Bill Gates

MEDICAL COUNTERMEASURES
Status of Supplies and Distribution/Allocation Systems

Prepared by Divya Hosangadi
CAPS Antiviral
• In addition to vaccines, monovalent antibody therapies and antivirals have been

investigated for treating coronavirus infections (Table 1).
• In this scenario, extranavir is a FICTIONAL antiviral drug.
o Extranavir is currently used to treat HIV but has been shown to be an
effective treatment for CAPS.
o Extranavir may be an effective prophylactic if given throughout a period of
possible exposure to the virus.
o When used as a therapeutic, extranavir may reduce the severity of disease
and length of viral shedding in infected individuals.
o Extranavir is a generic drug that is manufactured in 5 countries, including
the US and China.
o About 1 million people per day take extranavir to treat HIV.
o If all extranavir users were switched to a different HIV treatment, current
supplies of the antiviral could treat up to 26 million CAPS patients.
o It may be possible to double production of extranavir by expanding existing
manufacturing capacity and by licensing the drug to additional
manufacturers. This expansion could allow for 52 million treatment
courses per year but would likely require a year to reach that capacity.
o If extranavir were used broadly as a prophylactic rather than a treatment, a
much greater supply of the drug would be needed.
Current Vaccines in Development
• There are no vaccines currently licensed and available for use against any
coronavirus. Coronavirus vaccines for SARS and MERS have been technically
challenging to develop and have not made it out of clinical trials.1-3
• While scientists are researching a vaccine against the FICTIONAL CAPS virus, there
is currently no product in development.
• Development of a vaccine against the CAPS virus will likely take years to achieve.
The vaccine development process can take more than a decade.4 In pandemic
situations, the timeline for vaccine development could possibly be shortened, but
developing and manufacturing a vaccine against CAPS in time to control this
pandemic is unlikely.
• Vaccines against SARS or MERS coronaviruses would likely not be protective
against CAPS, because coronaviruses are prone to genetic reassortment; therefore,
a vaccine against one coronavirus is not cross protective against another
coronavirus.1,5
• Some experiments have raised the possibility that immunity incurred from certain
coronavirus vaccines can be short lived6,7 and that enhanced disease may result
from certain coronavirus vaccines.6-8 This has prompted some concern that
vaccines targeting coronaviruses (eg, MERS, SARS) could lead to adverse events.

Table 1: SARS and MERS Coronavirus Vaccine
and Therapy Trials Listed on ClinicalTrials.gov
Clinical Trial
Status SARS MERS
Vaccines Recruiting 0 19
Active 0 0
Completed 210,11 0
Withdrawn or
unknown status 212,13 0
Therapies Recruiting 0 1
14
or Active 0 0
Treatments Completed 0 315-17
Withdrawn or
unknown status 118 119

Current Medical Countermeasure Distribution and Allocation Systems
• Current supply chain mechanisms exist to distribute vaccines and other medical
countermeasures (MCMs) on a routine basis. However, a centralized and scalable
MCM distribution system for use during pandemics does not exist.
• Multiple systems and stakeholders can facilitate MCM distribution in smaller scale
public health emergencies and could be either scaled up or provide lessons for a
pandemic context. These include:
o The International Coordinating Group on Vaccine Provision (ICG),20 a
coordinating group of key global health stakeholders, including the World
Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), and
the International Federation of the Red Cross. The goal of this group is to
handle the allocation of particular vaccine stockpiles for specific diseases
(cholera, meningococcal meningitis, yellow fever).
o WHO also has stockpiles for other diseases, including smallpox and
pandemic influenza.21
o WHO Contingency Fund for Emergencies22
§ Can release initial funds up to $500K in 24 hours
§ Serves as the potential source of funds for initial emergency response
if properly funded
o The US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is a US-funded
program to control the HIV/AIDS epidemic and is the largest effort by any
one nation to control a disease.23 PEPFAR funds programs aimed at
expanding access to HIV treatments and prevention services in low-income
settings.23,24
o Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, procures vaccines for low-income countries for
selected routine and emergency immunization. For example, the
organization procured $300 million for Ebola vaccines during the 2014-2016
Ebola outbreak.25
• Challenges with ensuring equitable access to and distribution of MCMs have been
encountered in the past. Countries have withheld sharing samples in an effort to
secure access to MCMs.26,27

Medical Countermeasure Development and Manufacturing Is Challenging
• In general, several technical barriers make the rapid scale-up of vaccine

manufacturing challenging, including a lack of R&D and manufacturing capacity due
to competing interests, the cost of establishing or repurposing manufacturing
facilities, regulatory barriers, and the lack of a consistent market.4,28,29

References
1. Zhang N, Tang J, Lu L, Jiang S, Du L. Receptor-binding domain-based subunit vaccines against

