MEP requests EU investigation into WHO handling of swine flu

Oreste Rossi, an Italian MEP, has asked whether the European Parliament will open an enquiry into the World Health Organisation‘s handling of the H1N1 pandemic.

His request, tabled this week in a parliamentary question, follows a Bureau/BMJ investigation which revealed that key scientists advising the WHO on its influenza guidelines had links to pharmaceutical companies.

Highlighting the cost of vast numbers of unused vaccines, Rossi also cited the Council of Europe’s “explosive” criticism over a lack of transparency in the WHO.

“With the publication of the inquiry by the BMJ and Bureau of Investigative Journalism of London, and with the report of the Health Commission of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, there has been explosive criticism against the World Health Organisation over its handling of H1N1 influenza,” he said.

“…Following that, I ask whether the European Commission intend to open an inquiry into what the British Medical Journal has revealed.”