The fuss caused by the Swine Flu Pandemic has abated. Many accused BU and some commenters of being conspiracy theorists, given our published view on this matter. Now many maybe forced to eat crow in the light of recent reports. Let us be reminded the World Health Organization (WHO) felt compelled to raise the Pandemic Alert to 6 (Phase 6 is the highest warning level that indicates a pandemic capable of widespread human infection). Poor and developing countries followed the advice of WHO and expended scarce resources at the peak of a global recession to stockpile the Swine Flu (H1N1) vaccine. Reports indicate many countries around the world are dumping excess supplies of the stuff.
Last month a German Magazine released a report which confirmed that “in mid-May, about three weeks before the swine flu was declared a pandemic, 30 senior representatives of pharmaceutical companies met with WHO Director-General Chan and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon at WHO headquarters.
The vaccine industry was mainly interested in one question: the decision to declare phase 6. Phase 6 acted as a switch that would allow bells on the industry’s cash registers to ring, risk-free, because many pandemic vaccine contracts had already been signed. Germany, for example, signed an agreement with the British firm GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in 2007 to buy its pandemic vaccine — as soon as phase 6 was declared.”
Hopefully Barbados Government authorities will use commonsense next time around and resist the call by Big Pharma to line their pockets with our hard-earned foreign currency.
In related health news, our favourite Journal of the American Medical Association released the results of a new study which concluded that a diet heavy in added sugar is linked to elevated triglyceride levels and may increase your risk for a heart attack… researchers at Emory University found that individuals who consume large amounts of added sugar have lower HDL (“good”) cholesterol levels and higher triglyceride levels than individuals who eat less of the sweet stuff.
Read a summary of the study.





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