MERS-CoV. Virus Res 2015;202:151-159.
2. Song Z, Xu Y, Bao L, et al. From SARS to MERS, thrusting coronaviruses into the spotlight. Viruses
2019;11(1):E59.
3. US Food and Drug Administration. Vaccines Licensed for Use in the United States. Updated May
9, 2019. http://www.fda.gov/vaccines-blood-biologics/vaccines/vaccines-licensed-use-united-
states. Accessed October 9, 2019.
4. Gouglas D, Thanh Le T, Henderson K, et al. Estimating the cost of vaccine development against
epidemic infectious diseases: a cost minimisation study. Lancet Glob Health 2018;6(12):e1386-
e1396.
5. Menachery VD, Graham RL, Baric RS. Jumping species—a mechanism for coronavirus
persistence and survival. Curr Opin Virol 2017;23:1-7.
6. Cho H, Excler JL, Kim JH, Yoon IK. Development of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome
Coronavirus vaccines—advances and challenges. Hum Vaccin Immunother 2018;14(2):304-313.
7. Honda-Okubo Y, Barnard D, Ong CH, Peng B-H, Tseng C-TK, Petrovsky N. Severe acute
respiratory syndrome-associated coronavirus vaccines formulated with delta inulin adjuvants
provide enhanced protection while ameliorating lung eosinophilic immunopathology. J Virol
2015;89(6):2995-3007.
8. Gillim-Ross L, Subbarao K. Emerging respiratory viruses: challenges and vaccine strategies. Clin
Microbiol Rev 2006;19(4):614-636.
9. National Institutes of Health. Safety and Immunogenicity of a Candidate MERS-CoV Vaccine
(MERS001). ClinicalTrials.gov. Updated May 10, 2019.
https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03399578. Accessed October 8, 2019.
10. National Institutes of Health. Phase I Study of a Vaccine for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
(SARS). ClinicalTrials.gov. Updated July 2, 2017.
11. National Institutes of Health. Study of Alferon® LDO (Low Dose Oral) in Normal Volunteers.
ClinicalTrials.gov. Updated April 17, 2013. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00215826.
Accessed October 8, 2019.
12. National Institutes of Health. SARS Coronavirus Vaccine (SARS-CoV). ClinicalTrials.gov. Updated
December 3, 2012. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00533741. Accessed October 8,
2019.
13. National Institutes of Health. Phase I Dose Escalation SARS-CoV Recombinant S Protein, With
and Without Adjuvant, Vaccine Study. ClinicalTrials.gov. Updated February 15, 2013.
14. National Institutes of Health. MERS-CoV Infection Treated with a Combination of Lopinavir
/Ritonavir and Interferon Beta-1b. ClinicalTrials.gov. Updated March 7, 2019.
15. National Institutes of Health. Safety, Tolerability, and Pharmacokinetics of SAB-301 in Healthy
Adults. ClinicalTrials.gov. Updated June 12, 2018.
16. National Institutes of Health. Safety, Tolerability and Immunogenicity of Vaccine Candidate
MVA-MERS-S. ClinicalTrials.gov. Updated October 2, 2019.
17. National Institutes of Health. A Safety, Tolerability, Pharmacokinetics and Immunogenicity Trial
of Co-administered MERS-CoV Antibodies REGN3048 and REGN3051. ClinicalTrials.gov.
Updated February 1, 2019. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03301090. Accessed
October 8, 2019.
18. National Institutes of Health. A Multi-centre, Double-blinded, Randomized, Placebo-controlled
Trial on the Efficacy and Safety of Lopinavir/Ritonavir Plus Ribavirin in the Treatment of Severe
Acute Respiratory Syndrome. ClinicalTrials.gov. Updated August 22, 2013.
19. National Institutes of Health. Anti-MERS-CoV Convalescent Plasma Therapy. ClinicalTrials.gov.
Updated November 21, 2018. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02190799. Accessed
October 8, 2019.
20. World Health Organization. International Coordinating Group (ICG) on Vaccine Provision. April
3, 2019. http://www.who.int/csr/disease/icg/en/. Accessed October 8, 2019.
21. Yen C, Hyde TB, Costa AJ, et al. The development of global vaccine stockpiles. Lancet Infect Dis
2015;15(3):340-347.
22. World Health Organization. Enabling Quick Action to Save Lives: Contingency Fund for
Emergencies. 2018. http://origin.who.int/emergencies/funding/contributions/cfe-impact-
report-web2018.pdf. Accessed October 14, 2019.
23. US Department of State. About Us – PEPFAR. https://www.state.gov/about-us-pepfar/.
24. US Department of State. PEPFAR 2018 Progress Report: PEPFAR Strategy for Accelerating
HIV/AIDS Epidemic Control (2017-2020). https://www.state.gov/wp-
content/uploads/2019/08/2018-PEPFAR-Strategy-Progress-Report.pdf. Accessed October 14,
2019.
25. Gavi. Gavi commits to purchasing Ebola vaccine for affected countries. December 11, 2014.
https://www.gavi.org/library/news/press-releases/2014/gavi-commits-to-purchasing-ebola-
vaccine-for-affected-countries/. Accessed October 8, 2019.
26. Baumgaertner E. China has withheld samples of a dangerous flu virus. New York Times August
27, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/27/health/china-flu-virus-samples.html.
27. CIDRAP. Roos R. Indonesia details reasons for withholding H5N1 viruses. CIDRAP July 15, 2008.
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2008/07/indonesia-details-reasons-
withholding-h5n1-viruses. Accessed October 8, 2019.
28. Pronker ES, Weenen TC, Commandeur HR, Osterhaus AD, Claassen HJ. The gold industry
standard for risk and cost of drug and vaccine development revisited. Vaccine
2011;29(35):5846-5849. d
29. Adalja AA, Watson M, Cicero A, Inglesby T. Vaccine Platforms: State of the Field and Looming
Challenges. Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. 2019.
http://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/our-work/publications/vaccine-platforms-state-of-
the-field-and-looming-challenges. Accessed October 14, 2019.

FINANCE IN A PANDEMIC

Prepared by Richard Bruns
There are several major sources of money that would become available to help respond to
a global catastrophic pandemic.

Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility
The World Bank Group’s Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility (PEF) is a system
designed to respond to specific types of pandemics. It consists of a cash window and an
insurance window.1 The cash window had about $50 million, all of which has been used to
support the response to the ongoing Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo.

The insurance window is funded by 2 tranches of catastrophe bonds that pay out under
specified conditions. A coronavirus pandemic would trigger a payout of the Class B notes
after all of the following conditions were met: It kills at least 250 people, lasts at least 12
weeks, has at least 250 new cases in the past 12 weeks, has an increasing average number
of new cases over the past 12 weeks, and kills at least 20 people in a second country. The
payout is based on the number of deaths and the geographic spread of the disease. A
coronavirus pandemic that killed more than 2,500 people would trigger a full payout of the
Class B notes, raising $95 million. It would also trigger a 16.67% payout of the Class A
notes, raising an additional $37.5 million. A full payout of the Class A notes is triggered only
by an influenza pandemic.2

World Bank’s IDA Crisis Response Window
IDA (International Development Association) is the part of the World Bank that gives loans
(called “credits”) to poor countries for development. They meet every 3 years to raise
money and decide how it will be spent. These are called Replenishment meetings. The last
one, the 18th Replenishment, or IDA18, finished in 2016. It raised $75 billion to finance
projects from July 1, 2017, to June 30, 2020. The next meeting in this cycle is October 21-
22, 2019, in Washington, DC.3
Most IDA money is used for long-term development projects, but the Crisis Response
Window (CRW) is a special pool of money devoted to helping countries respond to
disasters. It spent $420 million to fight the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola epidemic. The
IDA18 replenishment raised $3 billion for crisis response and, as of October 2018, $2.6
billion was still unspent and available for immediate use.4

International Monetary Fund

The IMF has about $1 trillion available to lend.5 However, this is meant to address
temporary issues with a country’s balance of payments and is not intended to be a form of
development aid or response to a health emergency. Lending is usually conditional on
economic policy changes, made after a period of negotiation, and will be made only if the
IMF is confident that it will be repaid.6 Without a significant change in policy, many
countries would not be willing or able to borrow money from the IMF in order to finance a
response to a major pandemic.

National Governments
Total international development aid from governments is about $200 billion per year.7
Although much of this is allocated to specific uses and could not be redirected, some
percentage of it could be made available in a catastrophic pandemic, and/or the total
amount might be increased, if there was sufficient global coordination.

Private Charity
Total international giving by US foundations was about $9 billion in 2015.8 In a severe

pandemic, some of this could be redirected to help the pandemic response.
The total endowment of the top 40 wealthiest charitable foundations is currently about
$500 billion.9 Many of these charities have not historically been involved in health, and
there are institutional limits on how much of the endowment could be spent, but some
percentage of these endowments might be made available to respond to a catastrophic
pandemic if enough charities responded to a global call to action.

Numbers in the Scenario
Several financial events and estimates are depicted in the Event 201 exercise. These
represent one possible scenario that could happen in a catastrophic pandemic.

Amount of Money Raised
In the scenario, there is a large and successful mobilization of funds. Donor countries are
convinced to contribute roughly 40% of their annual aid budgets to CAPS response, for $80
billion, and private charities spend down some of their endowments to contribute an
additional $20 billion, for a total of roughly $100 billion in additional financing.

Cost of Supporting Health Systems
About $6 billion was disbursed by donors in response to the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola
epidemic.10 At the point in the scenario where the $400 billion estimate is made, it is
assumed that CAPS would cause case counts and expenses in low- and middle-income
countries about 2 orders of magnitude higher than the Ebola epidemic.

