THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATIONIs

the body that wiped out smallpox and has done so much to promote mass

vaccination losing its way? In recent weeks the reputation of the World

Health Organisation (WHO) has suffered a number of blows, as critics

have accused it of bowing to political pressures rather than publishing

unpalatable research findings.One instance emerged last week. A

controversial new study which looked for links between lung cancer and

passive smoking found that non-smokers married to or growing up with

smokers were not at significantly more risk from lung cancer than anyone

else. The research, commissioned by the WHO and co-ordinated by Rodolfo

Saracci of the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer,

involved a long study. Since it was one of the biggest single pieces of

research conducted into the issue, its results were eagerly awaited by

the medical world and lobby groups. But instead of being released with a

fanfare, they were summarised in three short paragraphs and buried in a

bulky WHO internal document.(adapted from "The Economist", mar 98)According to the text, political pressures