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THIRD OF WORLD HEATH ORGANISATION ADVISERS ON SWINE FLU
Thursday, 12th August
A third of the experts advising the World Health Organisation about the swine flu pandemic had ties to drugs firms, it has emerged.
Five of the 15 specialists who sat on the emergency committee had received funding from pharmaceutical giants, or were linked to them through their research.
The revelation will prompt speculation that the 'pandemic' was wildly overestimated and largely fuelled by the drugs industry who stood to benefit from the panic.
Last month it emerged that the Government had squandered more than £1.2 billion tackling swine flu - most of it going towards vaccines following experts' dire predictions that as many as 65,000 Britons would die.
In fact the virus claimed just 457 lives - a third of those killed every year by ordinary seasonal flu.
But today it emerged that many of the scientists on the WHO's emergency panel had links with firms including GlaxoSmithKline, who made millions manufacturing swine flu vaccines.
It follows revelations by the Daily Mail earlier this year that more than half of the scientists advising the British Government's own taskforce on the pandemic had links to drugs giants.
One of the 15 scientists advising the WHO was British professor Neil Ferguson - who last year warned the pandemic would be so bad all schools would need to close.
It has since emerged that Professor Ferguson had acted as a consultant for Roche, who makes Tamiflu, as well as GSK Biologicals until 2007.
Professor Maria Zambon, who was also on the panel, from UK Health Protection Agency's Centre for Infection, said she received funding from several vaccine makers, including Sanofi, Novartis, CSL, Baxter and GSK.