are countries of the South the only countries to be so threatened. We have learned from the WTO that on May 21, the Permanent Mission of the United States notified the Permanent Mission of Denmark and the WTO Dispute Settlement Body that "Danish law would appear to be inconsistent with its obligations under the TRIPs Agreement" and that the U.S. was requesting consultations with the Government of Denmark "regarding the making available of provisional measures under Danish law." Secretary Albright, we the undersigned believe it is neither the right of the United States nor its responsibility to utilize its commercial power to influence legislative processes in other countries. By using a "might makes right" bludgeon, U.S. diplomacy encourages trade wars and destabilizes fragile economies, democracies, and ecologies. We hope that, under your leadership, the United States Department of State will use its influence to establish the U.S. position in the world community not as a power-broker for commercial interests but as a partner in a multilateral framework collaborating for human rights and peace in the 21st century.

We appreciate your attention, and look forward to your response. Please send your reply to the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Intellectual Property and Biodiversity Project, 2105 First Avenue South, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55414; or by fax: (612) 870-4846; Attention: Krist in Dawkins, who will in turn send it to all of the signatories. Thank you very much. Sincerely,

INTERNATIONAL
Agencia Latinoamericana de Informacion (ALAI)
Alliance of Northern People for Environment and Development
Asia Indigenous Womens Network
Asian NGO Coalition for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ANGOC)
Coordinacion Internacional de la Via Campesina
Ecoropa
European Coordination No Patents on Life (Muenchenstein, CH)
Friends of the Earth (FOE-International)
Greenpeace Inernational
Genetic Resources Action International (GRAIN)
People-Centered Development Forum
Pesticide Action Network Asia And The Pacific (Malaysia)
Pesticide Action Network North American Regional Center (PANNA)
Play Fair Europe! (Germany)
Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI)
Third World Network
Proyecto Internacional De Catedra Virtual / Virtual Lecture International
Project

AUSTRALIA
Australian GeneEthics Network
The Seed Savers' Network
Denis Brown (University of Western Australia)
Dick Copeman (Eco-Consumer)
Dr. Lynette Dumble (History and Philosophy of Science, University of
Melbourne)
Phil Davies (Adelaide, South Australia)
Dr Sandra McDougall (Research Entomologist, Yanco Agriculture Institute)
Philippa Rowland, (Agricultural Scientist)
Warrika (rose) Turner (Indigenous Australian, Adelaide)
Dr. Adrian Walsh (Philosophy Department, University of New England)
Tony Webb (Food Policy Analyst)

ARGENTINA
CETAAR (Centro de Estudios Sobre Tecnologias Apropiadas de la
Argentina)

AUSTRIA
Global 2000
Oesterreichische Bergbauernvereinigung (Member, European Farmers
Coordination)

BRAZIL
AS-PTA (Consultants in Alternative Agriculture Projects)
Federa=E7=E3o de =D3rg=E3os para AssistEAncia Social e Educacional (FASE
)
Instituto Brasileiro de AnE1lises Sociais e EconF4micas (IBASE)
The Comissao Pro-Yanomami (CCPY)
Francisco R Cartaxo (Grupo PESACRE - Rio Branco, AC)
Ilidia Juras
Carlos Tautz (Environmental/business journalist, Rio de Janeiro)
Paulo Teixeira de Sousa Jr. (Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Institu
to
de Saude Coletiva, Curso de Mestrado e Doutorado em Saude e Ambiente)

CAMBODIA
Lot Miranda (Country Director, Swiss Interchurch Aid (HEKS) - Cambodia
Program)

CANADA
British Columbia Biotechnology Circle
Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE)
Canadian Environmental Law Association
Warren Bell, MD (British Columbia)
Brewster  and Cathleen Kneen (Publishers, The Ram's Horn)
Joan Russow, PhD (Co-ordinator, Global Compliance Research Project)

COSTA RICA
Silvia Rodriguez C. (Programa CAMBIOS, Costa Rica)

