Bonum Certa Men Certa

Gates Foundation Criticised Again for Monopolising Research

"The chief of malaria for the World Health Organization has complained that the growing dominance of malaria research by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation risks stifling a diversity of views among scientists and wiping out the world health agency’s policy-making function.

--New York Times, 2008



Summary: Research diversity is being stifled by the Gates Foundation and Gates-funded 'studies' spread misconceptions to defend the foundation's own agenda

THE Gates Foundation is relevant to this Web site because of the role it plays in promoting Microsoft at the expense of software freedom. Today's post is more closely related to patents than software and we kindly ask readers to revisit some background in order to understand how the Gates Foundation promotes patents on solutions that save people's lives. It's an issue of scarcity where any scarcity means loss of life (patents being the expensive component, not manufacturing).



Thanks to PR efforts from the Gates Foundation (which contracts outside agencies to manage its PR), several high-profile publications continue to promote Gates as a saviour of lives, but the truth (or reality) is a little more complicated than that. Some honourable people do talk about it, but the amount of PR typically marginalises them (by sheer volume).

"Big Pharma gets on board with Gates Foundation," says this new article which points out:

Although most observers of the Gates Foundation highlight the organization’s influence over grantees, it is clear that the world’s largest philanthropy is exerting a strong influence over the pharmaceutical industry.


As we have shown before, the Gates Foundation is a shareholder and a benefactor in this industry. There actually is a conflict of interests. The Gates Foundation is monopolising research while investing (in the shareholder sense) in the companies that benefit from it. As the Indian press put it some days ago:

Should it be just one big idea, the way Bill and Melinda Gates foundation tackles malaria? (Not even a nano comparison in terms of funding).


The investments are selective and they sometimes come with strings attached. This puts a lot of pressure on researchers to comply with the plan of the Gates Foundation and not anything else. Is this the free thinking that research requires? Does that permit diversity of opinions and breadth of exploration?

Here is another new article:

Although the British drug giant known as GSK was heralded by leading health organizations, the driving force behind the disclosure was the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.


For those who do not know or remember, the Head of Global Health for the Gates Foundation is from GlaxoSmithKline where he was caught abusing outside researchers who did not agree with him. Charles Grassley was there in the Senate investigating such inexcusable abuse. GlaxoSmithKline is not the only company which is very much inside the Gates Foundation and we gave more examples before (even Monsanto staff is inside the Gates Foundation).

Anyway, this man is called Tachi Yamada and here he is speaking to the press some days ago.

"Grand Challenges Explorations continues to generate unique and creative ways to tackle global health issues," said Tachi Yamada, president of the Gates Foundation's Global Health Programme.


To complete his sentence, they strive to generate unique and creative ways to tackle global health issues by paying big pharmaceutical companies after lobbying governments to allocate funds. That does not mean that the Gates Foundation won't pay anything; it does pay generously, but it also uses its brand power to further boost investment in companies which it has investments in, using taxpayers' money for the most part. Look who is managing some of these funds:

Arabella Philanthropic Investment Advisors, a philanthropy services firm, is working with ultra-wealthy families’ foundations that are looking to make a philanthropic impact with fewer resources. The firm has done work for The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The Mead Family Foundation and for corporations like Caterpillar and Hyatt.


One might say that taxpayers choose to support Gates' vision, but not everyone agrees. Gates has just produced a self-serving 'study' [1, 2] which is being called "absolute nonsense" by someone who is simply not agreeing with the results of such Gates Foundation-funded research. There is an article about it:

FAIR CEO Blasts Kaiser Foundation & Public Agenda HIV/AIDS Study Results as 'Absolute Nonsense'



The President and CEO of the FAIR Foundation, Dr. Richard Darling, DDS, is publicly denouncing research studies by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Public Agenda which conclude that Americans want more money spent on HIV/AIDS.

[...]

FAIR points out that in addition to the exorbitant federal funding, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has spent approximately $7 billion on global HIV, TB & malaria efforts and billions of additional dollars have been spent on behalf of HIV patients by the collective efforts of pharmaceutical companies, Hollywood AIDS activists and non-profit organizations such as amfAR (American Federation for AIDS Research).


Let's not forget the Lancet study from Gates -- a 'study' which was quite widely disputed [1, 2, 3, 4] but is still appearing in the press.

A new study published in the Lancet and funded by the Gates Foundation, looks at rates of decline, and accelerations and decelerations in rates of decline, in mortality in children younger than 5 years for 187 countries from 1970 to 2009.


There is a quiet fight going on between those who advance the Gates agenda and those who understand that his monopolisation of research (and incestuous relationship with particular companies) is a dangerous one for refinement of drugs. It's simply irresponsible not to report on these issues, however inconvenient it might be to bring them up.

“Gates has created a huge blood-buying operation that only cares about money, not about people.”

