Action Alert: Online Petition on Drug Patent Rules Open Until November 2.

A petition by Oxfam America, "The World Demands Fairer Rules on Patents," is open for signatures at the Oxfam America site: http://www.oxfamamerica.org/petition/petition.html

Or you can sign at the Global Treatment Access site: http://www.globaltreatmentaccess.org

The complete text of the petition is:

"14 million people in the developing world die every year from treatable diseases, including HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. The high cost of medicines is a key factor. World Trade Organization patent rules are pushing up the price of these medicines. I urge WTO members, in particular the United States, to demonstrate their commitment to put health before wealth by changing and clarifying the global patent rules at the forthcoming WTO summit conference.''

Note: The reference to the WTO summit is to the Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which occurs every two years; the last meeting was in Seattle in 1999. The next meeting is scheduled for November 9-13 in Doha, Qatar, but might be moved to Singapore for security reasons.