ECUADOR
Abelardo Bombom, Presidente de la FEINE (Federacion Ecuatoriana de
Indigenas Evangelicos)
Elizabeth Bravo (Accion Ecologica)
Carlos Carrera (School of Natural Resources, University of Michigan)
Pedro de la Cruz, Presidente de la FENOCIN (Federacion Nacional de
Organizaciones Campesino, Indigenas y Negras)
Freddy Estrella, diputado (Pachakutik-Nuevo Pais)
Ulbio Freire, diputado (Pachakutik-Nuevo Pais)
Leonidas Issa, diputado (Pachakutik-Nuevo Pais)
Miguel Lluco, diputado (Pachakutik-Nuevo Pais)
Jorge Loor, Presidente de la CONFEUNASSC (Confederacion Unica de Afiliado
s
al Seguro Social Campesino)
Miguel Lopez, diputado (Pachakutik-Nuevo Pais)
Luis Macas, diputado (Pachakutik-Nuevo Pais)
Rosendo Rojas, diputado (Pachakutik-Nuevo Pais)
Napoleon Saltos, diputado (Pachakutik-Nuevo Pais)
Arturo Yumbay, Presidente (e) de la CONAIE (Confederacion de Nacionalidad
es
Indigenas del Ecuador)

ETHIOPIA
Institute for Sustainable Development
Damtew Teferra (Doctoral Student, Boston College, USA)

FRANCE
Solagral
Arnaud Poulet (Student of Biotechology, Toulouse)

GERMANY
BUKO Agrocoordination (Hamburg)
Inititative zum Verbot genmanipulierter Nahrung (Campaign to ban
genetically engineered foods)

INDIA
Dakshinayan
Kalpavriksh -Environmental Action Group
Public Interest Research Group (New Delhi)
The People's Commission on Environment & Development India
Rahul Bedi (Software Engineer, Delhi)
Dr Walter Fernandes (Programme for Tribal Studies, Indian Social Institut
e)
Dr. Vandana Shiva (Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecolog
y)

INDONESIA
Yayasan Gemi Nastiti (Salatiga)
Riza V. Tjahjadi (Pesticide Action Network-Indonesia)

ITALY
Amici della Terra (Friends of the Earth-Italy)
Centro Internacionale Crocevia

MALAYSIA
Center for Orang Asli Concerns

MEXICO
Asociacion Nacional de Empresas Comercializadoras de Productores del Camp
o,
A.C.
Uniona Nacional de Organizaciones Regionales Campesinas Autonomas (UNORCA
)
David Barkin (Professor, Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana)
Fernando Bejarano (General Coordinator. Red de
Accion Sobre Plaguicidas y Alternativas en Mexico - RAPAM)
Francisco MartEDnez GF3mez (Profesor, Universidad AutF3noma Agraria An
tonio
Narro.
Saltillo, Coahuila)
ME9xico.

NETHERLANDS
Both ENDS
NoGen, Documentation Center on Biotechnology
Sigrid VE1sconez (Institute of Social Studies)

NEW ZEALAND
Friends of the Earth-New Zealand
GATT Watchdog
Maori Congress
Mataatua Declaration Association
Brad Heising (Post graduate Research University of Auckland impacts of MI
A
on Treaty of Waitangi)
Chris King (Senior Lecturer Mathematics, University of Auckland)
Kathryn Scott (Research Officer, Department of Geography, University of
Auckland)
Peter R Wills, PhD (Theoretical Biologist, University of Auckland)

PERU
Guises MontaF1a Experimental

PHILIPPINES
Action for Economic Reforms
Federation of Free Farmers
Manila People's Forum on APEC (MPFA)
Philippine National Peasant Caucus (PNPC)
Philippine Peasant Institute (PPI)
SEARICE
Tebtebba Foundation (Indigenous Peoples International Centre for Polic
y
Research and Education)
Joel I. Rodriguez (Management & Organizational Development for Empowermen
t,
Inc. -  MODE)
Pamela G. Fernandez (Professor)
Sabino Garcia Padilla, Jr., PhD (Associate Professor, University of the
Philippines)
Oscar B. Zamora (Professor, University of the Philippines at Los Banos)

