Drug firms 'encouraged world health body to exaggerate swine flu threat'

[itsrobert]

The pandemic that never was: Drug firms 'encouraged world health body to exaggerate swine flu threat'
By FIONA MACRAE

Widespread warnings were issued about the swine flu 'pandemic'
Declaring a swine flu pandemic was a 'monumental error', driven by profit-hungry drug companies spreading fear, an influential report has concluded.
It led to huge amounts of taxpayers' money being wasted in stockpiling vaccines, it added.
Paul Flynn, the Labour MP charged with investigating the handling of the swine flu outbreak for the Council of Europe, described it as 'a pandemic that never really was'.
The report accuses the World Health Organisation of grave shortcomings in the transparency of the process that led to its warning last year.
The MP said that the world relied on the WHO, but after 'crying wolf', its reputation was in jeopardy.
The report questions whether the pandemic was driven by drug companies seeking a profit. Mr Flynn said predictions of a 'plague' that would wipe out up to 7.5million people proved to be 'an exaggeration', with fewer than 20,000 deaths worldwide.
Britain braced itself for up to 65,000 deaths and signed vaccine contracts worth £540million.

The actual number of deaths was fewer than 500 and the country is now desperately trying to unpick the contracts and unload millions of unused jabs.
The focus on swine flu also led to other health services suffering and widespread public fear.
Pharmaceutical companies, however, profited to the tune of £4.6billion from the sale of vaccines alone.

more at link


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1284133/The-pandemic-Drug-firms-encouraged-world-health-body-exaggerate-swine-flu-threat.html?ITO=1490#ixzz0pxsOGKhb

[bluestateguy]

1. Wasn't swine flu going to be the next Black Death and destroy civilization?

At least that's what we heard from DU's Doom and Gloom patrol, until they moved on to their next scare story.

[Turbineguy]

2. The families of those who died from it

probably thought it was justified.

Those of us who did not contract it can criticize.

[itsrobert]

3. And the families who had loved ones who died because there wasn't any funding

funding for other healthcare issues appreciate too. :sarcasm:

[malaise]

4. LOL

because DUers said it several times.