Bonum Certa Men Certa

Gates Foundation Retreats After Being Exposed as Funder of Big Tobacco

Old men smoking



Summary: Longtime tobacco funder, the Gates Foundation, is having second thoughts about its funding after a major blunder breaks loose in Canada, which casts doubt on even more investments of the Gates Foundation

THE Gates Foundation has been very busy handling scandals and blunders recently. Here is last week's story which had fatalities.



As we have been pointing out for almost 2 years now, the Gates Foundation invests in tobacco [1, 2] (unless it has stopped, but it is difficult to tell because the foundation is far too secretive). The Gates Foundation invests in Big Oil too, but that's another story.

“The tobacco prevention venture turns out to be led by Big Tobacco too.”Gates' tobacco connections have baffled us for quite some time because he apparently invested both in Big Tobacco and something that's characterised as "tobacco prevention" (at the same time!). Well, maybe this riddle is a riddle no more. The tobacco prevention venture turns out to be led by Big Tobacco too. It is not unusual for these multi-billionaires to have controlled opposition, i.e. groups that pretend to be fighting against the very same people who control them. "Gates Foundation cuts funding linked to tobacco companies," says the news.

Gates' investments in tobacco make more sense now. Facing public backlash, the Gates Foundation immediately pulls out [1, 2, 3, 4]. Was the foundaton aware of where the money was going before the public found out?

"This is the kind of citizen action that demands accountability from the Gates Foundation," says GatesKeeper, a watcher of the Gates Foundation.

The Gates Foundation has finally come clean and terminated its tobacco control grant with the Canadian International Development Research Centre as its new (Liberal, shame) leader was on the board of Imperial Tobacco. Though it took action by ATSA for them to do so. No one looks good in this: the Gates Foundation and the IDRC and Barbara McDougall have egg on their faces. Philippe Boucher at Tobacco Control in Africa has been on this case from the beginning. Well done. This is the kind of citizen action that demands accountability from the Gates Foundation.


The protesters were right all along [1, 2, 3]. They knew something was amiss.

Here is more information about this scandal:

Gates charity miffed by alleged conflict-of-interest involving federal official (and here too)

Bill Gates's charitable foundation has snuffed out a $5.2-million grant to a Canadian initiative to curb smoking in Africa, citing troubling federal links to the tobacco industry.


Anti-tobacco group loses Gates grant; its chair was cigarette company director

The Gates Foundation took the unusual step of terminating a grant, this one for a Canadian group engaged in tobacco control, after the chair of its board was exposed as a director of Canada's largest cigarette maker.


Canada gets 'black eye'

When there was no response to the March 15 letters to authorities, the Gates Foundation acted while various participants in the IDRC program known as RITC (Research for International Tobacco Control) and observers such as Collishaw's group made public their concerns.


Gates foundation cuts support over tobacco

Memo to Barbara McDougall: Resign!

Grant lost over chairwoman’s tobacco links

Gates charity miffed by alleged conflict-of-interest involving federal official

Gates Foundation revokes Canadian tobacco control grant

Gates Foundation Cuts Funds to Canadian Project Over Tobacco Link

Gates Foundation cuts support to Canadian agency over tobacco connection

Gates charity cuts funding to Canadian anti-smoking project in Africa (also here)

Barbara J. McDougall, a former member of parliament who chairs the Canadian government's International Development Research Centre, also served until a few weeks ago as a director of Imperial Tobacco Canada, that country's largest tobacco firm.


We cautiously suspect that Gates knew what he was investing in all along. His investment in tobacco (as in pro-tobacco) is not news to us. Other investigators exposed this factoid years ago.

Let us bear in mind that this is a Canadian federal official and Bill Gates funds people inside Canada's government for reasons that are not entirely clear. Some say it's to do with vaccines, but Gates pays almost $2 billion to the Canadian government and that's an order of magnitude more than he spent on the vaccination initiative there. By the way, as we showed in several older posts, that project too is quite a bit of a political scandal in Canada and Gates' involvement is clear. Here are some articles from the past week:

Truth may be harsh on scuttled vaccine facility

To date, Ottawa has offered a decidedly incomplete explanation. The Public Health Agency of Canada, which oversaw the CHVI, said none of the consortiums qualified to host the vaccine facility. Then, PHAC released a report by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a funding partner in the project, that said there was more than enough manufacturing capacity and the CHVI facility was redundant.


No reason to cancel HIV vaccine facility, MPs told

Debate about scrapped HIV vaccination centre hits health committee

Study used to kill HIV centre was 'flawed'

MP seeks proof of political meddling

NDP health critic Judy Wasylycia-Leis hopes a parade of expert witnesses on HIV research at the health committee this week might convince the Tories to reignite plans to build an HIV vaccine manufacturing facility.

The committee begins two days of hearings this morning with HIV scientists and Public Health Agency of Canada officials scheduled to appear. Representatives from three of the four finalists who bid for the facility and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will appear Thursday.


Canada and Gates have an interesting relationship, but we'll leave the pharmaceutical debate to the next post. This is an ongoing exploration that proves ever more fascinating by the week. It involves many hours of reading, linking, and mapping. It all makes sense at the end, but it's hard to approach the problem without knowing who's who and how the players are connected.

