On the road to Liberty

The WHO is trying to fight the huge international trade in counterfeits but faces opposition from India and others, driven by a strange coalition ranging from the far Left to business organisations: this author blows away some of the straw men these people have built up. Barun Mitra says robust trademark protection will give Indian companies a stake in quality and give Indian, and worldwide, patients the guarantees that they need. My article titled India: Urgent steps are needed to ensure quality medicines was published in The Pioneer on March 31, 2009 Indian pharmaceutical companies are supplying sub-standard drugs in Maharashtra. While the home-grown nature of the problem at least means that a solution lies in our own hands, the Government is sending a worrying signal by blocking the World Health Organisation's efforts to improve drug quality around the world. Maharashtra's Medical, Education and Drugs Secretary Bhushan Gagrani said that 547 samples of Indian-produced sub-st...

My IPN 
Press release titled Int'l NGO Coalition Demands Global Freedom to Trade was published on International Policy Network on August 26 2003. Tuesday, 26 August, London – An international coalition of NGOs has launched a campaign which calls on trade ministers and governments everywhere to promote freedom to trade. In anticipation of the World Trade Organisation’s 5th Ministerial in Cancun, Mexico, (10-14 September, 2003), six campaign members from Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Bangladesh and India will gather in London on Wednesday (27 August) to call on governments everywhere to remove the artificial barriers that prevent people from trading with each other. Campaign member Barun Mitra, director of Indian NGO the Liberty Institute, explains: “Members of the Global Freedom to Trade Campaign challenge world leaders to rise above national politics and vested interests at the Cancun Ministerial, tear down trade barriers, and give the people of the world the real freedom to trade...