62nd World Health Assembly Resolution WHA62.13 On Traditional Medicine

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION SIXTY-SECOND WORLD HEALTH ASSEMBLY WHA62/2009/REC/1

WHA62.13 Traditional medicine

The Sixty-second World Health Assembly,

Having considered the report on primary health care, including health system strengthening; [1]

Recalling resolutions WHA22.54, WHA29.72, WHA30.49, WHA31.33, WHA40.33, WHA41.19, WHA42.43, WHA54.11, WHA56.31 and WHA61.21;

Recalling the Declaration of Alma-Ata which states, inter alia, that “The people have the right and duty to participate individually and collectively in the planning and implementation of their health care” and “Primary health care relies, at local and referral levels, on health workers, including physicians, nurses, midwives, auxiliaries and community workers as applicable, as well as traditional practitioners as needed, suitably trained socially and technically to work as a health team and to respond to the expressed health needs of the community”;

Noting that the term “traditional medicine” covers a wide variety of therapies and practices, which may vary greatly from country to country and from region to region;

Recognizing traditional medicine as one of the resources of primary health care services that could contribute to improved health outcomes, including those in the Millennium Development Goals;

Recognizing that Member States have different domestic legislation, approaches, regulatory responsibilities and delivery models related to primary health care;

Noting the progress that many governments have made to include traditional medicine into their national health systems;

Noting that progress in the field of traditional medicine has been achieved by a number of Member States through implementation of WHO’s traditional medicine strategy 2002–2005;[2]

Expressing the need for action and cooperation by the international community, governments, and health professionals and workers, to ensure proper use of traditional medicine as an important component contributing to the health of all people, in accordance with national capacity, priorities and relevant legislation;

Noting that the WHO Congress on Traditional Medicine took place from 7 to 9 November 2008, in Beijing, China, and adopted the Beijing Declaration on Traditional Medicine;

1 Document A62/8.

2 Document WHO/EDM/TRM/2002.1.

Noting that African Traditional Medicine Day is commemorated annually on 31 August in order to raise awareness and the profile of traditional medicine in the African Region, as well as to promote its integration into national health systems,

1. URGES Member States, in accordance with national capacities, priorities, relevant legislation and circumstances:

(1) to consider adopting and implementing the Beijing Declaration on Traditional Medicine in accordance with national capacities, priorities, relevant legislation and circumstances;

(2) to respect, preserve and widely communicate, as appropriate, the knowledge of traditional medicine, treatments and practices, appropriately based on the circumstances in each country, and on evidence of safety, efficacy and quality;

(3) to formulate national policies, regulations and standards, as part of comprehensive national health systems, to promote appropriate, safe and effective use of traditional medicine;

(4) to consider, where appropriate, including traditional medicine into their national health systems based on national capacities, priorities, relevant legislation and circumstances, and on evidence of safety, efficacy and quality;

(5) to further develop traditional medicine based on research and innovation, giving due consideration to the specific actions related to traditional medicine in the implementation of the Global strategy and plan of action on public health, innovation and intellectual property;

(6) to consider, where appropriate, establishing systems for the qualification, accreditation or licensing of traditional medicine practitioners and to assist traditional medicine practitioners to upgrade their knowledge and skill in  collaboration with relevant health providers, on the basis of traditions and customs of peoples and communities;

(7) to consider strengthening communication between conventional and traditional medicine providers and, where appropriate, establishing appropriate training programmes with content related to traditional medicine for health professionals, medical students and relevant researchers;

(8) to cooperate with each other in sharing knowledge and practices of traditional medicine and exchanging training programmes on traditional medicine, consistent with national legislation and relevant international obligations;

2. REQUESTS the Director-General:

(1) to provide support to Member States, as appropriate and upon request, in implementing the Beijing Declaration on Traditional Medicine;

(2) to update the WHO traditional medicine strategy 2002–2005, based on countries’ progress and current new challenges in the field of traditional medicine;

(3) to give due consideration to the specific actions related to traditional medicine in the implementation of the Global strategy and plan of action on public health, innovation and intellectual property and the WHO global strategy for prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases;

(4) to continue providing policy guidance to countries on how to integrate traditional medicine into health systems, especially to promote, where appropriate, the use of traditional/indigenous medicine for primary health care, including disease prevention and health promotion, in line with evidence of safety, efficacy and quality, taking into account the traditions and customs of peoples and communities;

(5) to continue providing technical guidance to support countries in ensuring the safety, efficacy and quality of traditional medicine, considering the participation of peoples and communities and taking into account their traditions and customs;

(6) to strengthen cooperation with WHO collaborating centres, research institutions and nongovernmental organizations in order to share evidence-based information, taking into account the traditions and customs of peoples and communities; and to support training programmes for national capacity building in the field of traditional medicine.