CAPS would, in many cases, cause emergency spending that would quickly consume all of
countries’ annual healthcare budgets. They would then need a bailout to continue normal
functioning as well as providing minimal pandemic response. Low- and middle-income
countries typically spend about 5% of GDP on health care, and in a crisis situation,
everything gets more expensive. The total GDP of low- and middle-income countries
(excluding China, India, and Russia) is about $14 trillion. If these countries require a bailout
of, on average, slightly more than half of their annual healthcare spending, this would be
$400 billion.

References
1. World Bank. Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility. Updated May 7, 2019.

https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/pandemics/brief/pandemic-emergency-financing-
facility. Accessed October 14, 2019.
2. International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Prospectus supplement dated June 28,
2017. http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/882831509568634367/PEF-Final-Prospectus-
PEF.pdf. Accessed October 14, 2019.
3. World Bank. International Development Association. Crisis Response Window. 2019.
http://ida.worldbank.org/financing/crisis-response-window. Accessed October 14, 2019.
4. International Development Association. IDA18 Mid-Term Review—Crisis Response Window:
Review of Implementation.
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/537601542812085820/pdf/ida18-mtr-crw-
stocktake-10252018-636762749768484873.pdf. Accessed October 14, 2019.
5. International Monetary Fund. Where the IMF gets its money. March 8, 2019.
https://www.imf.org/en/About/Factsheets/Where-the-IMF-Gets-Its-Money. Accessed October
14, 2019.
6. International Monetary Fund. IMF lending. February 25, 2019.
https://www.imf.org/en/About/Factsheets/IMF-Lending. Accessed October 14, 2019.
7. Wikipedia. List of development aid country donors. Updated August 12, 2019.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_development_aid_country_donors. Accessed October 14,
2019.
8. Council on Foundations. The State of Global Giving by U.S. Foundations: 2011-2015. 2018.
https://www.issuelab.org/resources/31306/31306.pdf. Accessed October 14, 2019.
9. Wikipedia. List of wealthiest charitable foundations. Updated September 27, 2019.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wealthiest_charitable_foundations. Accessed October 14,
2019.
10. Huber C, Finelli L, Stevens W. The economic and social burden of the 2014 Ebola outbreak in
West Africa. J Infect Dis 2018; 218(suppl 5):S698-S704.
EVENT 201 MODEL

Disclaimer: this model was used exclusively for the exercise in October 2019 and does not
relate to and cannot be applied to the current 2019-nCoV outbreaks because the
epidemiologic inputs in this model differ from what is observed in 2019-nCoV.

Prepared by Caitlin Rivers

Date: October 11, 2019

The Event 201 model simulates an outbreak of a moderately transmissible pathogen in a
fully susceptible population. The model is intended to be a realistic representation of how a
novel infectious disease could become a pandemic in the absence of adequate control
measures.

Model Description

We used an ordinary differential equation approach to simulate the Event 201 pandemic. A
graphical depiction of the model structure and a table of the key parameters are available
in the Appendix. The model contains six compartments representing different stages of
infection. Key features of the model include two compartments for individuals infectious in
the community: half develop mild illness (𝐼" ) and half develop severe illness (𝐼$ ). Patients
with severe infection either die (𝐷) or recover (𝑅) at rate 𝛼. Those with a mild infection
move to the recovered compartment at rate 𝛿.

Global Spread

Following the initial spillover event in a large city in South America, 300 of the largest cities
in the world were stochastically seeded with infectious cases to represent disease spread
through international travel. The rate at which new cities were added to the model
accelerates as time progresses, much like the growth of the epidemic itself. The number of
imported cases ranged between 1 and 4 for each city.

The model was run for each individual city in turn. To simulate the stochastic nature of
outbreaks, parameters for each city were randomly selected from realistic distributions.
The force of infection, 𝛽, was chosen from a normal distribution calibrated to produce an
overall basic reproduction number of 1.7 (the reproduction number of individual cities
ranged from 1.1 to 2.6). The case fatality risk (CFR) of hospitalized patients was chosen
from a normal distribution with a mean of 14%, reflecting expected variation in the ability
of healthcare systems to provide high quality care when faced with large numbers of
critically ill patients. Patients with mild illness have a CFR of 0%, for an overall estimate of
7%.

The case counts reported in the exercise represent infections the severe compartment
exclusively, under the assumption that mild illnesses in the community are less likely to be
captured by surveillance systems. The exercise also reports only on the 300 global and 300
US cities represented in the model. For these reasons, the numbers reported in the scenario
are conservative. However, like all models of this type, a core assumption is that the
trajectory of the outbreak remains continuous. In real outbreaks, the trajectory is
constantly changing in response to a number of factors like collective behavior change,
which tend to slow outbreak growth.

Appendix: Key model parameters

COMMUNICATION IN A PANDEMIC

Prepared by Marc Trotochaud and Divya Hosangadi

Effective communication during public health events can be critical to public health
response efforts. Public health messages help inform the public about risks and protective
actions and, done correctly, are a critical component of community engagement and the
buildup of public trust. Yet, true information about public health concerns is increasingly
competing with false messages that can damage public confidence in health interventions
and health authorities. These false messages are often defined as misinformation,
erroneous information shared through various channels, and disinformation, purposefully
spread false or misleading information. The information environment is increasingly made
up of a mix of information coming from web sources and other media, in addition to
historical sources such as print and TV news media. However, the influence of social media
has made the spread of false information even more pernicious.

Over the past 15 years, there has been a global surge in the adoption of social media
technologies. In 2019, 6 social media companies had more than 1 billion active monthly
users.1 Although originally designed for virtual engagement with personal networks, social
media platforms have grown rapidly to share major roles in the economy and the transfer
of information. According to the Pew Research Center, social media officially outpaced
print newspaper as a source of news among the entire United States population.2
Furthermore, across countries, regardless of a nation’s socioeconomic status, younger
populations rely even more heavily on social media as a news source.3

Disinformation campaigns are widely recognized in the political world but have been
identified in the public health realm as well. In the fall of 2018, a team of researchers
systematically identified a concerted effort to spread disinformation and discord about
vaccine safety.4 Public health response efforts for the currently ongoing Ebola outbreak in
the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have been challenged by disruptive rumors
that have occasionally targeted public health responders.5,6 Misinformation during a public
health emergency is a particularly concerning threat, because of the time-dependent nature
of outbreak response and the corrosive effect misinformation can have on public trust.
Current solutions to the spread of mis- and disinformation are limited. Social media
platforms have attempted to change their algorithms to limit the spread of false
information and promote correct information, but the problem of misinformation

continues.7,8 Many misinformation response actions have been developed to be used
against political misinformation and disinformation but may be applied in response to an
epidemic. More than 50 countries globally have taken different government-led actions
that, in theory, aim to combat misinformation.9 These actions can range from media
literacy campaigns and fact-checking websites to more extreme measures, such as jailing
users for publishing content deemed to be misinformation. In some cases, authorities have
shut down social media sites or the internet entirely.10-12

However, censoring social media content and denying a population access to the internet
has serious consequences. In addition to ethical considerations, there is mounting evidence
to suggest that there are serious economic consequences to shutting down the internet.
According to the Indian Council for Research on International Economic relations, the
estimated 16,000 hours of international internet shutdown in India resulted in around
US$3 billion in economic losses.12

Misinformation and disinformation are likely to be serious threats during a public health
emergency. Unfortunately, thus far, there are limited ways to control the propagation of
misinformation, leading to potentially draconian methods to manage this problem.

