2022:  By Blocking Exports of Microscope Parts, the US Deprived Venezuelans’ Right to Health

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc is a U.S. company with $40 billion in annual sales making and selling lab equipment (microscopes, centrifuges), instruments (mass spectrometers), software, and services for research. Thermo Fisher had a number of customers in Venezuela including hospitals, universities, the state oil Company (PDVSA), and the steel company Sidor.

Thermo Fisher sold fourteen electron microscopes for several million dollars to Venezuelan institutions. In 2018 two of the electron microscopes needed spare parts.[1] Thermo Fisher applied to the U.S. government for export licenses for the shipments of parts. (Export licenses for electron microscopes are required due to their dual-use potential (military/scientific.) The US government refused to issue an export license. By 2022, only three of the microscopes were working correctly.[1] All of Thermo Fisher’s requests for export licenses were turned down. The Electron Microscopy Center of the Faculty of Sciences-UCV shut down due to the lack of parts for the microscopes.

On September 19, 2022, the UN Office of Human Rights issued a press release with a statement from independent UN Expert Alena Douhan calling for the United States to allow the shipment to Venezuela due to Human Rights concerns: [1]

·       “A UN expert today called on the United States to allow the shipment to Venezuela of spare parts for electron microscopes vital for detecting disease and conducting crucial medical research, saying that the sanctions now blocking them are violating the rights of the Venezuelan people to health and life.”

·       “Electron microscopes are the only way to detect many diseases, so they are essential for appropriate treatment. The US government has an obligation under international human rights law not to harm the ability of Venezuelan doctors to diagnose illnesses correctly. Without accurate diagnoses and treatment, people can die.”

The Thermo Fisher export licenses were never granted. In 2024, President Maduro’s government bought an electron microscope from Meijio Techno, a Japanese Company, and had it delivered to the Central University of Venezuela. [2] 



 

1.UN Human Rights Office, US Must Allow Venezuela to Import Parts for Microscopes vital for Diagnosing Disease, UN Expert Says, September 19, 2022.

2. Ministry of Popular Power for Science and Technology, The Bolivarian Government Delivers a Scanning Electron Microscope to the UCV to Strengthen Scientific Research, August 28,2024.

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