WHO says countries can decide to extend Tamiflu shelf life!! I smell a fish!

Tamiflu shelf-life extension up to countries: WHO

GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Health Organization said on Tuesday it was up to national regulatory authorities to decide whether to extend the shelf life of the flu drug Tamiflu by two years, as recommended by Swiss drug maker Roche.

The United States, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong and the European Union's drug watchdog have extended Tamiflu's shelf life to 7 years from 5 after company data showed the active ingredient's longer stability, a Roche spokeswoman said.

What's that now??

In the blink of an eye, they have decided that for the first time the shelf life of Tamiflu should be revised from 5 to 7 years?

I knew that some people in the UK had noticed their Tamiflu dose was a couple of months away from expiring.

It really seems that our governments have this huge stockpile left over from the bird flu epidemic that never came, and are just dying to get rid of their stocks.

And would you risk such action during 'a deadly pandemic such as swine flu'!!

"It is WHO's view that shelf-life extensions are a matter for national regulatory authorities," WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said in a statement sent to journalists.

The WHO says most people infected with H1N1 have mild symptoms and Tamiflu should be given only to flu sufferers at high risk including pregnant women or those with complications such as pneumonia.

Two things, THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION is saying make up your own minds, loosely translated to 'we don't want to take the blame for this'.

And secondly, the UK has been giving Tamiflu to every Tom, Dick and Harry with sniffles, NOW they say pregnant women and patients with complications ONLY!

This stinks, this really does stink.

[edit on 18-8-2009 by kiwifoot]