Profits over people make Glaxo `enemy of the future’

Glaxo Wellcome made it for choosing patents over people and using intellectual property protection laws to stop the distribution of cheaper generic versions of HIV/AIDS and other drugs in poor countries. In August, Glaxo accused Cipla of patent infringement through the sale of Combivir — a combination of two anti-AIDS drugs for which Glaxo claims to hold patent. In November, Cipla announced it would stop exporting Duovir to Ghana, even though it contested Glaxo’s patent claims. Those who suffered more than Cipla were the more than 20 million people in sub-Saaran Africa living with HIV/AIDS. Three million people in Africa will continue to die of AIDS every year.

The other corporation with an Indian presence is BAT, called the `Smuggler of Death’ by the magazine for actively promoting the smuggling its own products to increase profits through evading taxes. Internal company documents unearthed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and the UK-based Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) showed that BAT engineered a worldwide smuggling scheme for decades, with extensive efforts in Latin America and Asia.

BAT, which has a stake in Indian Tobacco Company and owns the US company Brown & Williamson, is the world’s second largest tobacco multinational, after Philip Morris. The documents were put up in the public domain following US state litigation against the tobacco multinationals.

Aventis is accused of contaminating food supply (Taco Bell shells and more) with genetically engineered corn not approved for human consumption and releasing genetically-modified organisms into the environment, despite the near certainty that some biotech products will contaminate conventional food supplies.

Doubleclick, the world’s largest internet advertising business, made it for blatantly breaking internet privacy protection laws through systematically implanting electronic `cookies’ — electronic surveillance files — on the hard drives of users’ computers without their knowledge or consent. DoubleClick compiled personal user profiles on consumers which, potentially, can be linked directly to a consumer’s name, home address and e-mail account. It has collected 100 million consumer profiles so far.

Ford/Firestone is on the list for not withdrawing the Ford Explorers and Firestone tires on the road even after learning it caused accident and killed 150 people; Lockheed Martin for testing a toxic component of rocket fuel on humans; BP/Amoco for environmental pollution; Phillips Petroleum for operating a deadly petrochemical facility in Houston; Smithfield Foods for consolidating the meat-packing business to the detriment of family farms; and Titan International for ongoing strike-breaking attempt against approximately 1,000 members of the United Steelworkers of America.