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Nurses and Midwives Oppose Trans-Pacific Partnership
Nurses and midwives oppose Trans-Pacific Partnership
The NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA) has joined with nurses, midwives and healthcare workers from across the Pacific, Latin America and North America, to condemn the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal.
The NSWNMA and other nursing organisations have signed on to an open letter to trade ministers and government leaders, to highlight the substantial threat the TPP poses to equitable and accessible healthcare.
General Secretary of the NSWNMA, Brett Holmes, said thousands of nurses and midwives in Australia shared grave concerns, along with many organisations across the 12 countries throughout the Asia Pacific region involved in the TPP.
“We’ve been given assurances from the Minister for Trade that our healthcare system will be unaffected, but these assurances don’t stack up to academic rigour. As healthcare professionals, we base our actions on evidence not hearsay, that’s why we’re imploring the Abbott Government not to sign onto the TPP until the text is released in full and the community can have an open debate,” Mr Holmes said.
“In Australia, nurses and midwives have a legal obligation to speak up when healthcare is being put at risk. We’re not opposed to trade, but we do oppose the profits of multinationals being put before our community’s health needs and the TPP is doing just that.”
Professor Caroline Homer, President of the Australian College of Midwives, said that consideration of the consequences for communities and families in the TPP must come before the influence of multinational companies.
The open letter explains how the TPP will result in the cost of medicines rising, as access to generic medicines is delayed and pharmaceutical manufacturers are given unprecedented access to government decision-making bodies. The inclusion of Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) processes will prevent governments from making the policy decisions that save lives.
The letter also raises concerns about harmful effects, such as limits on government’s ability to regulate healthcare providers; restrictions on adequate food labelling; and opening the door for private healthcare multinationals to have a greater influence on healthcare policy.
“The principles of universal healthcare are based on equitable access to affordable healthcare. The TPP undermines those principles. Nurses, midwives and health workers know what happens when profit is put before people in the health system,” said Rosa Pavanelli, General Secretary of Public Services International (PSI).
“In an age where governments around the world are commenting about the increasing costs of healthcare, their trade ministers are negotiating a deal that will see the cost of healthcare rise purely to the benefit of multinational companies’ profit margins.”
“With the USA Fast Track legislation debate highlighting the mainstream anger in the USA and around the world, healthcare workers are desperately concerned that people’s health is being pushed aside in the interests of profit and wider geopolitical manoeuvring,” said Ms Pavanelli.
“The secrecy of this deal is hiding the true impacts. This is why we call for a halt to negotiations, for the text to be released and to allow qualified healthcare academics to make open assessments of the impact. Healthcare decisions belong out in the open within our democratic structures, not to be traded as if it is a shipment of wheat.”
A recent Australian academic review has found multiple concerns about the impact of the TPP. This was based on the available knowledge of the TPP, through leaks.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Brett Holmes, General Secretary NSWNMA 0414 550 324
Michael Whaites, Oceania Sub-regional Secretary of PSI 0414 550 386
From Silence to Voice: What Nurses Know and Must Communicate to the Public
From Silence to Voice: What Nurses Know and Must Communicate to the Public
(The Culture and Politics of Health Care Work)
For more than a decade, From Silence to Voice has been providing nurses with communication tools they can use to win the resources and respect they deserve. Now, in a timely third edition, authors Bernice Buresh and Suzanne Gordon focus on how nurses can describe and frame their work to seize unprecedented opportunities to advance their profession and lead improvements in health care systems. Read More >>>
What Do Nurses Do ? What Do Nurses Need To Do?
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On GMOS, 125 CEOs and Business Leaders Tell President Obama: Just Label It!
For Immediate Release
June 30, 2015
On GMOS, 125 CEOs and Business Leaders Tell President Obama: Just Label It!
WASHINGTON- One hundred twenty-five (125) U.S. CEOs and business leaders from across the country called on President Barack Obama to keep his 2007 campaign pledge to give Americans the right to know what is in their food by directing the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to require food companies to label products that contain genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The letter also asks the President to oppose H.R. 1599, referred to as the “Denying Americans the Right to Know” or “DARK” Act, legislation that seeks to prevent consumers from knowing whether or not their food contains GMOs
Organized under the banner of the Just Label It campaign, the letter was signed by CEOs from top American companies representing over $38 billion in revenues, including Whole Foods, Panera, and Patagonia as well as entrepreneurs like Jessica Alba with the Honest Company and Gwyneth Paltrow with goop.com.
The letter recalls President Obama’s 2007 campaign promise to “let folks know whether their food has been genetically modified because Americans should know what they’re buying.”
“As a candidate, you pledged to give consumers the right to know if their food contains GMOs,” the letter says. “National polls show that nine out of ten Americans share your view. Regardless of age, income, education level or even party affiliation, Americans want the right to know what is in their food and how it was produced – the same right held by citizens in 64 other nations.”
The “DARK” Act would limit the FDA’s ability to create a national GMO labeling system, weaken any food company voluntary labeling systems, and block state initiatives on labeling. The signatories to the letter ask that President Obama publicly oppose the proposed bill.
The letter concludes, “We urge you to fulfill your commitment to require GMO labeling, and we implore you to let Congress know that you will veto the DARK Act if it is presented to you. Standing up for the right of consumers to know what is in their food and make their own choices was the right stance in 2007 and it is the right stance today.”
The full text of the letter and the list of signatories is available here.
Learn more about the Just Label It campaign on the Just Label It website or by following @justlabelit on Twitter.
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