Motion for a recommendation | Doc. 12110 | 18 December 2009

Faked Pandemics - a threat for health

Signatories: Mr Wolfgang WODARG, Germany ; Ms Fátima ABURTO BASELGA, Spain, SOC ; Mr Lokman AYVA, Turkey, EPP/CD ; Mr Agustín CONDE, Spain, EPP/CD ; Mr Imre CZINEGE, Hungary ; Mr Paul FLYNN, United Kingdom, SOC ; Ms Dzhema GROZDANOVA, Bulgaria, EPP/CD ; Mr Mike HANCOCK, United Kingdom, ALDE ; Mr Jean HUSS, Luxembourg, SOC ; Mr Bernard MARQUET, Monaco, ALDE ; Ms Christine McCAFFERTY, United Kingdom ; Ms Carina OHLSSON, Sweden, SOC ; Mr Mustafa ÜNAL, Turkey, EPP/CD ; Mr Luca VOLONTÈ, Italy, EPP/CD

This motion has not been discussed in the Assembly and commits only those who have signed it.

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. They have made them squander tight health care resources for inefficient vaccine strategies and needlessly exposed millions of healthy people to the risk of unknown side-effects of insufficiently tested vaccines.

The "birds-flu“-campaign (2005/06) combined with the "swine-flu“-campaign seem to have caused a great deal of damage not only to some vaccinated patients and to public health budgets, but also to the credibility and accountability of important international health agencies. The definition of an alarming pandemic must not be under the influence of drug-sellers.

The member states of the Council of Europe should ask for immediate investigations on the consequences at national as well as European level.