WHO Lashes Out As Council Of Europe Preps Hearing On Flu Pandemic

Comments

1. Miles Teg says

   25/01/2010 at 9:03 pm

   During the Avian Flu scandal, WHO was taking virus samples from poor countries, giving them to rich countries’ labs like the US CDC. In violation of the WHO guidelines, those collaborating with WHO affiliated labs took out patents on the PROTECTED biodiversity of rich countries. The companies that got access somehow, made vaccines and set prices unaffordable to the poor countries. This was not a scandal in the North, even though the WHO did not follow its own guidelines (by its own admission) and CENSORED access to these guidelines by removing it from its website (hide seems to be “transparency” at WHO, and replaced it with innocuous best practices). The FREE press hardly picked this up at all and when it did, it blamed a poor country for risking global public health safety for NOT sharing. This resulted in a commitment to transparency and traceability from WHO – which developing countries had to pay for. BUT when it hurts the EU tax-payer, then it is a scandal worthy of a commission. Ce vend – while making money, the RIGHT TO HEALTH can take a back seat!

   Double standardsare perhaps tolerable, but don’t expect kudos for these extreme double standards…

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2. wackes seppi says

   26/01/2010 at 4:32 pm

   Mr. Wodarg will no doubt have his day in the Council of Europe Assembly on Friday. A decision to conduct an investigation is not only anticipated; it is also most welcome as it should clean the air of the pestilence of all kinds of accusations, insinuations, innuendo, etc. which has splattered the Internet. Wodarg and others’ motion for a recommendation is a concentrate of such accusations, etc. in the form of a culpability verdict. How to interpret otherwise his: “In order to promote their patented drugs and vaccines against flu, pharmaceutical companies have influenced scientists and official agencies, responsible for public health standards, to alarm governments worldwide”? Where is the proof of the “great deal of damage not only to some vaccinated patients”?

   The motion is wholly unacceptable as a basis for discussion in a democratic forum, particularly in the framework of the Council of Europe, the Human Rights watchdog for the continent from the Atlantic to the Ural. It is moreover irresponsible.

   WHO’s statement that the description of this pandemic as a fake “is wrong and irresponsible” is to be welcomed. It is certainly not “lashing out”.

   It begs reminding ourselves that, according to Wikipedia – which surely cannot be suspected of connivence with Big Pharma – that:

   “An influenza pandemic is an epidemic of an influenza virus that spreads on a worldwide scale and infects a large proportion of the human population… According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a pandemic can start when three conditions have been met:

   . emergence of a disease new to a population;
   . agents infect humans, causing serious illness; and
   . agents spread easily and sustainably among humans.”

   The latter is backed by a reference to a WHO website page from December 2005, i.e from before the pandemic. . Please note that the morbidity/mortality criterion does not go beyond “serious illness”.

   Public health specialists have had every reason to not only declare a pandemic, but also spearhead a worldwide immunisation response (with unfortunately developed countries following a questionable “me-first” policy).

   We are quite fortunate that the H1N1 Mexican strain proved less infectious and deadly than originally feared from reports from North America. Yet we should not forget that the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-1920 came in two waves with the second much deadlier than the first.

   Mr. Wodarg and others, the case is not closed… unless the vaccine does its job.

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3. Philip says

   26/01/2010 at 8:09 pm

   There have been no double blind placebo controlled trials of vaccination in influenza (it is approved based off the surrogate marker of antibody response to the injection – but no evidence that it does in fact prevent disease). Conversely there are at least three population studies, two in the US and one in Italy that found that influenza death and hospitalization rates either did not decline or in fact increased after mass vaccination was instituted. So to sum it up, in the medical literature there is no direct evidence that flu vaccination works the only evidence available says it does not. And this is seasonal influenza we are talking here not the recent swine flu. The recommendation to vaccinate children for flu was made only as recently as 2007 or 2008 as I recall, they were never vaccinated because healthy children almost never die of flu. This change in vaccine recommendations came quickly on the heals of former president Bush’s veto of a bill which would have outlawed thimerosal from all pediatric vaccines.

   Save yourself the needle prick and take some vitamin D – which by the way does have evidence in the medical literature supporting that it prevents influenza.

   Paul
   http://healthjournalclub.blogspot.com/

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4. Miles Teg says

   27/01/2010 at 7:46 pm

   @ wackes seppi – Of course there is no collusion here. Not! Fukuda could have used the WHO Guidelines on Partnerships with commercial organisations or a host of other means to explain how conflicts of interests were managed. Surprise surprise, he did not really. Bald denial.

   Can a case for collusion be made?

   When WHO was caught red-handed by the Indonesian’s for sharing viruses directly or indirectly with companies in VIOLATION of its own Guidelines, it did the right thing. It removed the Guidelines from the website. A very responsible thing to do don’t you think? Now Ce Bono and follow the money.

   Funny even the Council of Europe does not raise this aspect. WHO was “complicit” in violating its own guidelines, allowing companies to patent the results and “deny” access to the poor through price gourging, openly admits patents were taken out and then says “no collusion”.

   Haha – this is just a song and dance to keep the Europeans entertained ‘as if’ it matters and to keep up the perception that something is being done. Meanwhile back at the ranch, EU corporations are making a killing!

   Its “corporatised science” and shoddy management like this that undermines the need for responsiveness to a potentially deadly influenza epidemic, and being a very plastic virus, this is a real threat.

   @Philip – nice one.

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