Plumpy Nut Essay

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INTRODUCTION It is well known that Nutriset, the French based company which manufactures Plumpy Nut, plays a crucial role in ensuring that children are sufficiently nourished as it has facilities in various countries in the world in Kenya, Malawi and even Niger. UNICEF is also known to be one International Children’s Organization which purchases about 90% of Nutriset’s production capacity in order to further aid in the facilitation of proper child nutrition. The fact that Nutriset’s production capacity is nowhere near the capacity needed in order to ensure the adequate combating of the ever increasing global epidemic of children malnutrition, it plays an integral role in partnering up with and also facilitating projects in Africa. This would not be achievable however, if the United States is able to copy Nutriset’s patent. FACTS SUMMARY Nutriset is right now facing immense ethical dilemmas, and, if the US beats their patent, it will mean that many people in the countries in which Nutriset carries out its projects will have to lose their employment. If Nutriset loses its patent rights, many children who were benefiting from the various projects which were being undertaken in their respective countries will have to literally go back to the drawing board as the problem of malnutrition will not be fully and efficiently addressed. On the other hand, if Nutriset does not lose their patent rights, it will mean that other children will also suffer from malnutrition, in this sense one might argue that, if Nutriset’s production capacity issue is not addressed or sufficiently increased in order for it to meet the much needed capacity capable to fully combat the global malnutrition epidemic, many children will also be affected due to this fact. ETHICAL DILEMMA An ethical dilemma can be a situation in which one is given a choice to make between two options, neither which

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