Let U.S. Patients Have Life-Saving Medicines from Cuba

Did you know U.S. patients are denied limb- and life-saving medicines if the medicines come from Cuba? Share this action on Facebook Share this action on Twitter With the easing of U.S.-Cuba relations, the U.S. government now allows visitors to Cuba to bring back $400 worth of goods, including $100 worth of rum and cigars. They are not allowed to bring back medicines that could save lives. Click here to sign a petition to the Treasury Department and White House along with RootsAction and CodePink. As part of its new opening toward Cuba, the U.S. State Department has proposed a list of goods Cubans in the private sector can export to the U.S. The list does not include medicines because medicines are developed by a Cuban government research center. Every 7 minutes in the United States someone loses a limb to diabetes. A medical treatment exists in Cuba.[1] Numerous other life-improving and life-saving Cuban medicines are denied to U.S. patients. Congress members and government officials in both big political parties are beginning to oppose this policy.[2] The regulation that needs to be changed is made by the Treasury Department. Please click here to sign this petition to the Treasury Department and White House: Please allow Cuban medicines to be tested in the United States and, if approved, imported into the United States. Patients should not have to lose limbs or lives over an antiquated ideological struggle. After signing the petition, please forward this message to your friends. You can also share it from the webpage after taking the action yourself. -- The RootsAction.org Team P.S. RootsAction is an independent online force endorsed by Jim Hightower, Barbara Ehrenreich, Cornel West, Daniel Ellsberg, Glenn Greenwald, Naomi Klein, Bill Fletcher Jr., Laura Flanders, former U.S. Senator James Abourezk, Coleen Rowley, Frances Fox Piven, and many others. P.P.S. This work is only possible with your financial support. Please donate. Background: 1. Connecticut Post: Better Relations with Cuba Might Help American Diabetics 2. Miami Herald: Rep. Garcia's Push for Cuban Drug Trial Tests Support for Embargo www.RootsAction.org