Originally Released

20 May 1999

Endorsers:

Health Action International

Act Up-Paris

Consumers International

Consumer Project on Technology

Fondation du Présent

International Baby Food Action Network

INFACT

International Federation of Health Records Organizations

International Network of Drug Information Centres

International Society of Drug Bulletins

Medical Lobby for Appropriate Marketing

National Groups and Individuals supporting the Statement:

Australia

Dr. Ken Harvey

Canada

Warren Bell, MD, General Practitioner, Salmon Arm, British Columbia

Breast Cancer Action - Montreal

Canadian Health Coalition

DES Action - Canada

Penny Van Esterik, Department of Anthropology, York University, Toronto

Carol Kushner, Health Care Consultant, Toronto

Abby Lippman

Carla Marcelis, Naturopath, Montreal

Harriet Rosenberg, Department of Sociology, York University, Toronto

Therapeutics Initiative, University of British Columbia

Carl Whiteside MD, General Practitioner, Vancouver

Working Group on Women and Health Protection

India

National Campaign Committee for Drug Policy

The Netherlands

Wemos

United States

Pat Cody, Program Director, DES Action - USA

Yemen

The Yemen Drug Action Programme

Public Interest NGOs raise concerns about industry sponsorship of WHO

Will WHO be able to bite the hand that feeds it?

Geneva 19 May 1999: Today a network of public interest NGOs endorsed a letter to the World Health Organization's Director General protesting WHO's increasingly close contact with industry and objecting to the conflict of interest it may cause. The organisations express doubt that WHO will be able to focus on its public health mandate when industry is directly involved in an increasing number of its programmes.

In the letter sent by Health Action International (HAI) to Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland during the opening days of the 52nd World Health Assembly, two recent examples of WHO partnership with specific companies are given to illustrate the pharmaceutical industry's possible influence on WHO's priorities. The most recent case involves the discovery that the pharmaceutical company Merck, Sharp and Dohme (MSD) has seconded an employee to the staff of WHO's Tobacco Free Initiative. An internal MSD announcement portrays the employee as an "effective ambassador."

The letter also criticises the process by which controversial guidelines on hypertension were developed by WHO and an international working group. The recommendations conflict with the current evidence-based guidelines on treating hypertension and inappropriately expand the potential market for anti-hypertension drugs.

Public interest NGOs maintain that such partnerships presume an equal power relationship between the two partners. They also ignore the fundamental fact that there is inherently more value in WHO's mission in society than in that of corporations. The NGOs call upon the Director General to explain how the organisation is working to avoid perceived or actual conflicts of interest when accepting funding or working in close partnership with the private sector.

The NGOs endorsing this letter believe there must be much greater transparency and accountability by WHO in all of its decision-making involving industry partnerships. They urge WHO to formulate and publish guidelines for co-operation with the commercial sector. The NGOs also propose that secondment be excluded as an option for partnership arrangements between WHO and the industry.

For more information contact representatives of HAI:

Go to sponsorship letter to Dr. Brundtland