(Eighth plenary meeting, 22 May 2009 – Committee A, third report)

Mercury banned as vaccine ingredient by Chilean lawmakers

Mercury banned as vaccine ingredient by Chilean lawmakers Natural News Tuesday, February 11, 2014 by: J. D. Heyes

It is claimed that on January 15, 2014, the Chile Congress approved nearly unanimously a law regulating the use of Thimerosal in vaccines (84 votes in favor [with 5 abstentions]).  Bill #7036-11 eliminates mercury from most all vaccines was passed with cross party support: Chile: Congress Bans Mercury in Vaccines.

But there is a sting in this tale.  President Sebastian Pinera must sign this new Bill into law but he vacates office in March to be replaced by Michelle Bachelet.  Bachelet is a pediatrician and former public health and WHO associate.  If the new Bill is not signed into law before April, will Bachelet, in support of “the people” and the overwhelming majority of the Chilean Congress: Ibid?

Vaccine industry in panic over global effort to remove all mercury from vaccines Monday, March 11, 2013 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer

US Government Knew of Serious Autism Risk From Vaccines – Data On 400,000 US Infants – Newly Revealed Freedom of Information Documents – Obtained By Health Watchdog’s Scientist

Biochemist Brian Hooker, scientific advisor to A Shot of Truth, reveals CDC knew of risks for over a decade.

We must ensure that this and other evidence of CDC malfeasance are presented to Congress and the public as quickly as possible. Time is of the essence. Children’s futures are at stake.

Charlotte, NC (PRWEB) February 19, 2014

For nearly ten years, Brian Hooker has been requesting documents that are kept under tight wraps by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). His more than 100 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests have resulted in copious evidence that the vaccine preservative Thimerosal, which is still used in the flu shot that is administered to pregnant women and infants, can cause autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders.

Dr. Hooker, a PhD scientist, worked with two members of Congress to craft the letter to the CDC that recently resulted in his obtaining long-awaited data from the CDC, the significance of which is historic. According to Hooker, the data on over 400,000 infants born between 1991 and 1997, which was analyzed by CDC epidemiologist Thomas Verstraeten, MD, “proves unequivocally that in 2000, CDC officials were informed internally of the very high risk of autism, non-organic sleep disorder and speech disorder associated with Thimerosal exposure.”

When the results of the Verstraeten study were first reported outside the CDC in 2005, there was no evidence that anyone but Dr. Verstraeten within the CDC had known of the very high 7.6-fold elevated relative risk of autism from exposure to Thimerosal during infancy. But now, clear evidence exists. A newly-acquired abstract from 1999 titled, “Increased risk of developmental neurologic impairment after high exposure to Thimerosal containing vaccine in first month of life” required the approval of top CDC officials prior to its presentation at the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) conference. Thimerosal, which is 50% mercury by weight, was used in most childhood vaccines and in the RhoGAM® shot for pregnant women prior to the early 2000s.

The CDC maintains there is “no relationship between Thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism rates in children,” even though the data from the CDC’s own Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) database shows a very high risk. There are a number of public records to back this up, including this Congressional Record from May 1, 2003. The CDC’s refusal to acknowledge thimerosal’s risks is exemplified by a leaked statement from Dr. Marie McCormick, chair of the CDC/NIH-sponsored Immunization Safety Review at IOM. Regarding vaccination, she said in 2001, “…we are not ever going to come down that it [autism] is a true side effect….” Also of note, the former director of the CDC, which purchases $4 billion worth of vaccines annually, is now president of Merck’s vaccine division.

Dr. Hooker’s fervent hope for the future: “We must ensure that this and other evidence of CDC malfeasance are presented to Congress and the public as quickly as possible. Time is of the essence. Children’s futures are at stake.” A divide within the autism community has led to some activists demanding that compensation to those with vaccine-injury claims be the top priority before Congress. Dr. Hooker maintains that prevention, “protecting our most precious resource – children’s minds,” must come first. “Our elected officials must be informed about government corruption that keeps doctors and patients in the dark about vaccine risks.”

