Europe united on Swine Flu
It was an extremely rare event in Strasbourg yesterday. Twenty speakers from every corner of Europe and from every Euro political group were in harmony. Far Right agreed with Far Left, Christian Democrats applauded Socialists in condemnation of the scandal of the declaration of a false pandemic.
The plot by the hidden lobbyists from Big Pharma fizzled out even though they had succeeded in moving the debate from the well attended Wednesday to the deserted chamber day of Friday. I manage to get it moved back to Thursday by challenging the agenda to a vote on Monday. The Assembly is emphatically with me. Only one MP voted against my report yesterday. 64 voted for.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has been rumbled. A year ago any criticism of this great institution would have been howled down. Wasn't it the WHO who eliminated smallpox from the world? Aren't they not now close to eliminating polio? Yes, WHO has justly won our admiration for their past record. Last June's inexplicable scare-mongering has wrecked that.
Yesterday, powerful, angry intelligent denunciations of WHO came from Spain, Norway, Latvia, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Germany, Turkey, Russia, France, Croatia, Monaco, Serbia, Denmark and the United Kingdom . They all condemned WHO's conduct. The collapse of trust has been sudden and serious.
This is probably the most widespread revolt ever against the powerful malign influence that Big Pharma may have over key decisions on health. Almost all speakers compared the profits of the vaccine makers with £billions wasted in our health services in buying drugs that will never be used. The £540 million-worth of vaccines and anti-virals that the UK bought is now a waste disposal head-ache.
Next week I will pass on my findings directly to the WHO team that is reviewing the decision to describe Swine Flu as the most severe threat. I have high hopes that my invitation to give evidence proves that this inquiry will be an impartial one. The Chairman of the review has a formidable reputation for probity and honesty.
My hope is that I can fully convey the strength of feeling of yesterday's debate. The essential trust that we all need to have in the WHO has faded.
Ooo, look, baby-eating right wing journalist is asking the same questions:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/davidhughes/100045621/swine-flu-a-1-2billion-lesson-in-how-not-to-negotiate-contracts/
(I didn't need to say "baby eating" did I? We know that all right wingers eat babies)
Posted by: Kay Tie | July 01, 2010 at 01:22 PM