A coalition of community and international development groups has launched a campaign to warn Canadians about the dangers posed by the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) to medicare.

Governments of the Americas, with the exception of Cuba, are currently negotiating to expand the North American Free Trade Agreement to cover the hemisphere. Critics say there is intense pressure from pharmaceutical companies and the private health insurance industry to include health care services in the FTAA.

"The Romanow Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada warned that trade deals such as the draft FTAA threaten medicare," said Joe Gunn, vice chair of KAIROS - Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives, one of the groups supporting the campaign. "Given that Canadians strongly believe in equity and compassion, the principles that underlie universal medicare, we are extremely concerned about these implications."

According to Gerry Barr, president and CEO of the Canadian Council for International Cooperation, "under the draft FTAA, access to affordable generic medicine will be increasingly limited throughout the hemisphere, leaving health systems and citizens more dependent on costly name- brands."

Common Frontiers, an umbrella group representing churches, unions, and non-governmental organizations is coordinating the campaign by circulating thousands of petitions calling on the federal government to stop the FTAA negotiations.

"In countries throughout the Americas, citizens are organizing public consultations on the draft FTAA," said Rick Arnold, campaign coordinator for Common Frontiers. "In Brazil, more than 10 million people voted in an unofficial plebiscite, and 98 per cent rejected the proposed FTAA."