In economic sectors crucial to human welfare – agriculture, education, and medicine – a small number of firms control global markets, primarily by enforcing intellectual property (IP) rights incorporated into trade agreements made in the 1980s onward. Such rights include patents on seeds and medicines, copyrights for educational texts, and trademarks in consumer products. According to conventional wisdom, these agreements likewise ended hopes for a 'New International Economic Order,' under which wealth would be redistributed from rich countries to poor. Sam F. Halabi turns this conventional wisdom on its head by demonstrating that the New International Economic Order never faded, but rather was redirected by other treaties, formed outside the nominally economic sphere, that protected poor countries' interests in education, health, and nutrition and resulted in redistribution and regulation. This illuminating work should be read by anyone seeking a nuanced view of how IP is shaping the
In economic sectors crucial to human welfare – agriculture, education, and medicine – a small number of firms control global markets, primarily by enforcing intellectual property (IP) rights incorporated into trade agreements made in the 1980s onward. Such rights include patents on seeds and medicines, copyrights for educational texts, and trademarks in consumer products. According to conventional wisdom, these agreements likewise ended hopes for a 'New International Economic Order,' under which wealth would be redistributed from rich countries to poor. Sam F. Halabi turns this conventional wisdom on its head by demonstrating that the New International Economic Order never faded, but rather was redirected by other treaties, formed outside the nominally economic sphere, that protected poor countries' interests in education, health, and nutrition and resulted in redistribution and regulation. This illuminating work should be read by anyone seeking a nuanced view of how IP is shaping the
Food and Drug Regulation in an Era of Globalized Markets provides a synthesized look at the pressures that are impacting today’s markets, including trade liberalization, harmonization initiatives betw
In the global infectious-disease research community, there has long been uncertainty about the conditions under which biological resources may be studied or transferred out of countries. This work examines the reasons for that uncertainty and shows how global biomedical research has been shaped by international disputes over access to biological resources. Bringing together government leaders, World Health Organization officials, and experts in virology, wildlife biology, clinical ethics, technology transfer, and international law, the book identifies the critical problems - and implications of these problems - posed by negotiating for access and sharing benefits, and proposes solutions to ensure that biomedical advances are not threatened by global politics. Written in accessible, non-technical language, this work should be read by anyone who sees global health and biomedical research as a priority for international lawmakers.
In the global infectious-disease research community, there has long been uncertainty about the conditions under which biological resources may be studied or transferred out of countries. This work examines the reasons for that uncertainty and shows how global biomedical research has been shaped by international disputes over access to biological resources. Bringing together government leaders, World Health Organization officials, and experts in virology, wildlife biology, clinical ethics, technology transfer, and international law, the book identifies the critical problems - and implications of these problems - posed by negotiating for access and sharing benefits, and proposes solutions to ensure that biomedical advances are not threatened by global politics. Written in accessible, non-technical language, this work should be read by anyone who sees global health and biomedical research as a priority for international lawmakers.
The 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak in West Africa shocked the world with its devastation and its rapid migration to multiple continents. As the systems meant to respond to this sort of epidemic failed, the