[Ip-health] PharmaTimes- EU to probe pharma over "false pandemic"

[Terri - Louise Beswick]

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EU to probe pharma over "false pandemic"
04 January 2010

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is to hold an
emergency debate and inquiry this month into the "influence" exerted by
drugmakers on the World Health Organisation's (WHO) global H1N1 flu
campaign.

The text of the resolution approved by the Assembly calling for the
debate and inquiry states that: "in order to promote their patented
drugs and vaccines against flu, pharmaceutical companies influenced
scientists and official agencies responsible for public health standards
to alarm governments worldwide and make them squander tight health
resources for inefficient vaccine strategies, and needlessly expose
millions of healthy people to the risk of an unknown amount of
side-effects of insufficiently tested vaccines."

The WHO's "false pandemic" flu campaign is "one of the greatest medicine
scandals of the century," according to Dr Wolfgang Wodarg, chairman the
PACE Health Committee, who introduced the parliamentary motion. "The
definition of an alarming pandemic must not be under the influence of
drug-sellers," he adds.

Dr Wodarg, a doctor and former SPD member of the German Bundestag, says
that the "false pandemic" campaign began last May in Mexico City, when a
hundred or so "normal" reported influenza cases were declared to be the
beginning of a threatening new pandemic, although there was little
scientific evidence for this. Nevertheless the WHO, "in cooperation with
some big pharmaceutical companies and their scientists, re-defined
pandemics," removing the statement that "an enormous amount of people
have contracted the illness or died" from its existing definition and
replacing it by stating simply that there has to be a virus, spreading
beyond borders and to which people have no immunity.

These new standards forced politicians in most states to react
immediately and sign marketing commitments for additional and new
vaccines against swine flu, through "sealed contracts" under which
orders are secured in advance and governments take almost all
responsibility. "In this way, the producers of vaccines are sure of
enormous gains without having any financial risks. So they just wait
until WHO says 'pandemic' and activate the contracts," says Dr Wodarg.

"In January, we will arrange an emergency debate about the influence of
the pharmaceutical industry on the WHO, and 47 parliaments all over
Europe are going to be informed. Following this, we will initiate an
investigation and hearings involving those responsible for the pandemic
emergency. The aim is that none of the pharmaceutical companies under
any circumstances must be allowed to make their influence felt on
pandemic emergencies," he went on.

"The victims among millions of needlessly vaccinated people must be
protected by their states, and independent scientific clarification
should provide evidence and transparency for national and, if necessary,
European courts," added Dr Wodarg.

By Lynne Taylor

http://www.pharmatimes.com/WorldNews/article.aspx?id=17147