Healthy Skepticism Library item: 18536

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: Journal Article

Girard M
More queries about H1N1 scandal
BMJ 2010 Aug 4; 341:
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/341/aug04_2/c3716

Abstract:

Why did it take so long to detect the trick uncovered by the BMJ and Bureau of Investigative Journalism’s inquiry?1 In 1997, a Beecham’s business manager claimed: “We started increasing the awareness of the European experts of the World Health Organization about hepatitis B in 1988. From then to 1991, we financed epidemiological studies on the subject to create a scientific consensus about hepatitis being a major public health problem. We were successful because in 1991, WHO published new recommendations about hepatitis B vaccination.” 2 And as in the case of the SAGE experts group, the “WHO voice” regarding the benefit-risk ratio of this vaccination was that of the Viral Hepatitis Prevention Board, created and sponsored3 by the manufacturers.

The H1N1 scandal provides an opportunity to challenge the view that conflicts of interest do not threaten experts’ independence because their links to commercial enterprises are simply the price of their scientific . . .