The NYT applies a large does of whitewash in its discussion of President Clinton�s current efforts to promote the treatment of AIDS in developing country. While the article notes in passing that Clinton �conceded that his administration fought too long to protect the patent rights of pharmaceutical companies against countries trying to make or import cheaper AIDS medicines,� this lone sentence hardly does justice to Clinton�s work on behalf of the pharmaceutical industry during his tenure in the White House. Clinton was the person who allowed the pharmaceutical industry to use the power of the U.S. trade office to get the TRIPS provisions into the 1995 Uruguay Round agreement of the W.T.O. These provisions will limit the access to generic drugs for billions of people in the developing world, in some cases raising the price of AIDS drugs by several thousand percent. Even in his last years in office, Clinton harassed the South African government over its efforts to issue compulsory licenses for drugs used to treat AIDS victims. He didn�t back down until protestors associated with ACT-UP began trailing Al Gore at his campaign events. It�s good to see President Clinton now working to help AIDS sufferers in the developing world, but it is unlikely that he will be able to undo the harm caused by the policies put in place during his presidency.
--Dean Baker
