You've heard about Martin Shkreli, the former hedge fund bankster who bought the rights to a drug that treats toxoplasmosis and promptly jacked up the price of the drug from $13 a pill to over $750 a pill? Who then said the new price was still too low, really, and said "I think profits are a great thing"? Real peach, that one. He has since declared that he'll lower the price of the drug "to a point that is more affordable and is able to allow the company to make a profit, but a very small profit,” adding, perhaps optimistically, "(w)e think these changes will be welcomed.” You know what change I'd welcome? Reversing the price hike entirely, which Sum of Us helps you tell Mr. Shkreli to do. Daraprim helps immunocompromised folks, like those who have HIV or cancer, fight a fairly common parasite that can wreak absolute havoc on the immunocompromised, and beating it when your immune system isn't at its best is not something you do with one pill. There's hope for civilized society, I suppose, since Mr. Shkreli has already begun to shrink before all the public shaming he's received. But we don't have justice yet, so don't let up now.
Meanwhile, you may recall that the World Trade Organization ruled that American country-of-origin labeling laws (or COOL laws) for meat violated the TBT and GATT agreements, and put other nations' meat producers at a disadvantage. This is exactly the kind of thing we've warned about with "free" trade agreements -- that bodies unelected by Americans could essentially nullify American laws that good Americans demanded, and we have been agitating for COOL laws for years, because we'd like our meat-sellers to be bound to our communities, and also because we'd like to use as little fuel as possible in transporting our meat, and thus cause less pollution. But of course the U.S. House didn't move to withdraw from "free" trade agreements that violate our democratic processes, but promptly repealed America's COOL laws in H.R. 2393. The Senate hasn't acted on the bill yet, but they could at any moment, preferably without any warning, since that's what it'll take to pass the bill. So CREDO helps you tell the Senate to preserve our country-of-origin labeling laws for meat. If it means we have to bow out of "free" trade agreements, well, gosh, what a shame.
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