MORE LEFTIST THUGGERY FROM BRAZIL: THEY'LL STEAL WHAT THEY CAN'T BUY

One of the MANY reasons leftist economies always do less well than more free economies is that leftists do not respect intellectual property.

When you don'T respect intellectual property you create DISINCENTIVES to anyone creating new intellectual property. As a result, there is less innovation.

Today, the leftists running Brazil gave us another example [all umph added]:

REUTERS:

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Friday authorized Brazil to break the patent on an AIDS drug made by Merck & Co. Inc. ... and import a generic version from India instead.

It was the first time Brazil bypassed a patent to acquire cheaper drugs for its AIDS prevention program, a step recently taken by Thailand. Other countries, including Canada and Italy, have also used a clause in World Trade Organization rules to flout drug patents in the name of public health.

BLOOMBERG:

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva broke the patent on Merck & Co's AIDS drug Efavirenz after the company's offer to cut prices failed to satisfy demands from the country's health ministry.

Lula, in a presidential palace ceremony today in Brasilia, signed a law allowing the government to buy a generic version of Efavirenz from laboratories certified by the World Health Organization. The government would consider a new proposal from Merck should the company choose to make one, Health Minister Jose Gomes Temporao said in an interview.

"Our decision today involves this one drug, but we can take the same steps with any other that we consider necessary,'' Lula said. "It doesn't matter if it's a U.S., German, French, Brazilian or Argentine company.''

MSNBC/AP:

Silva issued a “compulsory license” that would bypass Merck’s patent on the AIDS drug efavirenz, a day after the Brazilian government rejected Merck’s offer to sell the drug at a 30 percent discount.

A compulsory license is a legal mechanism that allows a country to manufacture or buy generic versions of patented drugs while paying the patent holder only a small royalty.

Brazilian law and rules established under the World Trade Organization allow for compulsory licenses in a health emergency or if the pharmaceutical industry uses abusive pricing. ... It was the first time Brazil has bypassed a patent.

After Thailand moved to override patents on three anti-AIDS drugs, including those made by Abbott Laboratories Inc. and Merck, the United States placed Thailand on a list of copyright violators.

“As the world’s 12th largest economy, Brazil has a greater capacity to pay for HIV medicines than countries that are poorer or harder hit by the disease,” Merck said in a statement after Silva’s announcement.

RANT ALERT:

TO THE LEFT, MAKING A PROFIT IS AMORAL AND ABUSIVE. BUT WITHOUT A PROFIT MOTIVE THERE WOULD BE NO WONDER DRUGS.

I WOULD ALSO ADD THAT AIDS IS A SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASE WHICH NO RESPONSIBLE PERSON SHOULD BE GETTING ANYMORE.

THE USA AND OUR COMPANIES SHOULD NOT BE FORCED TO SUBSIDIZE SEXUALLY PROMISCUOUS, IRRESPONSIBLE PEOPLE JUST BECAUSE THEY CLAIM TO BE POOR.

WE SHOULD BE AS GENEROUS AS WE CAN BE IN OUR AID TO THE POOR ALL OVER THE WORLD IN COMBATING INFECTIOUS DISEASES WHICH ARE A TRUE PUBLIC HEALTH THREAT - LIKE MALARIA.

AIDS IS NOT AS PREVALENT AS MALARIA OR SCHISTOSOMIASIS AND IS LESS TRANSMISSIBLE THAN FLU - WHICH KILLS MORE PEOPLE IN EPIDEMIC YEARS. THEREFORE, IT DESERVES LESS STATE SUBSIDIZATION THAN THESE OTHER DISEASES, NOT MORE. (WHAT INDIVIDUALS AND PRIVATE ORGANIZATIONS WANT TO DO IS THEIR BUSINESS.)

MALARIA EFFECTS 500 MILLION PEOPLE PER YEAR - KILLING 1,000,000! AND OVER 200 MILLION PEOPLE HAVE SHISTO. 100 MILLION MAY HAVE HIV - THOUGH SOME SUSPECT THE NUMBERS HAVE BEEN INFLATED BY THIRD WORLD KLEPTOCRACIES LOOKING FOR AID.

BUT IF PEOPLE WOULD JUST HAVE SAFE SEX, THEN THEY WOULDN'T GET HIV. IT'S UP TO THEM, NOT A MOSQUITO (AS IN MALARIA) OR A SNAIL OR A FLATWORM (AS IN THE CASE OF SCHISTO').

AGAIN I ASK: WHY SHOULD MY TAX DOLLARS GO TO PEOPLE WHO CAN'T CONTROL THEIR SEXUAL HABITS - (IN EFFECT SUBSIDIZING THEM)!?!? WHY SHOULD A COMPANY'S PROFIT BE HURT BECAUSE POOR PEOPLE CAN'T CONTROL THEIR SEX-LIVES!?

AND WHO IN THE EFFIN' WORLD DIED AND MADE THE FRIGGIN' W.H.O. POWERFUL ENOUGH TO OVERRIDE MY NATION'S PATENT LAWS AND INTERNATIONAL PATENT LAW!?!

SHEESH. TALK ABOUT UNELECTED WORLD GOVERNMENT. THIS IS TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION. IT'S TYRANNICAL.

NEITHER MERCK OR THE USG SHOULD STAND FOR IT.

I FAVOR GIVING HEAVILY SUBSIDIZED - OR EVEN FREE DRUGS TO PREGNANT WOMEN WITH HIV IN ORDER TO PREVENT THE CHILD FROM GETTING AIDS. THE BABY IS INNOCENT.

BUT LET THEM PAY WHATEVER THE DRUG COMPANIES WANT THEM TO PAY IN ORDER TO GET DRUGS FOR THE REST OF 'EM.