WHO – World Hysteria Organization
Posted by Richard on May 11, 2009
The H1N1 flu warnings by WHO have mystified me. What they were saying didn’t make any sense to me. I was relieved to discover that I am not alone.
Dr. Richard Schabas, who was Ontario’s chief medical officer of health from 1987 to 1997, is quoted as saying “Sometimes some of us think WHO stands for the ‘World Hysteria Organization,’ There seems to be a culture at WHO where they’ve convinced themselves that a pandemic is such an imminent danger that they overreact.”
The following appeared in an article in The National Post titled WHO’s credibility questioned as pandemic fears fade
written by Andrew Mayeda and published: Friday, May 08, 2009.
WHO officials have again raised the spectre of 1918, noting the Spanish flu originally appeared in a mild form in the spring of that year, before returning with a vengeance in the fall.
But skeptics such as Dr. Schabas dismiss such warnings as speculation.
Dr. Schabas argues WHO should have a much more complete picture of a disease’s origins and severity before raising its alert level. “Their credibility is suffering. How many more times do they have to ring the alarm before people stop paying attention?”
Part of the problem might lie in the apparent gulf between the public’s perception of a pandemic and WHO’s technical definition.
WHO’s original version of its alert scale, developed in 1999, said a pandemic involves “serious morbidity and mortality.” But its current system makes no explicit reference to the deadliness of an outbreak.
In other words, it’s possible WHO could declare a pandemic that would be no more lethal than the seasonal flu, which kills 250,000 to 500,000 people globally every year.
© 2009, Richard. All rights reserved.
