WHO lifts Toronto travel advisory....

TORONTO, April 29 — Citing an ebb in the SARS epidemic here, the World Health Organization today lifted a week-old advisory urging travelers to delay all nonessential visits to Toronto.

The decision was welcomed with sighs of relief from Canadian officials, who had lobbied hard for the reversal and disputed the W.H.O. contention that Toronto had been a source of cases outside Canada. They argued that the advisory unnecessarily damaged the Canadian economy and its international image.

But the reversal of an advisory declared only last Wednesday raised questions about the W.H.O.'s decision-making process and whether it had given in to intense pressure from a country with enormous sway in the agency's parent organization, the United Nations.

What do you think? Me, I suspect that lifting the advisory won't make a whole lot of difference, at this point. People who would have heeded it are unlikely to suddenly feel safe to visit. And those who visit now, probably would have gone before.

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