SPAIN
Aedenat-Valladolid
Esperanza LF3pez de Uralde, Coordinadora de Organizaciones de Defensa
Ambiental (CODA)

SWEDEN
Ekologiska Lantbrukarna
Swedish Society for Nature Conservation

SWITZERLAND
Basler Appell gegen Gentechnologie (Basel, CH)
Schweizerische Arbeitsgruppe Gentechnologie (Zuerich, CH)
Swiss Coordination No Patents on Life (Boeckten, CH)

THAILAND
Drug Study Group (DSG)

UK
Intermediate Technology (ITDG)
The Gaia Foundation
The Genetics Forum
Pesticides Trust
Scientists for Global Responsibility (SGR)
Brian Goodwin (Professor, Shumacher  College)
Dr Andrew Herxheimer (International Society of Drug Bulletins)
Maewan Ho, PhD (Biophysicist, Open University)
Ben Matthews (School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia
)
Darrell Posey
Christian Taylor (Environmental Society, School of Biology, Bath Universi
ty)
Toby Tyrrell (Southampton Oceanography Centre, University of Southampton)

USA
American Association of Legal Publishers
Arizona Toxics Information
Community Nutrition Institute
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR)
Consumer Project on Technology, Center for Study of Responsive Law
Council for Responsible Genetics
Edmonds Insitute
Friends of the Earth - US
Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN)
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP)
Institute for Food and Development Policy (Food First)
National Writers Union (UAW Local 1981)
Native Forest Network, WNA (Montana)
NetAction
North American Indigenous Peoples Biodiversity Network (NAIP-B)
project underground (California)
Pure Food Campaign
Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI-USA)
Sierra Club
The Cultural Conservancy
U.S. Humane Society
Washington Biotechnology Action Council (WashBAC)
David Andow, PhD (Department of Entomology, University of Minnesota)
Phil Bereano (Professor of Engineering, University of Washington)
Richard Caro (Conference Registrar, LBJ School of Public Affairs,
University of Texas at Austin)
Noam Chomsky (Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Rick Crawford (Lecturer in Information Age Ethics, University of Californ
ia)
Claire Cummings (Attorney at Law)
Inyigo de la Cerda (Department of Biology and University Herbarium,
University of Michigan)
Anne Ehrlich (Senior research associate in biological sciences, Stanford
University, and Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences)
Michael Feinstein (Santa Monica City Council, California)
Bruce Ferguson (PhD candidate, Department of Biology, University of Michi
gan)
John Gershman (Institute for Health and Social Justice, Massachusetts)
Libby Goldstein (Food and Agriculture Task Force, Pennsylvania)
Sheldon Krimsky (Professor, Tufts University)
Tom Lent (California)
Stuart A. Newman, PhD (Professor, Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy,
New York Medical College)
Robert L. Sapp Sr. (Environmental Engineer, Delaware)
Allen Spalt (Agricultural Resources Center, North Carolina
Doreen Stabinsky (Professor of Environmental Studies, California State
University)
Millie Thayer (Graduate student, Dept. of Sociology, University of
California, Berkeley)
J.C. Wandemberg, Ph.D (International Institute For Natural, Environmental
 &
Cultural Resources Management, New Mexico State University)

URUGUAY
Instituto del Tercer Mundo (ITeM)
REDES - Amigos de la Tierra/Uruguay

VENEZUELA
Asociacion de Vigilantes Voluntarios del Ambiente - Frontera Gran Sabana
Julio Cesar Centeno, PhD (Professor, University of the Andes)
Anna Sartorio de Ponte (COAMA Coalicion Orinoquia-Amazonia)
Clara Ferreira (Doctoral Student, Universidad Central de Venezuela)


Kristin Dawkins
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
2105 First Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55404 USA
Central tel: (612) 870-0453
Direct tel: (612) 870-3410
Fax: (612) 870-4846
Email: kdawkins@iatp.org
URL: http://www.iatp.org

Webmaster: steve@greenpeople.org