Although the legal and scientific rhetoric was difficult to follow, the basics of the argument are enlightening. Indonesia's actions may be inappropriate, but they are fully understandable in the light of the profit blackmailing by Big Pharma - to whom the rich nations must comply.

This article opens up a can of worms for the affluent west. We invest heavily in researching solutions to the diseases of affluence but do not make an equally signficant investmemt in research for solutions to the diseases that are rife in the impoverished third world. Further when we have cures we make them available at "market" rates - in other words at a price that is out of the reach for at least one fifths of the world's population. The author is to be applauded for drawing our attention to this issue - we need to put pressure on our government to stand up for the health needs of the bottom 1 billion. This basically means raising our voice in concert with Indonesia to ensure that excellent WHO policies do not become a victim of the greed by the pharmaceuticals.