References

1. Most famous social network sites worldwide as of July 2019, ranked by number of active users
(in millions). Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/272014/global-social-networks-
ranked-by-number-of-users/. Accessed October 14, 2019.
2. Shearer E. Social media outpaces print newspapers in the U.S. as a news source. Pew Research
Center Global Attitudes & Trends December 10, 2018. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-
tank/2018/12/10/social-media-outpaces-print-newspapers-in-the-u-s-as-a-news-source/.
3. Mitchell A, Simmons K, Matsa KE, Silver L. People in poorer countries just as likely to use social
media for news as those in wealthier countries. Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes &
Trends January 11, 2018. https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2018/01/11/people-in-
poorer-countries-just-as-likely-to-use-social-media-for-news-as-those-in-wealthier-countries/.
Published January 11, 2018. Accessed October 14, 2019.
4. Broniatowski DA, Jamison AM, Qi S, et al. Weaponized health communication: Twitter bots and
Russian trolls amplify the vaccine debate. Am J Public Health 2018;108(10):1378-1384.
5. Hayden S. How misinformation is making it almost impossible to contain the Ebola outbreak in
DRC. Time June 20, 2019. https://time.com/5609718/rumors-spread-ebola-drc/. Accessed
October 14, 2019.
6. Fidler DP. Disinformation and disease: social media and the Ebola epidemic in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo. Council on Foreign Relations blog post August 20, 2019.
https://www.cfr.org/blog/disinformation-and-disease-social-media-and-ebola-epidemic-
democratic-republic-congo. Accessed October 14, 2019.
7. Matsakis L. Facebook cracks down on networks of fake pages and groups. WIRED January 23,
2019. https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-pages-misinformation-networks/. Accessed
October 14, 2019.
8. Harvey D, Gasca D. Serving healthy conversation. Twitter blog May 15, 2018.
https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/product/2018/Serving_Healthy_Conversation.html.
9. Funke D, Flamini D. A guide to anti-misinformation actions around the world. Poynter 2019.
https://www.poynter.org/ifcn/anti-misinformation-actions/. Accessed August 26, 2019.
10. Adebayo B, Mahvunga CS, McKenzie D. Zimbabwe shuts down social media as UN slams military
crackdown. CNN January 19, 2019. https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/18/africa/zimbabwe-
army-brutality-allegations/index.html. Accessed October 14, 2019.
11. McCarthy N. Infographic: the countries shutting down the internet the most. Statista
Infographics August 29, 2018. https://www.statista.com/chart/15250/the-number-of-
internet-shutdowns-by-country/. Accessed October 14, 2019.
12. Kathuria R, Kedia M, Varma G, Bagchi K, Sekhani R. The Anatomy of an Internet Blackout:
Measuring the Economic Impact of Internet Shutdowns in India. Indian Council for Research on
International Economic Relations; 2018.
http://icrier.org/pdf/Anatomy_of_an_Internet_Blackout.pdf.

CAPS: THE PATHOGEN AND CLINICAL SYNDROME

Prepared by Amesh Adalja and Lane Warmbrod

The FICTIONAL Coronavirus Acute Pulmonary Syndrome (CAPS) is an acute respiratory
infection that can progress to pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome. It is
caused by a swine-origin coronavirus (CAPS virus).

The CAPS virus is from the same family of viruses as SARS and MERS but is antigenically
distinct. The virus has existed in the fruit bat population for many years and has been
transmitted to domestic pigs. The virus causes mild disease in pigs.

Like SARS and MERS, a mutation in the CAPS virus enabled human infection, leading to one
or more spillover events to pig farmers in South America, but with limited human-to-
human spread. Like SARS, a further mutation in the CAPS virus later enabled efficient
human-to-human transmission.

The CAPS virus is more transmissible in mild cases than SARS-CoV, and spread by mildly
symptomatic individuals is possible. Transmission is via the respiratory route, mostly by
respiratory droplets, with some proportion being airborne during aerosol-generating
medical procedures.

• Approximately 50% of CAPS cases require hospitalization, many of them in an
intensive care unit (ICU).
• The CAPS fatality rate in hospitalized patients is about 14%.
• The overall case fatality rate (CFR) is 7%.
• The average R0 is 1.74.
• The incubation period ranges from 5 to 7 days.
There is no licensed vaccine for any coronavirus, although some are in development for
SARS and MERS. There is no antiviral drug with an indication for coronavirus treatment,
although there are several drugs, including anti-HIV drugs, that might be effective. In this
scenario, there is one FICTIONAL HIV antiviral—extranavir—that may be effective for
treatment or prophylaxis of CAPS.

Phylogenetic network analysis of SARS-CoV-2 genomes
Peter Forstera,b,c,1, Lucy Forsterd, Colin Renfrewb,1, and Michael Forsterc,e
a
Institute of Forensic Genetics, 48161 Münster, Germany; bMcDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3ER,
United Kingdom; cFluxus Technology Limited, Colchester CO3 0NU, United Kingdom; dLakeside Healthcare Group at Cedar House Surgery, St Neots PE19
1BQ, United Kingdom; and eInstitute of Clinical Molecular Biology, Christian-Albrecht-University of Kiel, 24105 Kiel, Germany
Contributed by Colin Renfrew, March 30, 2020 (sent for review March 17, 2020; reviewed by Toomas Kivisild and Carol Stocking)
In a phylogenetic network analysis of 160 complete human severe and includes five individuals from Wuhan, two of which are
acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov-2) genomes, represented in the ancestral node, and eight other East Asians
we find three central variants distinguished by amino acid changes, from China and adjacent countries. It is noteworthy that nearly
which we have named A, B, and C, with A being the ancestral type half (15/33) of the types in this subcluster, however, are found
according to the bat outgroup coronavirus. The A and C types are outside East Asia, mainly in the United States and Australia.
found in significant proportions outside East Asia, that is, in Euro- Two derived network nodes are striking in terms of the
peans and Americans. In contrast, the B type is the most common number of individuals included in the nodal type and in muta-
type in East Asia, and its ancestral genome appears not to have tional branches radiating from these nodes. We have labeled
spread outside East Asia without first mutating into derived B types, these phylogenetic clusters B and C.
pointing to founder effects or immunological or environmental For type B, all but 19 of the 93 type B genomes were sampled
resistance against this type outside Asia. The network faithfully in Wuhan (n = 22), in other parts of eastern China (n = 31), and,
traces routes of infections for documented coronavirus disease sporadically, in adjacent Asian countries (n = 21). Outside of
2019 (COVID-19) cases, indicating that phylogenetic networks East Asia, 10 B-types were found in viral genomes from the
can likewise be successfully used to help trace undocumented United States and Canada, one in Mexico, four in France, two in
ANTHROPOLOGY
COVID-19 infection sources, which can then be quarantined to pre- Germany, and one each in Italy and Australia. Node B is derived
vent recurrent spread of the disease worldwide. from A by two mutations: the synonymous mutation T8782C and
the nonsynonymous mutation C28144T changing a leucine to a
SARS-CoV-2 evolution | subtype | ancestral type serine. Cluster B is striking with regard to mutational branch
lengths: While the ancestral B type is monopolized (26/26 ge-
T he search for human origins seemed to take a step forward

