Tell Congress to Vote NO on the Trans-Pacific Partnership!

Last November, the full text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal was finally released after many years of closed-door negotiations between officials from the US and eleven other countries. Unfortunately, it contains a number of provisions that threaten current food safety laws—any US law that is more stringent than “international standards” may be considered an “illegal barrier” to trade, and subject to enforcement. The agreement also limits food import inspections at the border “to what is reasonable and necessary,” and if an issue arises, a country must also provide an “opportunity for a review of the decision.”

The trade deal will force signatory countries to accept many of the same patent laws that have kept drug prices so astronomically high in the US, and would extend and broaden certain patent and data protections for the pharmaceutical industry, which Big Pharma can then use to keep prices high and delay competition from generics.

It’s also a gift to biotech seed companies, which will be given intellectual property protection for all plant species for up to 25 years. The TPP will stop farmers from exchanging seeds—a common and important practice in many developing nations and indeed throughout human history.

The deal has been “fast-tracked”—that is, Congress will be given a fixed period to review the agreement, after which time legislators must make a yes/no vote without the possibility of amending the deal. The final deal now awaits a vote in Congress, which is likely to take place in Spring 2016.

Write to your members of Congress and urge them to oppose the TPP deal, which undermines consumers and farmers and extends monopoly rights to major industries.

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Please Vote NO on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Deal

Dear [Decision Maker],

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I read the details of the Trans-Pacific Partnership with great interest, and was extremely distressed to learn it contains a number of provisions that threaten current food safety laws, undermines consumers and farmers alike, and gives huge monopolies to major industries. As your constituent I ask you to vote NO on the TPP deal when it comes up for a vote.

Passage of the TPP would mean that any US food safety law concerning things like pesticides, food additives, or labeling that is more stringent than "international standards" (that is, global special interests) may be considered an "illegal barrier" to trade, and subject to enforcement.

The trade agreement also undercuts US efforts to inspect food imports. The agreement limits food import inspections at the border "to what is reasonable and necessary," and if an issue arises, a country must also provide an "opportunity for a review of the decision." This provision, the Rapid Response Mechanism, may give exporting countries the right to challenge basic food safety provisions in the US.

The TPP also contains an entire chapter on intellectual property rights, with many provisions relating to pharmaceutical patents. It will force signatory countries to accept many of the same patent laws that have kept drug prices so astronomically high in the US. It will also extend and broaden patent and data protections for the pharmaceutical industry, which Big Pharma will then use to keep prices high and delay competition from generics. It is a wonderful gift to the pharmaceutical industry -- but a grave loss to patients in developing countries looking for access to affordable drugs.

The TPP also lets drug companies extend a patent on an old drug when it can be used to treat a new condition. It also grants five to eight years of exclusivity in patent and data protections for biologic drugs -- medicines derived not from inert chemical compounds but from living organisms. In other words, the TPP is not about helping patients, but about lining the pockets of the pharmaceutical industry.

One of the biggest gifts in the TPP is to biotech seed companies, which will be given intellectual property protection for all plant species for up to 25 years. It even stops farmers from exchanging seeds -- a common and important practice in many developing nations and indeed throughout human history.

In a section relating to copyright infringement, one word of the TPP agreement was recently changed, which drastically changes the substance of the entire document. Before, the language exempted states from applying certain criminal penalties in cases of copyright infringement when there was no market or economic impact on the copyright holder. The TPP now says that most criminal penalties in these cases must apply even if there was no discernible impact on the copyright holder.

This maneuver could have dire consequences, especially in how information gets around the Internet. Will articles with links to other content become illegal and subject to draconian criminal penalties? Will links to other articles become illegal in the US because a foreign government could object to them under the trade agreement? This agreement must NOT be allowed to go forward!

I understand the deal has been "fast-tracked" -- that is, Congress will be given a fixed period to review the agreement, after which time legislators must make a yes/no vote without the possibility of amending the deal. I urge you to oppose this dangerous trade package! Nothing could be less beneficial to our country's citizens.

Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Address]
[City, State ZIP]