France: US Engaged in HIV Meds Blackmail

This is not a minor charge or a little tiff. If true, it's horrendous. From the piece:

France accused the United States of "blackmail" tactics to pressure poor countries into ceding rights to make cheap generic HIV drugs, while the AIDS Conference issued a stirring call Monday to get more medicine to millions of needy in the developing world.

"A vicious terrorist is out there. It is not Osama bin Laden, it is AIDS," Hollywood actor Richard Gere told the conference. "The biggest threat to our livelihood, our happiness is AIDS."

A U.S. official denied the French allegation as "nonsense," while conference delegates lamented World Health Organization figures that show only about 7 percent of the 6 million people in poor countries who need antiretroviral treatment are getting it.