with the publication of the global human mitochondrial DNA
tree (1). It soon turned out, however, that the tree-building
nomes) by East Asians, every single (19/19) B-type genome
outside of Asia has evolved mutations. This phenomenon does
not appear to be due to the month-long time lag and concomi-
method did not facilitate an unambiguous interpretation of the tant mutation rate acting on the viral genome before it spread
data. This motivated the development, in the early 1990s, of outside of China (Dataset S1, Supplementary Table 2). A com-
phylogenetic network methods which are capable of enabling the plex founder scenario is one possibility, and a different expla-
visualization of a multitude of optimal trees (2, 3). This network nation worth considering is that the ancestral Wuhan B-type
approach, based on mitochondrial and Y chromosomal data, virus is immunologically or environmentally adapted to a large
allowed us to reconstruct the prehistoric population movements section of the East Asian population, and may need to mutate to
which colonized the planet (4, 5). The phylogenetic network overcome resistance outside East Asia.
approach from 2003 onward then found application in the re-
construction of language prehistory (6). It is now timely to apply
the phylogenetic network approach to virological data to explore Significance
how this method can contribute to an understanding of coronavirus
evolution. This is a phylogenetic network of SARS-CoV-2 genomes sam-
In early March 2020, the GISAID database (https://www. pled from across the world. These genomes are closely related
gisaid.org/) contained a compilation of 253 severe acute re- and under evolutionary selection in their human hosts, some-
spiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) complete and times with parallel evolution events, that is, the same virus
partial genomes contributed by clinicians and researchers from mutation emerges in two different human hosts. This makes
across the world since December 2019. To understand the evo- character-based phylogenetic networks the method of choice
lution of this virus within humans, and to assist in tracing in- for reconstructing their evolutionary paths and their ancestral
fection pathways and designing preventive strategies, we here genome in the human host. The network method has been
present a phylogenetic network of 160 largely complete SARS-Cov-2 used in around 10,000 phylogenetic studies of diverse organ-
genomes (Fig. 1). isms, and is mostly known for reconstructing the prehistoric
Zhou et al. (7) recently reported a closely related bat coro- population movements of humans and for ecological studies,
navirus, with 96.2% sequence similarity to the human virus. We but is less commonly employed in the field of virology.
use this bat virus as an outgroup, resulting in the root of the
Author contributions: P.F. and M.F. performed research; P.F., L.F., and M.F. analyzed data;
network being placed in a cluster of lineages which we have la- P.F. and M.F. performed statistical analyses; P.F., C.R., and M.F. wrote the paper; and C.R.
beled “A.” Overall, the network, as expected in an ongoing wrote the Introduction.
outbreak, shows ancestral viral genomes existing alongside their Reviewers: T.K., Katholieke Universiteit Leuven; and C.S., University Medical Center
newly mutated daughter genomes. Hamburg-Eppendorf.
There are two subclusters of A which are distinguished by the The authors declare no competing interest.
synonymous mutation T29095C. In the T-allele subcluster, four This open access article is distributed under Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0
Chinese individuals (from the southern coastal Chinese province (CC BY).
of Guangdong) carry the ancestral genome, while three Japanese 1
To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: pf223@cam.ac.uk or acr10@cam.
and two American patients differ from it by a number of muta- ac.uk.
tions. These American patients are reported to have had a history This article contains supporting information online at https://www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/
Downloaded by guest on April 12, 2020
of residence in the presumed source of the outbreak in Wuhan. doi:10.1073/pnas.2004999117/-/DCSupplemental.

The C-allele subcluster sports relatively long mutational branches
www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.2004999117 PNAS Latest Articles | 1 of 3

Geography
BAT
CHINA
EAST ASIA
USA
CANADA
EUROPE
AUSTRALIA B
MEXICO
C
BRAZIL
BAT
Fig. 1. Phylogenetic network of 160 SARS-CoV-2 genomes. Node A is the root cluster obtained with the bat (R. affinis) coronavirus isolate BatCoVRaTG13
from Yunnan Province. Circle areas are proportional to the number of taxa, and each notch on the links represents a mutated nucleotide position. The
sequence range under consideration is 56 to 29,797, with nucleotide position (np) numbering according to the Wuhan 1 reference sequence (8). The median-
joining network algorithm (2) and the Steiner algorithm (9) were used, both implemented in the software package Network5011CS (https://www.fluxus-
engineering.com/), with the parameter epsilon set to zero, generating this network containing 288 most-parsimonious trees of length 229 mutations. The
reticulations are mainly caused by recurrent mutations at np11083. The 161 taxa (160 human viruses and one bat virus) yield 101 distinct genomic sequences.
The phylogenetic diagram is available for detailed scrutiny in A0 poster format (SI Appendix, Fig. S5) and in the free Network download files.
Type C differs from its parent type B by the nonsynonymous province), in agreement with his travel history. His virus genome
mutation G26144T which changes a glycine to a valine. In the now coexists with those of other infected North Americans (one
dataset, this is the major European type (n = 11), with repre- Canadian and two Californians) who evidently share a common
sentatives in France, Italy, Sweden, and England, and in California viral genealogy. The case of the single Mexican viral genome in
and Brazil. It is absent in the mainland Chinese sample, but the network is a documented infection diagnosed on 28 February
evident in Singapore (n = 5) and also found in Hong Kong, 2020 in a Mexican traveler to Italy. Not only does the network
Taiwan, and South Korea. confirm the Italian origin of the Mexican virus (SI Appendix, Fig.
One practical application of the phylogenetic network is to S3), but it also implies that this Italian virus derives from the first
reconstruct infection paths where they are unknown and pose a documented German infection on 27 January 2020 in an em-
public health risk. The following cases where the infection his- ployee working for the Webasto company in Munich, who, in turn,
tory is well documented may serve as illustrations (SI Appendix). had contracted the infection from a Chinese colleague in Shang-
On 25 February 2020, the first Brazilian was reported to have hai who had received a visit by her parents from Wuhan. This viral
been infected following a visit to Italy, and the network algorithm journey from Wuhan to Mexico, lasting a month, is documented
reflects this with a mutational link between an Italian and his by 10 mutations in the phylogenetic network.
Brazilian viral genome in cluster C (SI Appendix, Fig. S1). In This viral network is a snapshot of the early stages of an epi-
another case, a man from Ontario had traveled from Wuhan in demic before the phylogeny becomes obscured by subsequent
central China to Guangdong in southern China and then migration and mutation. The question may be asked whether the
returned to Canada, where he fell ill and was conclusively di- rooting of the viral evolution can be achieved at this early stage
agnosed with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on 27 January by using the oldest available sampled genome as a root. As SI
2020. In the phylogenetic network (SI Appendix, Fig. S2), his virus Appendix, Fig. S4 shows, however, the first virus genome that was
genome branches from a reconstructed ancestral node, with derived sampled on 24 December 2019 already is distant from the root
virus variants in Foshan and Shenzhen (both in Guangdong type according to the bat coronavirus outgroup rooting.
2 of 3 | www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.2004999117 Forster et al.

