The US sets conditions for resuming health aid: any newly discovered virus must be immediately handed over to the US
November 9th report, the US government is preparing to resume health aid projects for some countries, but with a prerequisite: countries receiving aid must hand over samples and gene sequences of newly discovered viruses or pathogens with epidemic potential within a few days.
This plan appears in the aid memorandum drafted by the Trump administration, covering projects for the prevention and control of AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, as well as technical support such as electronic health records and laboratory systems, but the recipient countries are required to raise funds themselves within five years.
In other words, on the surface, the US is restoring aid, but in reality, it is getting everything for free, yet demanding that countries hand over their most sensitive biological resources and epidemic prevention data.
This memorandum contains no clauses guaranteeing these countries will have priority access to vaccines or drugs developed based on the samples.
This conditional aid is very American.
From a technical perspective, the US requires other countries to hand over pathogens with epidemic potential. On the surface, this is to improve epidemic monitoring capabilities, but behind it lies an attempt to monopolize global data.
Pathogen samples and gene sequences mean the initiative in future drug development, vaccine patents, and bio-defense.
Once these original materials are in the hands of the US, American biopharmaceutical companies can develop products first, while other countries can only passively purchase the results.
If the samples are abused or go out of control, the safety risks are immeasurable. After all, the US has no trustworthiness in this regard, and there are reasons to suspect that the US is planning something again.
Original article: www.toutiao.com/article/1848283975265420/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author.