To: [email protected]
Subject: Written Comment Re: Implications of Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) Commitments/Regimes and Other Proposed Commitments in the WHO Pandemic Agreement
Body of the email:
I am writing to express my concerns about the proposed World Health Organization (WHO) Pandemic Preparedness Agreement. Signing this agreement would give more power to an unelected, unaccountable, international organization and threaten national sovereignty, free speech, and human dignity.
The Agreement restricts U.S. sovereignty, including 1) requiring the U.S. to give the WHO "a minimum of 20 percent" of all "pandemic-related products," such as vaccines, for global redistribution, 2) allowing unelected bureaucrats to make critical decisions in the soon-to-be-established "Conference of the Parties," and 3) giving The Hague jurisdiction over members’ disputes.
The Agreement’s "One Health" approach is also deeply disturbing, as it equates the infinite dignity of human life to that of animals and plants. However, preserving the environment at this standard would likely come at the steep cost of decreasing the standard of living for human beings.
The Agreement also undermines free speech by calling for "effective international collaboration" to "combat false, misleading, misinformation or disinformation."
For these reasons and others, I oppose the WHO Pandemic Preparedness Agreement, and I urge the Administration to reject it.