The described core mutations have been confirmed by a va- codes of the resulting 160 sequences and the bat coronavirus sequences are
riety of contributing laboratories and sequencing platforms and listed in Dataset S1, Supplementary Table 2 (Coronavirus Isolate Labels).
can be considered reliable. The phylogeographic patterns in the The 160 human coronavirus sequences comprised exactly 100 different
network are potentially affected by distinctive migratory histo- types. We added to the data the bat coronavirus as an outgroup to determine
ries, founder events, and sample size. Nevertheless, it would be the root within the phylogeny. Phylogenetic network analyses were per-
prudent to consider the possibility that mutational variants might formed with the Network 5011CS package, which includes, among other
modulate the clinical presentation and spread of the disease. The algorithms, the median joining network algorithm (3) and a Steiner tree
algorithm to identify most-parsimonious trees within complex networks (9).
phylogenetic classification provided here may be used to rule out
We coded gaps of adjacent nucleotides as single deletion events (these
or confirm such effects when evaluating clinical and epidemio-
deletions being rare, up to 24 nucleotides long, and mostly in the amino acid
logical outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 infection, and when designing
reading frame) and ran the data with the epsilon parameter set to zero, and
treatment and, eventually, vaccines.
performed an exploratory run by setting the epsilon parameter to 10. Both
settings yielded a low-complexity network. The Steiner tree algorithm was
Materials and Methods
then run on both networks and provided the identical result that the most-
The Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data (GISAID) was founded
parsimonious trees within the network were of length 229 mutations. The
in 2006, and, since 2010, has been hosted by the German Federal Ministry of
structures of both networks were very similar, with the epsilon 10 setting
Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection. GISAID has also become a
coronavirus repository since December 2019. As of 4 March 2020, the cutoff providing an additional rectangle between the A and B clusters. The net-
point for our phylogenetic analysis, the GISAID database (https://www.gisaid. work output was annotated using the Network Publisher option to indicate
org/) had compiled 254 coronavirus genomes, isolated from 244 humans, geographic regions, sample collection times, and cluster nomenclature.
nine Chinese pangolins, and one bat Rhinolophus affinis (BatCoVRaTG13
from Yunnan Province, China). The sequences have been deposited by 82 Data Availability. The nucleotide sequences of the SARS-CoV-2 genomes used
laboratories listed in Dataset S1, Supplementary Table 1. Although SARS-CoV-2 in this analysis are available, upon free registration, from the GISAID data-
is an RNA virus, the deposited sequences, by convention, are in DNA format. base (https://www.gisaid.org/). The Network5011 software package and
Our initial alignment confirmed an earlier report by Zhou et al. (7) that the coronavirus network files are available as shareware on the Fluxus
pangolin coronavirus sequences are poorly conserved with respect to the hu- Technology website (https://www.fluxus-engineering.com/).
ANTHROPOLOGY
man SARS-CoV-2 virus, while the bat coronavirus yielded a sequence similarity
of 96.2% in our analysis, in agreement with the 96.2% published by Zhou et al. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. We gratefully acknowledge the authors and origi-
We discarded partial sequences, and used only the most complete genomes nating and submitting laboratories of the sequences from GISAID’s EpiFlu(TM)
that we aligned to the full reference genome by Wu et al. (8) comprising Database on which this research is based. We are grateful to Trevor Bedford
29,903 nucleotides. Finally, to ensure comparability, we truncated the flanks of (GISAID) for providing instructions and advice on the database. A table of the
all sequences to the consensus range 56 to 29,797, with nucleotide position contributors is available in Dataset S1, Supplementary Table 1. We thank Arne
numbering according to the Wuhan 1 reference sequence (8). The laboratory Röhl for assessing the network.
1. R. L. Cann, M. Stoneking, A. C. Wilson, Mitochondrial DNA and human evolution. 6. P. Forster, C. Renfrew, Phylogenetic Methods and the Prehistory of Languages
Nature 325, 31–36 (1987). (McDonald Institute Press, 2006).
2. H. J. Bandelt, P. Forster, B. C. Sykes, M. B. Richards, Mitochondrial portraits of human 7. P. Zhou et al., A pneumonia outbreak associated with a new coronavirus of probable
populations using median networks. Genetics 141, 743–753 (1995).
bat origin. Nature 579, 270–273 (2020).
3. H. J. Bandelt, P. Forster, A. Röhl, Median-joining networks for inferring intraspecific
8. F. Wu et al., A new coronavirus associated with human respiratory disease in China.
phylogenies. Mol. Biol. Evol. 16, 37–48 (1999).
4. P. Forster, C. Renfrew, Evolution. Mother tongue and Y chromosomes. Science 333, Nature 579, 265–269 (2020).
1390–1391 (2011). 9. T. Polzin, S. V. Daneshmand, On Steiner trees and minimum-spanning trees in hyper-
5. C. Renfrew, P. Bahn, The Cambridge World Prehistory (Cambridge University Press, 2014). graphs. Oper. Res. Lett. 31, 12–20 (2003).
Forster et al. PNAS Latest Articles | 3 of 3

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04.20.20 Post Author R

Guest Post: Finer Details About Rick Allen Jones, su
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Bill Gates Employee Arrested for Trade of Child th
fo
Exploitation Footage
up
Posted in Bill Gates at 3:48 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
S
Y
Contact us (encrypted/PGP ) i
s
helping the exte
site's content
Site H
Supporting the Efforts
Backg
Support Techrights the site
key fea
front page
Spread TechBytes IRC C