--AIDS organisation manager, December 2009 (New York Times)

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

IBM's Debt Ballooned by 8.5 Billion Dollars in Just 3 Months!
Hallmark of a company in a state of disarray, trying to spend its way out of trouble
Big Trouble in GNOME
even GNOME people admit the CoC went wrong
New Article Explains How the GPL Came About and WordPress Having Copyleft Obligations
Having been involved in the WordPress development community since almost the beginning, I know why it chose the GPL and how it restricts abuse by Automattic
Dr Richard Stallman (RMS) Gives Talk in Oxford University in 4 Hours
If you live nearby, go there (it's free as in gratis)
 
Serial Sloppers Are Killing the Web (They Probably Don't Care, Either)
Slop is a disease on the Web
Streaming Apps Are “Investor Fraud” That Kills the Planet
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Things Get Increasingly Nasty at Microsoft Ahead of the Fake Results and May's Mass Layoffs Wave
They try to get people to 'resign' so that they won't count as layoffs and the company's 'wellbeing' will seem better
Slopping the Trough: Disney Plus Loses Billions and the Decline of Physical Media in America
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 24, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, April 24, 2025
Links 24/04/2025: GAFAM Problems and No Peace (or Ceasefire) in Sight
Links for the day
Slopfarms on the Web Almost Always Generate Anti-Linux FUD When They Produce "Linux" Output
Welcome to the dying Web
Richard Stallman's Oxford Talk Has Just Ended, Here Are Some Photos
he might hop over to another European country
Gemini Links 24/04/2025: Birthday and Good Work of Academia in Esotericism
Links for the day
Links 24/04/2025: EU fines Apple and Facebook, Another Microsoft GitHub Security Blunder
Links for the day
IBM Gained Almost 6 Billion Dollars in "Goodwill" Value in Just 3 Months, According to IBM
Congrats to the management!
In Belarus, Yandex is Now Measured as 50 Times More 'Popular' (by Usage) Than Microsoft
Yandex continues to gain, whereas Bing cannot even register at 1%. Last month it was registered or measured at a measly 0.65%.
IBM Cannot Lie to Shareholders Anymore
"I would not be surprised if we see a layoff every quarter this year."
Using a Law Firm's Licence to Exercise Politics Through Frivolous SLAPPs and Nastygrams (to Silence People, Remove Pages, Demand Fake or Forced 'Apologies')
Things must be getting really bad when lawyers act for raving antisemites
We're Working to Make Full-Site Search Available
This site has over 1,000 'wiki' pages, many thousands of documents, several thousands of videos, and about 50,000 blog posts or articles. We need to make them easier to find/navigate.
Links 24/04/2025: IBM Loses Many Contracts, Intel to Lay Off Over 20% (Not Counting Those Who Leave 'Voluntarily')
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Can Explain to Oxford Artificial Intelligence Society Why LLM Slop is Not Artificial Intelligence and Why It Hurts Society
another 'crop' of LLM slop that damages GNU/Linux and facts
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 23, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, April 23, 2025
Open Source Initiative (OSI) Promoting Microsoft and Proprietary Software Using Microsoft Operatives
Because nothing says "Open Source" like GPL violations facilitated by Microsoft
Another Site Bites the Dust: "Open Source For You" Becoming a Slopfarm (LLM Slop)
What a shame. Another dead site.
Links 23/04/2025: Crackdowns on Dissent, Palin Loses Libel Retrial Against New York Times
Links for the day
Links 23/04/2025: Hard Times and Digital Amnesia
Links for the day
The GNU/Linux Site Formerly Known as "linoxide.com" is Back... as an LLM Slopfarm!
Better for linoxide.com to go offline than to do this
Get Rid of Back Doors, Don't Obsess Over Bounties and Other Corporate PR Stunts (or Needless Reboot Rituals)
Security as a term has mostly lost its meaning due to repeated misuse for many years
Richard Stallman to Speak in Oxford University Exactly a Day From Now
outsourced to GAFAM
Links 23/04/2025: "Hiding Corruption" and "The Cost of Defunding Harvard"
Links for the day
Microsoft 'Studies' Again? Leon Musolff is Writing Papers With Microsoft.
Even if one can see/find a link to "the study" (in the Bezos-controlled publication), most people won't look any further and just take everything at face value.
Towards GNU World Domination
The FSF led by Geoffrey S. Knauth with his friend Richard Stallman in the FSF's Board [...] Let's encourage people to adopt GNU/Linux. There has never been a better time.
statCounter Helps Visualise Just How Deep in Trouble Microsoft is (Especially in Africa)
Microsoft sabotaged efforts to connect Africans and equip them with GNU/Linux laptops
The Register is Using Linux-Hostile Clickbait in Articles of Linux Proponents
Don't be a "whore" to advertisers, team El Reg
Microsoft Windows in Cyprus Lacking a Future
Most people access the Web there from mobile
Matrix Has a Severe Problem With Illegal Images
If Matrix cannot get the CP problem under control, many projects and people will dump Matrix
Never Try to Justify Strangulation of Women (Not in the US and Not in the UK)
Joint post by Mrs. Rianne Schestowitz and Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Links 23/04/2025: Tesla Profits Plunge 71%, Intel Ready to Lay Off 20% of Staff, Microsoft and IBM Layoffs
Links for the day
Microsoft's Most Profound Issue is That People Moved to 'Mobile' and "App Stores" (Microsoft's Presence There is Negligible)
Expect a wild ride for Microsoft this year
Google News is Amplifying FUD and Lies About Linux (and OpenSSH/SSH) by Promoting Slopfarms With Machine-Generated FUD and Slop Images
Google should know better
Gemini Links 23/04/2025: Librarians, Anubis, and Refactoring a Gemini Capsule
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, April 22, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, April 22, 2025