'RIGHT TO HEALTH' CREATES SUBSTANTIAL HUMAN RIGHTS RISKS FOR ABBOTT LABORATORIES, REPORT FINDS
New report finds 'present response to access to medicines issues is inadequate' and recommends Abbott approach access to medicines as human rights obligation

NEW YORK, NY///April 26th, 2007 ///Abbott Laboratories primary human rights challenge is the right to health, a new report by the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility has found, and the company's "present response to access to medicines issues is inadequate."

Human Rights Challenges Facing Abbott Laboratories: Risks and recommendations, by Lisa Sachs, evaluates the legal and business risks facing Abbott Laboratories under current human rights law. Sachs then argues the company should "address the right to health through responsible company behavior, and not through philanthropy alone." Lisa Sachs is the public health & law intern at the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility. She co-authored ICCR's Benchmarking AIDS: Evaluating Pharmaceutical Company Responses to the Public Health Crisis In Emerging Markets. This report was completed as part of her academic work at the Columbia University School of Law and requested by ICCR.

The key findings of the report are:

• Unlike in other businesses for which issues of human rights often occur as a byproduct of the business' operation - such as labor conditions in a workplace - access to medicines is at the core of Abbott's business.
• Abbott does not mention the right to health or any other human right in its business description, access programs, or public statements. Abbott fails to mention human rights, the right to health, or any voluntary access to medicine responsibilities in its code of conduct.
• Although the 'right to essential medicines' may be difficult to enforce under international legal treaties, there are many binding international agreements and national laws that legally protect the same rights without relying on the language of human rights.
• Abbott has the unique means to improve respect for the right to health, and in the case of AIDS and other treatable diseases, the right to life.

Download the report

Abbott Laboratories has recently been embroiled in controversy in Brazil, Thailand, and other developing countries regarding access to medicines policies. On April 16th, Abbott investors holding almost one million shares of the company requested Chairman and CEO Miles White "create and implement a substantive, comprehensive plan that meets the needs of stakeholders and patients in Thailand and other developing countries." Abbott's annual meeting is tomorrow, April 27th, in Abbott Park, IL.

About ICCR

The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility is a 35-year-old international coalition of 275 faith-based institutional investors including denominations, religious communities, pension funds, healthcare corporations, foundations and dioceses with combined portfolios worth an estimated $110 billion. ICCR seeks to build a more just and sustainable society by integrating social values into corporate and investor decisions. ICCR is one of the foremost shareholder advocacy organizations in the world. More detailed information about shareholder resolutions is available from ICCR's Ethvest, the comprehensive, on-line, subscription-based, ethical investor database, and at www.iccr.org.

CONTACT: Dan Rosan, 212-870-2317