Come
with us
time
Pages Recent Pos
About the Editors IRC Procee

About the Site Friday, Apri
Billwatch Resurrected Links 24/4/2
Billwatch Articles Database Ubuntu LTS
Billwatch Quotes Database 3.9.6 and 3
Billwatch Snippets 1.43.0
Database – Part I One Thing t
Billwatch Snippets Software Fe
Days before his death Jeffrey Epstein “amended his will and named Mr. Nikolic [Bill Database – Part II Gets Wrong
and Melinda Gates Foundation’s science adviser, shown on the right] as a fallback Billwatch Snippets FSFE
Database – Part III IRC Procee
executor,” according to the report which published this photograph .
Billwatch Snippets Thursday, A
Database – Part IV 2020
Summary: Further research into the suppressed case (and arrest followed by guilty
Comes vs. Microsoft Software Fr
plea) that involves selling pre-teen rape footage; the police is still uncooperative in Companies to Avoid Means Soc
the sense that it has provided not a single page of its 2,851-page report Donate Freedom in
W
Frequently-Asked Questions Increasingly
E receive a lot of mail from readers and sometimes it is noteworthy Foire aux Questions Giving Awa
enough for publication, either anonymously or not. One reader, who is (French) Raytheon W
a new reader, found our series about the FOIA — a series which has Get the Facts: Microsoft/Novell Red Hat's Im
been cited by some journalists and book authors this year. They takes Deal 3,500 Article
it seriously, as they really ought to. How to Use This Web Site EPO Rema
Introduction to Patents (in and Unjust
Videos) Governed b
Our new reader wanted to move our research forward, in spite of the lock-down.
IRC Channels EPO and So
“This led me to case number 14-1-06789-1,” he said, “Washington vs. Rick Allen
IRC Archives 'Watchdog'
Jones. About 30 hours of research on this.” His succinct findings are below: Making the Move to GNU/Linux in the Judge
Microsoft Critique: Resources Sense
ODF Resources IRC Procee
I’d like to share some unique findings: OOXML Abuse Index Wednesday
Pages Archive 2020
- It’s the only King County child pornography case WITHOUT law enforcement Patent TrollTracker Resurrected Links 23/4/2
associated with it. That came from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Related Sites 20.0.5, Ubu
Children. For reference: Hundreds of King County cases are listed here with the Samba Resources Out Shortly
investigative agency. [To quote the page: “CourtWatch gathers data about the justice Search Links 22/4/2
system to support improvements to the system response to sexual violence. Our Site Archives (Download) Lite, Debian
Site Wiki GNU/Linux
hope is that these monthly case summaries will provide helpful information about
Old Drivers
how sex offense cases progress through King County’s criminal justice system. The
information contained in these case summaries was obtained through reviewing the The Free Software Credibility Microsoft N
public record, and case summaries are posted after a defendant has been convicted Index Anybody
and sentenced.”] Twitter and Identi.ca Entryism W
Why Boycott? Uses COVI
Pandemic to
- There should be, at minimum 3 but possibly 5, King County search warrants
Microsoft an
attached to this case, but none can be found.
Search Techrights Proprietary
Traps After
1) Property – UNIT 211 (and maybe neighboring 208 as his sister lives there)
Money (Brib
Search
Microsoft an
2) Equipment – COMPUTER (that was seized and searched) Oppressive
Tentacles (G
3) Email Address – GOOGLE INC. EMAIL ADDRESS (that triggered the Google › IRC Procee
investigation) Google search produces more Tuesday, Ap
relevant results, whereas Links 22/4/2
4) Equipment – PHONE (for checking other files) normal search places recent Valve's Prot
ones first. Advanced search Games, Nix
5. Internet Protocol Address (Issued with the Released, P
“Rick Allen Jones Internet company in his apartment) Subset and
Archives 20.04 Out S
was required to - After searching a multitude of King County UPC Totally
April 2020
register as a sex criminal cases in 2014, all include an ORDER March 2020
Momentum
France Kee
FOR WARRANT attached to a BOND except
offender. Through for this case. Jones’ attorney Jeffrey D. Cohen
February 2020
January 2020
European In
Award (Milli
three detailed was also on another Child Pornography case in December 2019
Euros of EP
November 2019
searches, UNITED 2007 [07-1-04378-7] — in which the Defendant
(a well respected teacher of 24 years) was October 2019
The Role P
Media Cont
STATES, caught with only 39 sexually explicit images September 2019
August 2019
Litigation Co
WASHINGTON of boys, and had a $10,000 bond placed.

Jones, with over 6,000 images, including pre-
July 2019
Promoting t
Patent (UPC
STATE, KING teen rape, was never issued that
June 2019
May 2019
Reporting A
Reporting a
COUNTY, he is not Warrant/Bond, but rather a slap on the wrist. April 2019
Disease of
Here is information on that other case covered March 2019
registered by SeattlePI . February 2019
Pandemic to
Advertiseme
anywhere.” January 2019
December 2018
Panic
But unlike Rick Allen Jones’ case, it was also IRC Procee
featured in the Seattle Times here . [Editorial November 2018
Monday, Ap
October 2018
note: As we noted several times in the past, the Seattle Times received money from Links 20/4/2
September 2018
Bill Gates] 5.7 RC2, Bl
August 2018
4.0.0 and D
July 2018
- Rick Allen Jones was required to register as a sex offender. Through three detailed Guest Post:
June 2018
Details Abo
searches, UNITED STATES, WASHINGTON STATE, KING COUNTY, he is not May 2018
Allen Jones
registered anywhere. There is also no Inmate DOC # as his 90-day sentence was April 2018
Employee A
Ankle Monitored House Arrest. March 2018
Trade of Ch
February 2018
Exploitation
- According to Washington State Law, his 9.68A guilty charge cannot be vacated January 2018
Editorial No
nor sealed. December 2017
Conflate Le
November 2017
Inquiry Abo
- Following up on NamelyLiberty’s October 2017
and Jeffrey
“There is also no request for documents from the September 2017
August 2017
With Nutty a
Seattle Police: P047691-091319. Unverified C
Inmate DOC # as his Request Status is listed as
July 2017
Theories
June 2017
90-day sentence was INSTALLMENTS. Furthermore, due May 2017
IRC Procee
Sunday, Ap
Ankle Monitored to the case >Hikel v. City of
Lynnwood, 197 Wn. App. 366
April 2017
March 2017
Links 19/4/2
House Arrest.” (12/27/2016), the judgement ruled February 2017

Jonathan C
Elected DP
“Requesting a clarification on a January 2017
Free Design
December 2016
records request does not extend the time to provide the records or indicate COVID-19 B
November 2016
that more time was needed.” That case can be referenced here . [PDF] The Covert
October 2016
of Publisher
September 2016
- Minor extra: Twitter account @JeffreyDCohen206 is linked to the work email: Cover Pate
August 2016
jdc@jdcohenlaw.com European L
July 2016
Are Marketi
June 2016
Software Pa
Ever since Gary Little in the 80s, people have become more aware that the Seattle May 2016
Meaningles
elite will go through great lengths to cover up their crimes. If you reference this April 2016
Buzzwords
page , CTRL+F for “Gary Little”, you’ll also see the ties between Gates Sr., Little, March 2016
JUVE Has a
and Frank Blethen (owner of the Seattle Times that blacked out Jones’ story). █ February 2016
'Survey' Tha
January 2016
UPC Lobby
Share this post: December 2015
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If you liked this post, consider subscribing to the RSS feed or join us now at the IRC July 2015 IRC Procee
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January 2015 Released
December 2014 IRC Procee
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Leave a Comment October 2014 Free Softwa
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June 2014 Links 17/4/2
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December 2013 Systemd an
IRC logs for Friday, April 24, 2020 November 2013 “Absolute tr
October 2013 very rare an
September 2013 dangerous c
August 2013 in the conte
July 2013 professiona
June 2013 journalism.”
2. Links 24/4/2020: Ubuntu LTS, Alpine 3.9.6 and May 2013 Thompson
3.10.5, Rust 1.43.0 April 2013 EPO Manag
March 2013 Trying to Vio
Links for the day February 2013 EPC and Ju
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December 2012 Grants Duri
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3. One Thing the Free Software Fellowship Gets September 2012 Better Syste
August 2012 IRC Procee
Wrong About FSFE July 2012 Thursday, A
June 2012 2020
"I worked with its founders and encouraged them to start FSFE," May 2012 When Com
Richard Stallman recalls, but the FSFE did not defend him after April 2012 Means Surr
media had defamed him out of the FSF's leadership and Board March 2012 Of Note: FS
February 2012 Money From
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December 2011 Trust Issues
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September 2011 Introduction
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June 2011 6.4.3, White
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April 2011 Suspected
March 2011 Award to M
5. Software Freedom Means Societal Freedom in February 2011 Put Your Ha
January 2011 the Air (Sur
the Increasingly Digital Age
December 2010 Microsoft)
November 2010 For Reporti
The discussion about software freedom becomes increasingly
October 2010 Accuracy La
urgent because of public panic that drives acceptance of September 2010 Should Not
oppressive measures August 2010 Much as Sty
July 2010 Track Reco
June 2010 IRC Procee
May 2010 Wednesday
April 2010 2020
6. Giving Awards to Raytheon Won't Help Red March 2010 Discrediting
February 2010 Information
Hat's Image January 2010 Associating
December 2009 However Va
This morning's revelations from Red Hat aren't particularly November 2009 With Cranks
pacifying or calming (except to the war industry) October 2009 Distortions
September 2009 Circulating A
August 2009 Web This W
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June 2009 Again Confi
7. 3,500 Articles Later the EPO Remains a Cruel May 2009 of the UPC,
April 2009 UPC is Not
and Unjust Place Governed by Despots
March 2009 Links 15/4/2
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properly addressed yet November 2008
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8. EPO and So-called 'Watchdog' Compatible in June 2008
May 2008
the Judge-Bashing Sense April 2008
March 2008
The tradition of demonising judges who enforce the law February 2008
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judge whose decision isn’t financially useful to them November 2007
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10. Links 23/4/2020: Mesa 20.0.5, Ubuntu 20.04
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and/or Panic RAND (113)
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contributes to greater injustice
27. European Law Firms Are Marketing Illegal

