Skip to content

Dharma Documentaries

Dharma. Culture. Ecology.

Menu
  • Dharma
  • Culture
  • Ecology
  • Archives
  • About
Menu

Fire in the Blood

Posted on January 1, 2021January 2, 2021 by Dharma Documentaries
The fight against Big Pharma to get life saving drugs to the people who needed it in poor countries.

Fire in the Blood

As we move into 2021 this is a very pertinent film to reflect on. It is about the AIDS crisis and how Big Pharma did everything in their power to prevent life saving drugs from getting to the people who needed them – all in the name of protectionism and profit.

As we face a similar crisis over the Covid-19 pandemic, we need to lerarn from the past and not allow the pharmaceutical companies to dictate to the world who gets vaccines and how much they pay – this is a world health problem, and we need to put people first, not profits.

One of the main culprits in the film is Pfizer, a name of everyone’s lips at present, as they have produced one of the first effective Covid vaccines, that is currently just starting to be employed in the US and elsewhere. Understanding how they acted in the past will help us defeat their plans in the present.

In the mid-90s ARV (Antiretroviral) drugs first came available, they enable the treatment of AIDS and HIV, and people taking them can live a fairly normal life once they start on them. In the west, however, these drugs were being sold at around $15,000 / year, which is obviously out of the reach of the poor, and totally beyond the ability of most people in poorer countries to afford.

The drugs themselves could be produced as generics in India at around $500 / year, and later for much less, but the pharmaceutical companies, fearing the thin edge of the wedge, decided to fight against it, and insisted on their patent rights, even though 100,000s of people were dying.

This film is about some of the activists who fought back, and the victories they had in eventually getting these drugs at a reasonable cost for their peoples. There are many heroes in this story, but they most certainly are not the leaders of Big Pharma and the governments who supported them.

Will we make the same mistake this time round, or are we ready to fight for the health of our fellow peoples?

 

if this video is no longer available please leave a comment so I can update the page
(the comment is not published)

 

to see an album of stills click here

 

TAGS:
Ecology, Compassion, Education, Ethics, Health

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please Note: Comments are Moderated before Publication

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Search

Subscriptions

Follow our Facebook Page Follow our Tweets Subscribe to our Feed

Subscribe by Email

Email


Shortlink and QR

https://dharma-documentaries.net/b/4Gp

Donations

This site has taken more than a dozen years and 1000s of hours to build, and has 800+ documentaries on it. If you would like to help, you can do so here. Even small amounts make a difference.

or Bank Transfer to:
Mr. Ng Choon Aun, Public Bank Berhad (Malaysia), Acc. No. 6352323912, Swift: PBBEMYKL

Copyright

If anyone has any copyright claims please contact me at dharmadocus@gmail.com and the posts and films will be immediately removed.

Top Ten Tags

Theravada
Mahayana
Vajrayana

India
Silk Road
China
Tibet

Arts
Lectures
Rights

Popular Posts

  • The Freedom of being a Buddhist Nun
  • Bright and Shining Mind in a Disabled Body
  • The Leshan Giant Buddha Statue
  • The Silk Road Series 7/16: Khotan-Oasis of Silk and Jade
  • David Eckel: Buddhism 3-4 of 24
  • The Tibetan Oracles
  • The Mountain Yogi, Lama Govinda
  • Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar: The Untold Truth
  • Indian Roots of Tibetan Buddhism
  • Avalokiteshvara (Chinese Movie)

Recent Posts

  • Zen Buddhism – In Search of Self
  • Why Has Bodhidharma Left for the East?
  • Bright and Shining Mind in a Disabled Body
  • From Myanmar to the World 2, Caves to Pagodas
  • From Myanmar to the World 1, Overland to India
  • The Rise of Dhamma
  • Lempad of Bali
  • Bagan, City of Temples (Fall of Civilizations)
  • Escape from Tibet
  • Escape from Tibet 2 (The Dalai Lama)

Random Posts

  • Autumn in the Himalayas
  • The Buxa Lamas
  • Fa Xian’s Spiritual Journey, 1 & 2
  • Mirror of Zen, A Day in the Moment of a Modern Zen Monk
  • Spirit Of Tibet – Dilgo Khyentse Rimpoche
  • A Buddha (Argentina)
  • Angkor Wat Lotus Temple
  • The Acrobats, Citta & Sambhūta (told by Margo McLoughlin)
  • The Day India Burned: Partition
  • The Scientific Buddha 2, Building a Better Buddha

Related Posts

  • H.O.P.E. What You Eat Matters
  • HUMAN, Volume Three
  • To the Last Drop
  • Michael Anderson: Eating (A Plant Based Diet)
  • Wangari Maathai: Environment, Democracy and Peace
  • Awakening the Sleeping Goddess
  • Milked, White Lies in Dairy Land
  • The Making of a Novice Monk (Wat Ban Khun)
  • The Heart of Taoism 7, The Way to Keep Fit
  • School Among Glaciers, Bhutan
© 2023 Dharma Documentaries | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme