June 08, 2010
WHO responds to BMJ article suggesting conflicts-of-interest, transparency issues
by Lianne Dane
World Health Organization Director General Margaret Chan on Tuesday responded to a report by the BMJ that investigated potential conflicts of interest within the agency and pharmaceutical companies, noting that "at no time, not for one second, did commercial interests enter my decision-making."
In her letter to the editors, Chan said "potential conflicts of interest are inherent in any relationship between a normative and health development agency," and conceded that the agency "needs to establish, and enforce, stricter rules of engagement with industry, and we are doing so." However, she said she took "issue with the assumption that WHO simply dismisses these hard questions."
Chan also responded to questions regarding the decision not to disclose members of its emergency committee, which directly advised the WHO about pandemic planning, noting that the "decision not to make these names public was motivated by a desire to protect the experts from commercial or other influences." She added that committee members had welcomed the anonymity and that "the names will be released when the committee finishes its work, as has always been intended."
Noting that the BMJ report "will leave many readers with the impression that WHO’s decision to declare a pandemic was at least partially influenced by a desire to boost the profits of the pharmaceutical industry," Chan countered that "decisions to raise the level of pandemic alert were based on clearly defined virological and epidemiological criteria. It is hard to bend these criteria, no matter what the motive."
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