On Sun, Sep 20, 2009 at 12:04 PM, Jochen Fromm <[email protected]> wrote:
> Fact is: there was a strong hype around H1N1, > although H1N1 itself is known since 1976. > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swine_influenza#1976_U.S._outbreak > *Well, no kidding. There is a huge financial opportunity for the drug companies, and a huge readership opportunity for the media. Exactly why is the hype a surprise?* > > And there are large pharmaceutical companies > who are very interested in informing the public > how dangerous H1N1 is. Hoffmann-La Roche produces > Tamiflu and has an extra page about influenza > (http://www.roche.com/roche-influenza.htm). > Novartis produces a H1N1 vaccine, and has an extra > page for it, too: http://www.novartis.com/newsroom/swine-flu/ > GlaxoSmithKline makes the anti-flu drug Relenza and > produces a special H1N1 vaccine. > *Again, no kidding. And again, where is the surprise factor? * > > These are Number 4, 5 and 6 of the big > pharmaceutical companies. Producing these > drugs and vaccines is a good thing. But what > if they exaggerate a bit too much in marketing? > It would not be evil to influence governments > using lobbyists (e.g. in the WHO), just selfish. > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pharmaceutical_companies > > I think marketing can be very problematic, if > a company produces military or pharmaceutical > products, because it often distorts the truth. > A bit of the "Communist threat" in the McCarthy > area was probably exaggerated by lobbyists > of the industrial-military complex, too. A statement > like "we need more bombs because the communits > threaten us" sounds like "we need more vaccines > because swine-flu is threaten us". > *Finally, and again: no kidding. Please tell me where the surprise factor is that a big deal is being made of H1N1. Hype factor aside, H1N1 is real, it kills people, there is no (or little) natural herd immunity to it yet. It is a true pandemic. If you get exposed to it, you will probably get it. Some people will die from it in plus/minus the same proportion as those who die from contracting seasonal influenza. ***Plus/minus seasonal influenza mortality rates that is, unless or until the current circulating H1N1 strain mutates to a more lethal variant, as happened in 1918. If this occurs you will *really* start to hear some hype. * > > -J. > *--Doug* > > ----- Original Message ----- From: Douglas Roberts > To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group > Sent: Sunday, September 20, 2009 5:59 PM > Subject: Re: [FRIAM] The victims of the H1N1 virus > > Well, if you really are interested in tracking down all of those mythical > H1N1 deaths, here's a good starting point: > > http://portaldev.rti.org/midas-h1n1/reports/ > > Honestly, the naiveté on this list still sometimes surprises me. H1N1 is > real, It is a pandemic: a brand new flu virus that has never before > circulated in the human population. It has not (yet) mutated into a more > deadly form, like the 1918 strain, but it still kills people. So does > seasonal influenza. The current circulating H1N1 could mutate into a more > lethal strain, just as the 1918 variant did. It has not done so yet. > > Sure, the big, evil drug industry corporate entities are going to make a > huge amount of money off of H1N1. > > Yawn. > > The Bechtel Corporation is making a huge amount of money off of LANL. > > Yawn. > > The insurance companies in the United States make a huge amount of money > off of the health care industry. > > Yawn. > > --Doug > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org >
============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
