Your mutual fund could save children’s lives and slap Big Pharma.
YOUR RETIREMENT funds may do more than offer financial security. They might save lives. With the help of a new website, they can be a tool to prevent children dying from pneumonia. At least, that is what Doctors Without Borders is hoping.
The nonprofit, which provides emergency medical care during armed conflicts and other crises, has launched an online tool for finding out whether an investment package includes shares in Pfizer or GlaxoSmithKline. Those companies make the two recommended pneumonia vaccines that, the nonprofit says, are unaffordable for many people in countries with high rates of this potentially fatal illness. “These people have money invested with Pfizer or GSK and can actually hold the companies accountable,” says Brienne Prusak, a spokeswoman for Doctors Without Borders (also known as Médecins Sans Frontières).
The website contains a line for entering the name of a mutual fund, and a search reveals whether a 401(k), mutual fund or individual retirement account invests in Pfizer or GSK. If the answer is yes, the page provides suggestions for taking action: send messages to the companies via Twitter; petition fund managers by email to insist the companies drop the price; or tell friends to check their pensions for links to Pfizer and GSK, again via Twitter. “People say they would take action if only they knew how,” says Barbara Saitta, a vaccine advocate with Doctors Without Borders.
This story is from the May 12 2017 edition of Newsweek.
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This story is from the May 12 2017 edition of Newsweek.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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