Referring to an organization that has seen its share of controversy this past year, Dr. Hooker remarked, “It is unfortunate that SafeMinds issued a press release on my information, is accepting credit for my work and has not supported a worldwide ban on Thimerosal.”

Brian Hooker, PhD, PE, has 15 years experience in the field of bioengineering and is an associate professor at Simpson University where he specializes in biology and chemistry. His over 50 science and engineering papers have been published in internationally recognized, peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Hooker has a son, aged 16, who developed normally but then regressed into autism after receiving Thimerosal-containing vaccines.

Dr. Brian Hooker’s investigative research is sponsored by the Focus Autism Foundation.

The Focus Autism Foundation is dedicated to providing information to the public that exposes the cause or causes of the autism epidemic and the rise of chronic illnesses – focusing specifically on the role of vaccinations. To learn more, visit focusautisminc.org.

A Shot of Truth is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization and educational website sponsored by Focus Autism.

AutismOne is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that provides education and supports advocacy efforts for children and families touched by an autism diagnosis. To learn more, visit autismone.org.

From news release: “Vaccine Industry Watchdog Obtains CDC Documents That Show Statistically Significant Risks of Autism Associated with Vaccine Preservative Thimerosal” Web PDF

Mercury banned as vaccine ingredient by Chilean lawmakers

Mercury banned as vaccine ingredient by Chilean lawmakers Natural News Tuesday, February 11, 2014 by: J. D. Heyes

It is claimed that on January 15, 2014, the Chile Congress approved nearly unanimously a law regulating the use of Thimerosal in vaccines (84 votes in favor [with 5 abstentions]).  Bill #7036-11 eliminates mercury from most all vaccines was passed with cross party support: Chile: Congress Bans Mercury in Vaccines.

But there is a sting in this tale.  President Sebastian Pinera must sign this new Bill into law but he vacates office in March to be replaced by Michelle Bachelet.  Bachelet is a pediatrician and former public health and WHO associate.  If the new Bill is not signed into law before April, will Bachelet, in support of “the people” and the overwhelming majority of the Chilean Congress: Ibid?

Vaccine industry in panic over global effort to remove all mercury from vaccines Monday, March 11, 2013 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer

Institutional Corruption of Pharmaceuticals and the Myth of Safe and Effective Drugs

[Link to this CHS article: http://wp.me/pfSi7-23l]

Download the full paper here: Institutional Corruption of Pharmaceuticals and the Myth of Safe and Effective Drugs Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics, Vol. 14, No. 3, 2013 Donald W. Light, Rowan University, Harvard University; Joel Lexchin, York University; Jonathan J. Darrow, Harvard Medical School

[See also:

• Conventional Medicine – #1 Leading Cause of Death In USA
• USA’s 4th Leading Cause of Death – Pharma’s Drugs
• W.H.O. Ensures Third World Child Vaccine Deaths Will Not Be Recorded – New Weakened W.H.O. Criteria For Third World Child Deaths From Vaccines]
• Risky Drugs: Why The FDA Cannot Be Trusted]

Abstract:
Over the past 35 years, patients have suffered from a largely hidden epidemic of side effects from drugs that usually have few offsetting benefits.

The pharmaceutical industry has corrupted the practice of medicine through its influence over what drugs are developed, how they are tested, and how medical knowledge is created.

Since 1906, heavy commercial influence has compromised Congressional legislation to protect the public from unsafe drugs.

The authorization of user fees in 1992 has turned drug companies into the FDA’s prime clients, deepening the regulatory and cultural capture of the agency.

Industry has demanded shorter average review times and, with less time to thoroughly review evidence, increased hospitalizations and deaths have resulted.

Meeting the needs of the drug companies has taken priority over meeting the needs of patients.

Unless this corruption of regulatory intent is reversed, the situation will continue to deteriorate. We offer practical suggestions including: separating the funding of clinical trials from their conduct, analysis, and publication: independent FDA leadership; full public funding for all FDA activities; measures to discourage R&D on drugs with few if any new clinical benefits; and the creation of a National Drug Safety Board.

W.H.O. Ensures Third World Child Vaccine Deaths Will Not Be Recorded – New Weakened W.H.O. Criteria For Third World Child Deaths From Vaccines

Link to this article: http://wp.me/pfSi7-235

Child deaths from vaccines in developing countries will be falsely recorded as not caused by the vaccine under a new W.H.O. watered down scheme for assessing “Adverse Events Following Immunisation” [AEFIs]. A child death from a vaccine will be recorded as ‘Not an AEFI’: Deaths in developing countries will count for less.

