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OTTAWA, February 11, 2011  —  A breakthrough article which proposes a new international crime of medicine counterfeiting and provides an outline of an internationally enforceable new treaty backed by countries and the World Health Organization has been published by Professor Amir Attaran of the faculties of Law and Medicine, and Canada Research Chair in Law, Population Health and Global Development Policy at the University of Ottawa.

Co-authored by Megan Kendall, a graduate of uOttawa’s Faculty of Law (’09), and Roger Bate of the American Enterprise Institute, the article titled “Why and How to Make an International Crime of Medicine Counterfeiting” argues that a treaty against counterfeit medicines is needed in order to stop the production of fake medication, which is estimated to kill approximately 700,000 people annually.

“Counterfeit medicines kill hundreds of thousands of people a year, but international law doesn't consider it a crime, so those who do the killing usually get off,” states Professor Attaran. “You can go to jail for a very long time for counterfeiting dollar bills, but you are unlikely to go to jail for counterfeiting thousands of fake treatments for high blood pressure, malaria or AIDS. The only way to change this is with a global treaty, and thanks to the World Health Organization, this is the year when a treaty is more possible than ever.”

The article “Why and How to Make an International Crime of Medicine” was published February 10, 2011 in the Journal of International Criminal Justice (Oxford University Press), the world’s leading international criminal law journal.