Monday, June 07, 2010
(photo: Chris Streeter)
One year after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the existence of an H1N1 pandemic, governments around the world find themselves in possession of unused vaccines after paying billions of dollars collectively to pharmaceutical companies. Government leaders took action to protect their populations from the influenza because of the warnings from WHO officials—some of whom, it turns out, had financial ties to the very same companies manufacturing the vaccines.
An investigation by the British Medical Journaland The Bureau of InvestigativeJournalism has “uncovered evidence that raises troubling questionsabout how WHO managed conflicts of interest among the scientistswho advised its pandemic planning, and about the transparencyof the science underlying its advice to governments.”
For instance, some of the experts advising WHO either had investments or research connections to Roche, manufacturer of the vaccine oseltamivir, or GlaxoSmithKline,manufacturer of zanamivir. Also, WHO allowed an influenza expert who had done work for the two companies to author a key guideline pertaining to the alleged pandemic.
-David Wallechinsky
WHO and the Pandemic Flu ‘Conspiracies’ (by Deborah Cohen, British Medical Journal, and Philip Carter, Bureau of Investigative Journalism, London)
World Health Organization Scientists Linked to Swine Flu Vaccine Makers (by Todd Neale, MedPage Today)
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