Third of Experts Who Advised World Health Organization on Swine Flu Had Received Support from Drug Companies Involved with Vaccine Research

August 17th, 2010

I’m surprised that it’s only a third.

Via: AFP:

Five of the 15 experts that advised the World Health Organisation about swine flu pandemic alerts had received support from the drugs industry, including for flu vaccine research, the WHO revealed on Wednesday.

The agency released for the first time a list of the 15 members of the Emergency Committee headed by Australian tropical diseases professor John Mackenzie, who was the only member publicly named during the outbreak.

They came from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin and North America, the list posted on the WHO’s website showed.

Most were scientific researchers and epidemiologists, along with a Senegalese diplomat, public health officials from Thailand and Chile as well as two specialists on international air travel and health.

Critics had raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest that might have helped the drugs industry influence decisions on huge orders for special vaccines against A(H1N1) flu.

The WHO has repeatedly denied those claims, underlining that it had vetted members and maintained secrecy over their identities to protect them from undue pressure while the outbreak of swine flu was underway.

2 Responses to “Third of Experts Who Advised World Health Organization on Swine Flu Had Received Support from Drug Companies Involved with Vaccine Research”

  1. savethepopulation says:

    I was in attendance at the 62nd World Health Assembly in 2009. Among other places, I was in the small chamber where they were drafting policy at WHO HQ at that time, a stones throw away from Chan, Keiji and others (thoughts of the Iraqi shoe-thrower came to mind).

    At one point, international organizations/NGOs called out to Chan complaining about the presence of pharmaceutical representatives and conflicts of interest, etc. Chan proceeded to throw out the NGOs!

    The way the policy is made at the UN and EU level is akin to that of worker ants (compartmentalized). They are given orders from capital to do this and that and everybody goes off executing their task, never asking questions. After trying to press some people about the Baxter incident (mentioned below), someone finally admitted that there was a special room in their government section/office or whatever requiring clearance in order to view documents or evidence perhaps detailing another story.

    Of course, based on the February articles reporting Baxter’s intention of spreading the bird flu virus (to 18 countries), I forecasted an imminent “biological event” months ahead of time, which we all know turned out to be the, as Engdahl calls it, “flying pig flu.”

  2. Peregrino says:

    Interesting how much more insidious post-industrial-age developments are than envisioned by George Orwell’s comparatively simplistic futuristic novel “1984”. Not only do drug companies promote pandemics as a market for their products, but I know of two instances where manufacturers successfully lobbied for laws requiring purchase of patent-protected products available exclusively from the lobbying manufacturer: one, a roadside safety device; another, structural braces. And this condition is widespread across the U.S. You have to think that soon we will have to pay to use our own genes. But then again, the logical consequence of absolute freedom is universal slavery. Without not-for-profit oversight, capitalism runs amok. Thank you Ronald Reagan, Tea Party, and all you crackpot dreamers who make starry-eyed-hippies look like hard-core realists.

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