This new W.H.O. scheme comes at a time when third world child deaths associated with a newly introduced pentavalent vaccine could not previously be explained by W.H.O. as being by any cause other than the vaccine: ibid.

Many children are dying after administration of a new Pentavalent vaccine in Asia: eg. ‘Good’ 5-in-1 vaccine kills 5 times more kids than anything else.  In each case WHO ‘experts’ could not find any other explanation under the previous scheme so they were forced to call it “Adverse event following immunization (AEFI) possibly due to vaccine“. Under the new scheme developed by W.H.O. since the introduction of the new pentavalent vaccine, the new system of classification simply states they are “Not an AEFI“: Deaths in developing countries will count for less.

Not only has W.H.O. weakened the previously accepted scheme for classifying vaccine adverse events  in general for all developed and developing countries, the new scheme means just because some time or test criterion is not satisfied, and which is unlikely to be met in a third world country, then deaths of children in the third world will not count as caused by the vaccine: ibid.

This is like not classifying a pedestrian fatality as being death by an auto accident because the driver and car fled the scene.

The new scheme has been introduced by W.H.O. in collaboration with The Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences (CIOMS).  It is contained in a joint W.H.O./CIOMS report Definition and Application of Terms for Vaccine Pharmacovigilance.

A child vaccine death is the worst AEFI possible. Additionally, use of the new W.H.O. scheme will result in an important opportunity to pick up signals that could save lives being missed. This is dangerous and suggests a return to the prior Brighton Collaboration classification for vaccine adverse reactions is needed.  Clearly, W.H.O. is not acting in the interests of children of the third world.  This is similar to the position with UNICEF: How UNICEF Harms Third World Children And Misleads About Their Deaths.

In a paper by Tozzi et al, the authors summarise the new W.H.O. scheme:

Final classification generated by the process includes four categories in which the event is either: (1) consistent; (2) inconsistent; or (3) indeterminate with respect of causal association; or (4) unclassifiable.”

Assessment of causality of individual adverse events following immunization (AEFI): a WHO tool for global use. Vaccine. 2013 Oct 17;31(44):5041-6. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2013.08.087. Epub 2013 Sep 8.  Tozzi AE et al

[NB. Regular CHS readers may recognise the author’s name Tozzi from this: US Research Fraud, Tax Dollars And Italian Vaccine Mercury Study]

Deaths soon after immunization without an alternate explanation were classified as ‘probably related to vaccine’ under the prior accepted scheme for classifying AEFIs, formulated by the Brighton Collaboration.  Under that scheme AEFIs were classified as:

• very likely/certain;
• probable;
• possible;
• unlikely;
• unrelated;
• unclassifiable, based on temporal criteria and evidence of alternate etiological explanation.

With use of Pentavalent vaccine (Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, Hib and Hepatitis B) in developing countries, there have been many AEFI deaths [eg reference above]. W.H.O. experts investigated these deaths in Sri Lanka. They could find no alternate explanation for 3 deaths. The causal association with the vaccine should have been classified as ‘probable’. The BMJ published a letter about this in 2010: Sri Lankan deaths following Pentavalent vaccine: Acceptable collateral damage? 7 July 2010.  The experts write in the report that they deleted the categories ‘probable’ and ‘possible’ from the Brighton classification and after that, although they could not attribute deaths to another cause, they were declared unlikely to be related to the vaccine: Deaths in developing countries will count for less.

A detailed analysis has been published on the new W.H.O. scheme in a comment on the Tozzi paper Ibid [edited extracts]:

1. The CIOMS/WHO report came after the BMJ letter. The committee, composed of 40 members (19 were vaccine-industry representatives), proposed changes to how AEFI are investigated and reported. The 194-page document has serious implications for developing countries.

2. Case definitions for different adverse events were developed. Illogically, the inclusion criteria for the proposed case definitions are too strict to be of scientific value in most countries. For example, to diagnose ‘encephalitis’ one needs the child with fever and encephalopathy to live at least 24 hours after AEFI onset, and have a CSF examination, an EEG or neuro-imaging and one of these investigations must be positive, to reach a level 2 diagnosis (page 73).

