Tournament: Greenhill | Round: 1 | Opponent: Lexington AL | Judge: Ishan Rereddy
St - max wellbeing
Pleasure and pain are intrinsically valuable. People consistently regard pleasure and pain as good reasons for action, despite the fact that pleasure doesn’t seem to be instrumentally valuable for anything.
Moen 16 (Ole Martin Moen, Research Fellow in Philosophy at University of Oslo) “An Argument for Hedonism,” Journal of Value Inquiry (Springer), 50 (2) 2016: 267–281, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10790-015-9506-9 TDI
Let us start
AND
matters of value.
Moral uncertainty means preventing extinction should be our highest priority.
Bostrom 12 (Nick Bostrom, Faculty of Philosophy and Oxford Martin School University of Oxford) “Existential Risk Prevention as Global Priority.” Global Policy, 2012 TDI
These reflections on
AND
any existential catastrophe
Developing countries have a disproportionate mortality share from COVID-19.
Gill, I., and Schellekens, P. (2021, June 4). COVID-19 is a developing country pandemic. Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/future-development/2021/05/27/covid-19-is-a-developing-country-pandemic/.
But it is
AND
above 50 percent
Developing countries have been notably struggling with COVID death tolls throughout spring 2021.
Reuters. (2021, March 4). Fact check: COVID-19 deaths have occurred in developing countries and among the U.S. homeless. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-covid-developing-homeless/fact-check-covid-19-deaths-have-occurred-in-developing-countries-and-among-the-u-s-homeless-idUSKCN2AW0ZX
According to WHO
AND
from the disease
Yet these developing countries may have to wait until 2023 to fully vaccinate their population.
Padma, T. V. (2021, July 5). COVID vaccines to REACH poorest countries in 2023 - despite Recent pledges. Nature News. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01762-w.
Most people in
AND
World in Data.
The reason for this is the domination of vaccines by high income countries and the intellectual property rights that have allowed it.
Eccleston-Turner and Rourke 2021 Mark, Lecturer of Global Health Law, Keele University, Michelle, CSIRO Synthetic Biology Future Science Fellow, Griffith University, Australia, American Society of International Law, "The TRIPS Waiver is Necessary, but it Alone is not Enough to Solve Equitable Access to COVID-19 Vaccines" 25(9) May 27, https://www.asil.org/insights/volume/25/issue/9
High-income countries have
AND
as trade secrets.
Waiving intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines would help improve access to vaccines by making it easier for countries to produce or export vaccines.
Silverman, E. (2021, May 6). U.S. will Back proposal to waive COVID-19 VACCINE patent rights. STAT. https://www.statnews.com/pharmalot/2021/05/05/biden-covid19-vaccine-patent-rights/.
In a significant
AND
lack manufacturing capabilities.
The impact to this is lives - vaccines have saved thousands of lives from COVID-19.
Schimelpfening, N. (2021, August 18). COVID-19 vaccines Saved 140,000 lives over first 5 months of 2021. Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/health-news/covid-19-vaccines-saved-140000-lives-over-first-5-months-of-2021#How-the-study-shows-vaccines-saved-lives.
A new study
AND
the Delta variant.
Worldwide, patents are disproportionately held by men.
Clara Guibourg, 10-2-2019, "Why are so few women inventors named on patents?," BBC News, https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-49843990
Women inventors account
AND
their patent approved.
This lack of female inventors means women’s health is underrepresented in the biomedical field.
Claudia LóPez Lloreda June 17, 2021, 6-17-2021, "Gender bias in patents may mean less biomedical innovation for women," STAT, https://www.statnews.com/2021/06/17/gender-bias-toward-men-patents-less-biomedical-innovation-women-study
The study, published
AND
as all-male teams.
One example of how patents hurt woman’s health is access to HPV medications.
HPV is one of the leading causes of cancer for women, yet patents restrict access for many.
Songane, M., and Grossmann, V. (2021, January 11). The patent buyout price for human papilloma virus (hpv) vaccine and the ratio of randd costs to the patent value. PLOS ONE. Retrieved September 16, 2021, from https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.13712Fjournal.pone.0244722.
Cervical cancer, a
AND
for new vaccines
Developing countries producing their own vaccines is key to reducing prices, but patents are a barrier to this vaccine development.
Padmanabhan, et al (2010, July). Intellectual property, technology transfer and manufacture of Low-cost HPV vaccines in India. Nature News. Retrieved September 16, 2021, from https://www.nature.com/articles/nbt0710-671.
Cervical cancer, the
AND
the importing country
Patents could also be used as a way to restrict access to reproductive rights.
Allen, S. A. (2012). Patents Fettering Reproductive Rights . DigitalRepository@Maurer Law. Retrieved September 15, 2021, from https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3004andcontext=ilj.
As currently configured
AND
to American women.
The impact to this is gender inequality in the healthcare system, resulting in lower standards of care for everyone.
Katherine Hay 2019, "Disrupting gender norms in health systems: making the case for change," PubMed Central (PMC), https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7233290
Health services prioritise
AND
a population level