The World Health Organisation and the pharmaceutical industry have been criticised for their handling of last year's swine flu pandemic.

At a hearing of the Council of Europe - the European Union's human rights body - the WHO faced accusations that it exaggerated the danger of the virus under pressure from drug companies.

When a pandemic was declared last June, most European countries changed their health priorities to accommodate thousands of expected patients.

A number of European governments had signed contracts with the drug companies to buy back vaccines, believing a flu pandemic long predicted by health experts would be a virus-like bird flu with a very high death rate.

But swine flu, it is now clear, is a mild flu with a lower mortality than seasonal influenza.

The organisation denies any conflict of interest.

- BBC