3. Presume that a healthy child is vaccinated. Suppose she develops high fever within 2 hours, has convulsions, then lapsed into a coma and dies within 10 hours. (Variations of this scenario have been enacted repeatedly with Pentavalent vaccine). Using CIOMS/WHO definitions, as the encephalopathy lasted less than 24 hours, it cannot be classified as encephalitis. In many countries, the facilities for a lumbar puncture may be unavailable, much less those for an EEG and CT/MRI. Under the report’s scheme, this would be labeled, “Insufficient information to distinguish both acute encephalitis and ADEM; Case unable to be definitely classified”.

4. Further, on page 170 (i) (in very small print), the report says, “Such a case must be classified as ‘Not an AEFI’”. This last step, which classifies an “AEFI” as “Not an AEFI”, is patently unscientific, illogical and Orwellian.

5. The scenario described could well have been caused by ‘multisystem generalized reaction to one or more vaccine components’ (page 50). The encephalopathy, fever and convulsions could follow systemic inflammatory response but CIOSM does not have case definition for this, and inability to exclude causes of encephalopathy, is sufficient to classify the reaction as ‘not an AEFI’.

6. The risk is not merely theoretical. In March 2013 WHO investigated 12 deaths in Viet Nam from the same Pentavalent vaccine. The Viet Nam report stated, “no fatal AEFI has ever been associated with this vaccine”. The 2008 WHO experts had earlier classified the Sri Lanka deaths as AEFI unlikely to be related to vaccine. The Viet Nam report stating ‘no fatal AEFI has ever been associated with this vaccine’ suggests the Sri Lanka AEFI is now reclassified as “Not an AEFI”.

7. Tozzi et al suggest that ‘events with a consistent temporal relationship but with insufficient evidence for vaccine as a cause, according to well designated epidemiological studies – in such cases, further studies are encouraged if other similar events are identified’. There have been 54 deaths temporally related to the vaccine in India. Instead of taking them as a group the new system looks at ‘individual adverse events’ and then labels them as ‘not an AEFI’ making way for many more deaths.

8. Tozzi and colleagues report different clinical scenarios (Supplementary material). The scenario in Asia is also worth considering. Pentavalent vaccine is selectively promoted in developing countries with poor surveillance systems. Eighty three deaths following Pentavalent inoculation have been reported from Asian countries Puliyel J, 2013. There is no plausible alternate explanation. Most deaths occurred after the first vaccine dose, fewer after the second, and hardly any after the third. This pattern argues against the deaths being random events. Yet, the WHO to maintains that a cause and effect relationship has not been established.

9. This contrasts with what happened in 1998 when RotaShield was approved in the US. When intussusceptions were reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) and only 12 children were affected the vaccine was withdrawn. No one needed to be ‘certain’.

10. A public health expert in India, Dr Y Jain has filed a public interest petition in the Supreme Court asking for these deaths to be investigated. The petition states that in the first six months, when the 40,000 doses were administered to children in the southern state of Kerala, at least five children died. Extrapolated to the 25 million babies born in India each year, 3,125 deaths can be expected from the vaccine each year. Using the best evidence from the Minz study Minz S, 2008 the incidence of Haemophilus influenzae type b meningitis in India is 7/100,000 children under 5. Using the Unicef rapid method to estimate Hib Pneumonia 350 deaths from Hib disease will be prevented over 5 years by vaccinating one birth cohort of 25 million. 3125 deaths from AEFI cannot be acceptable to prevent 350 Hib deaths.

11. The Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) in Kerala is 14. Seven of these deaths occur in the first month. The other seven deaths occur in the remaining 11 months of the infant’s first year. Pentavalent vaccine is administered six weeks after birth to babies who have survived neonatal life. Of the first five deaths from the vaccine, four occurred within 24 to 48 hours of the first dose of this vaccine. The death rate of babies in the first days after vaccination works out to be two to four times higher than Kerala’s post neonatal IMR.

12. The first 14 deaths in Kerala were investigated by AEFI experts. They reported 6 children had co-morbid conditions and the other 8 died of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). This SIDS rate on day after vaccination is higher than the all-cause IMR.

13. Under the new scheme, fatal AEFI in developing countries will be falsely recorded as ‘Not an AEFI’, simply because some time or test criterion was not met. Death is the worst AEFI possible. Continued use of the CIOMS/WHO scheme will result in missing an important opportunity to pick up signals that could save lives. This is dangerous. Perhaps we need to get back to the Brighton Classification.