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Hate Mail From Anonymous Cowards
if this persists, we'll need to escalate
Informal Open Letter to the Lawyer of the Microsofters (on Who's Funding the SLAPPs Against Techrights)
Whenever I ask about the funding they try to change the subject and act all aggressive
Microsoft Lunduke is Just Provoking People for Provocation's Sake
Be forewarned and remember where this guy came from: Microsoft
 
Gemini Links 09/08/2025: Rethinking Aliases and Posting on Gopher vs. the Web
Links for the day
Links 09/08/2025: Apollo 13 Astronaut Jim Lovell Dies, Slop Future Bleak
Links for the day
After Shutting Down Studios, Divisions, Applications (e.g. Skype) Microsoft is Also Shutting Down 'Apps'
Cuts all around as layoffs persist this month, Microsoft tries to get many people to resign, and debt skyrockets
Most of Geminispace Can Probably Fit on a CD-ROM or a DVD (the Textual Part)
If one excludes very large capsules and ones that contain non-textual contenty
Eventually UEFI 'Secure Boot' Will be Dropped (Users Will Demand Its Removal and Boycott Its Pushers)
we expect OEMs will just listen to users
The Register MS: We Know Slop is a Bubble and Mindless Hype, But We Get Paid to Participate
Call out the culprits
There Are Probably Over a Million Pages in Geminispace
there are two many limitations which merit a mention when it comes to assessing magnitude
Besieged by Plagiarists Who Play With LLMs and Image Fusions
We really need to exercise or use our collective voice to oppose Serial Sloppers
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, August 08, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, August 08, 2025
Gemini Links 09/08/2025: Water Painting and Political Violence
Links for the day
Slopwatch: LLM Sloppers in Google News, LinuxSecurity, and More
they also perpetuate some falsehoods as the LLMs lack any comprehension
Links 08/08/2025: China King of Plastics and US Dictator Plans to Meet Russian Dictator
Links for the day
Gemini Links 08/08/2025: Cracking a Family Member's Password and Overdose of Slop
Links for the day
Red Hat's Latest Talent Hunt, Day Ahead of Mass Layoffs, is Yet Another Microsoft Executive
Red Hat will apparently commence mass layoffs early this coming Monday
Links 08/08/2025: "Quit Facebook" and High Cost of Microsoft/Windows Shown Again ("BlackSuit")
Links for the day
Good Morning, Readers of The Register MS
Things The Register MS could (but does not) cover this morning
Why Gemini Protocol Has a Bright Future
Maybe Gemini Protocol's promise becomes more appealing as the Web turns to slop and bloat
It's a Lot Easier to Participate in the Unethical System Than to Oppose Injustices in It
Going after powerful and high-budget interests is never easy
Microsofters Filed Two SLAPPs Against Us, Now They Cannot Keep Up With Judges' Orders
For over 4 months already their facilitator in London has been under investigation by British authorities because of what's being done to my wife and I
Censorship Regarding Red Hat Layoffs
Talk about this? They'd rather not.
Struggling to Cut Costs, Microsoft Continues Shutting Down and Cancelling Stuff This Month
There are August layoffs at Microsoft
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, August 07, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, August 07, 2025
Fake 'Linux' Articles, Written by Bots to Take Traffic Away From Real Articles
LLM slop helps replace information with junk or misinformation
When Google's Googlebombing of "Gemini" Was Not Enough; They Now Also Googlebomb "Gemini Space"?
We know GAFAM not only worries about Gemini Protocol but also attempts to 'infiltrate' Geminispace
The Register MS Promotes Microsoft Slop, Assumes All Readers Use Microsoft Windows
Microsoft really dominates the site
Gemini Links 08/08/2025: KDE/Qt Development and What's Missing From "Retro"
Links for the day
Links 07/08/2025: US Punishes India Instead of Russia, Attacks Law Firms to Prevent Scrutiny
Links for the day
Read Us in Geminispace as Well
it's definitely a lot simpler than using a Web browser
Once a Site About BSD and GNU/Linux, and After Months of Silence, LinuxBSDos.com Comes Back Only as a Slopfarm
very frustrating
Links 07/08/2025: Hardware Wars, Mass Recall of Colgate Total Clean Mint, More Microsoft Holes Found
Links for the day
Gemini Links 07/08/2025: "Right To Manage" and LoRa Analysis
Links for the day
For the First Time in a Month OSI's "OpenSource.org" Blogs and It's Basically a Microsoft Blog Post (Microsoft Controls OSI)
For the first time in a month OSI writes something and it is Microsoft propaganda composed by a Microsoft-salaried operative
Microsoft, Already Borrowing 3 Billion Dollars a Month, is Trying to Cause Many People to Resign
MSN (i.e. Microsoft) and others openly admit it
GAFAM 'Says' is Front Page "News"
The point of journalism is to check and assess facts, not parrot what people and companies merely claim
Links 07/08/2025: Apple Makes False Promises, More Trouble for Microsoft
Links for the day
OSS Didn't Always Mean Open Source Software
"oligarchs all the way down"
The Register MS Does More Microsoft Sez or GitHub Sez (Says) Pieces
60 minutes ago
They Want Activists to Just Barely Walk and Eat, Not Do Activism Anymore
It's sort of like the ending of '1984'
Quit Perpetuating the Narrative of Gemini Protocol 'Dying' (It's False)
The "whisper campaign" against Gemini Protocol
Criticising Social Control Media in Social Control Media
Many people are quitting Social Control Media (fewer of them announce this in public)
Non-Free JavaScript Programs in Banks Aren't Even the Biggest Problem
Technology was supposed to make life easier; in practice, however, for most of us the opposite effect can be observed
Slopfarms Are Typically Fake News
Slopfarms typically relay falsehoods
Gemini Links 06/08/2025: Replacing a Pocket Watch and Buying in Bulk
Links for the day
IBM is Obliterating Fedora
"Fedora releases were shipping with an increasing number of bugs on launch day even while I was using it for a several year stretch."
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, August 06, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, August 06, 2025