NEWS OF THE WEEK CHEMICAL
REGULATION
U.S. LOBBYING ON REACH ASSAILED Report describes W h i t e House/industry campaign to change EU chemicals policy
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REPORT THAT DETAILS
lobbying by the chemical industry and t h e Bush Administration to weaken a European Union chemicals proposal is ruffling feathers in Congress and the EU. The report, released by Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) on April 1, documents involvement of U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, in an effort with the chemical industry aimed at relaxing the EU proposal. The EU plan is known as Registration, Evaluation & AuthoGLOBAL
rization of Chemicals (REACH). According to the report, the Bush Administration based its lobbying campaign solely on the American Chemistry Council's analysis of REACH'S anticipated impacts, such as the estimate that the plan would cost billions of dollars to implement. The report found no evidence that the U.S. government performed its own analysis of REACH or subjected the ACC study to peer review. Waxman says, "Many in Congress were surprised to learn of the intensity and one-sidedness
HEALTH
AIDS DRUG PRICING Coalition's plan to provide generic drugs defies Bush Administration
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COALITION OF ORGANIZA-
tions with a hand in global health matters announced an agreement last week to assist developing countries in purchasing low-cost generic HIV/AIDS drugs and diagnostics. The plan— viewed as a slap to the Bush Administration—is based on pricing deals with generic drug and diagnostics manufacturers brokered late last year by the William J. Clinton Foundation. Other partners in the plan are the Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis & Malaria; the World Bank; and U N I C E F . Governments and nongovernmental organizations will be able to procure AIDS drugs and tests through these agencies at the agreed-upon prices. HTTP://WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG
The Clinton Foundation, which is headed by the former president, negotiated prices last October with Cipla, Hetero Drugs, Ranbaxy Laboratories, and Matrix Laboratories, all located in India, as well as with South Africa-based Aspen Pharmacare Holdings. The agreed-upon prices for the coalition cover individual AIDS drug formulations and twoand three-drug single-dose combinations that have been prequalified for use by the World Health Organization (WHO) but have not been approved by FDA. T h e Bush Administration, which has committed $ 15 billion to fight AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean, has challenged the safety ofgeneric drugs. And it has taken heat on the issue, most re-
of the Administration's multiyear campaign." He charges that the Bush Administration "dismissed the concerns of environmental and public health groups" and focused only on industry arguments about REACH. "This report reveals that inordinate weight has been given to only one side of a highly complex argument," says Anthony Gooch, an EU spokesman. "We certainly are not prepared to give special attention to the demands of the U.S. chemical industry" ACC responds, "The innuendo in {the House] report obscures the U.S. government's legitimate and wholly appropriate role in raising questions about the global impact of REACH." The industry group adds, 'Any national or regional government that proposes a policy affecting a global industry has a responsibility to seek the input of other governments."-CHERYL HOGUE
Waxman
cently in March at a conference in Botswana cosponsored by W H O , theJoint U N Programme on HIV/AIDS, and the US. Department of Health & Human Services. "The Bush Administration should return to the international community and immediately express unequivocal commit-
ment to using fixed-dose combinations and generic drugs," said Njogu Morgan, a spokesperson for the Pan-African Treatment Access Movement.-RICK MULLIN
WAITING THEIR TURN A long line of HIV/AIDS patients at the Maramba Clinic in Livingstone, Zambia. C&EN
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