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WHO to Study H1N1 Response Amid False Pandemic Debate
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of BusinessWeek/Bloomberg News
Posted: January 16th, 2010
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-01-12/who-to-review-sw...
The World Health Organization said it plans to conduct a review of its response to swine flu as policymakers in Europe prepare for an urgent debate on the influenza pandemic. Yesterday, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe said false pandemics, a threat to health will be a major theme of its next plenary session. Health authorities worldwide are assessing whether their response to swine flu is justified by its threat as cases retreat in the U.S. and Western Europe. The new H1N1 virus, which has targeted children and younger adults, has so far resulted in fewer deaths than attributed to seasonal strains, which kills mostly the frail elderly. Council of Europe parliamentarian Wolfgang Wodarg said last week he and several colleagues had called for a commission of inquiry into a false pandemic and the way it was handled at national and European levels, claiming pressure from pharmaceutical firms. The WHO moved to the top level of its six-step pandemic alert in June after the discovery of swine flu in Mexico and the U.S. in April.
Note: BusinessWeek deleted this article days after posting it. Could someone have pressured them to do this? If you click the above link, the article is gone, though you can still see a promo here and read it on BusinessWeek in the Google cache available here. For a link to the article on the Bloomberg website, click here. For revealing reports of the corruption surrounding the swine flu and previous health scares, click here.
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