Swine Flu: 'the next time someone cries wolf on a pandemic, it will not be taken seriously'

"The next time someone cries wolf over a pandemic, the overwhelming majority will not take it seriously,' participants were told this week at a parliamentary hearing on the handling of the H1N1 pandemic, organized in Paris, France, by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee.

The meeting was in response to criticism of the World Health Organization's handling of the H1N1 influenza pandemic, and alleged influence of the pharmaceutical industry in causing the situation, and follows a public hearing by the PACE committee in January (The Pharma Letters passim).

'A pandemic cannot be whatever the WHO declares it is. If it turns out that former PACE member Wolfgang Wodarg was right when he said the pandemic was decided to help the pharmaceutical industry make bigger profits, this might well turn out to be one of the biggest health scandals ever,' said Paul Flynn (UK, SOC), PACE rapporteur on this issue.