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29. Quit and Reject the Pretense That Microsoft

and GitHub Are Different Things
Evidence is mounting/growing that GitHub, the original company,
had no business model other than becoming a trap for companies
looking to entrap and abuse lots of Free software projects. That
company was Microsoft, ambushing GitHub since 2014, by its
own admission. The entrapment has been ramped up since, with
more proprietary 'features' (lock-in).
30. IRC Proceedings: Saturday, April 18, 2020
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Bill Gates Met With Jeffrey Epstein Many Times,

Despite His Past
At Jeffrey Epstein’s Manhattan mansion in 2011, from left: James E. Staley, at the time a senior
JPMorgan executive; former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers; Mr. Epstein; Bill
Gates, Microsoft’s co-founder; and Boris Nikolic, who was the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation’s science adviser.
By Emily Flitter and James B. Stewart
Published Oct. 12, 2019 Updated Nov. 26, 2019
Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender who committed suicide in

prison, managed to lure an astonishing array of rich, powerful and famous
men into his orbit.
There were billionaires (Leslie Wexner and Leon Black), politicians (Bill
Clinton and Bill Richardson), Nobel laureates (Murray Gell-Mann and
Frank Wilczek) and even royals (Prince Andrew).
[Jeffrey Epstein’s charity: An image boost built on deception.]
Up-to-date information on coronavirus is available for free.
Few, though, compared in prestige and power to the world’s second-richest
person, a brilliant and intensely private luminary: Bill Gates. And unlike
many others, Mr. Gates started the relationship after Mr. Epstein was
convicted
Up-to-date of sex
information on crimes.
coronavirus is available for free. CONTINUE
Mr. Gates, the Microsoft co-founder, whose $100 billion-plus fortune has
endowed the world’s largest charitable organization, has done his best to
minimize his connections to Mr. Epstein. “I didn’t have any business
relationship or friendship with him,” he told The Wall Street Journal last
month.
ADVER T ISEM ENT
In fact, beginning in 2011, Mr. Gates met with Mr. Epstein on numerous
occasions — including at least three times at Mr. Epstein’s palatial
Manhattan townhouse, and at least once staying late into the night,
according to interviews with more than a dozen people familiar with the
relationship, as well as documents reviewed by The New York Times.
Employees of Mr. Gates’s foundation also paid multiple visits to Mr.

Epstein’s mansion. And Mr. Epstein spoke with the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation and JPMorgan Chase about a proposed multibillion-dollar
charitable fund — an arrangement that had the potential to generate
enormous fees for Mr. Epstein.
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“His lifestyle is very different and kind of intriguing although it would not
work for me,” Mr. Gates emailed colleagues in 2011, after his first get-
together with Mr. Epstein.
Bridgitt Arnold, a spokeswoman for Mr. Gates, said he “was referring only
CONTINUE
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to the on coronavirus
unique décor is available
of the Epstein for free.
residence — and Epstein’s habit of
spontaneously bringing acquaintances in to meet Mr. Gates.”
ADVER T ISEM ENT
“It was in no way meant to convey a sense of interest or approval,” she said.
Over and over, Mr. Epstein managed to cultivate close relationships with
some of the world’s most powerful men. He lured them with the whiff of
money and the proximity to other powerful, famous or wealthy people — so
much so that many looked past his reputation for sexual misconduct. And
the more people he drew into his circle, the easier it was for him to attract
others.
Mr. Gates and the $51 billion Gates Foundation have championed the well-
being of young girls. By the time Mr. Gates and Mr. Epstein first met, Mr.
Epstein had served jail time for soliciting prostitution from a minor and was
required to register as a sex offender.
Ms. Arnold said that “high-profile people” had introduced Mr. Gates and
Mr. Epstein and that they had met multiple times to discuss philanthropy.
“Bill Gates regrets ever meeting with Epstein and recognizes it was an
error in judgment to do so,” Ms. Arnold said. “Gates recognizes that
entertaining Epstein’s ideas related to philanthropy gave Epstein an
undeserved platform that was at odds with Gates’s personal values and the
The First
values of his Meeting
foundation.”
Two members of Mr. Gates’s inner circle — Boris Nikolic and Melanie
Walker — were close to Mr. Epstein and at times functioned as
CONTINUE
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intermediaries coronavirus is available
the two men. for free.
Ms. Walker met Mr. Epstein in 1992, six months after graduating from the
University of Texas. Mr. Epstein, who was an adviser to Mr. Wexner, the
owner of Victoria’s Secret, told Ms. Walker that he could land her an
audition for a modeling job there, according to Ms. Walker. She later
traveled to New York and stayed in a Manhattan apartment building that
Mr. Epstein owned. After she graduated from medical school, she said, Mr.
Epstein hired her as a science adviser in 1998.
Ms. Walker later met Steven Sinofsky, a senior executive at Microsoft who
became president of its Windows division, and moved to Seattle to be with
him. In 2006, she joined the Gates Foundation with the title of senior
program officer.
ADVER T ISEM ENT
At the foundation, Ms. Walker met and befriended Mr. Nikolic, a native of
what is now Croatia and a former fellow at Harvard Medical School who
was the foundation’s science adviser. Mr. Nikolic and Mr. Gates frequently
traveled and socialized together.
Ms. Walker, who had remained in close touch with Mr. Epstein, introduced
him to Mr. Nikolic, and the men became friendly.
Mr. Epstein and Mr. Gates first met face to face on the evening of Jan. 31,
2011, at Mr. Epstein’s townhouse on the Upper East Side. They were joined
by Dr. Eva Andersson-Dubin, a former Miss Sweden whom Mr. Epstein had
once dated, and her 15-year-old daughter. (Dr. Andersson-Dubin’s husband,
the hedge fund billionaire Glenn Dubin, was a friend and business associate
of Mr. Epstein’s. The Dubins declined to comment.)
CONTINUE
The gathering started at 8 and lasted several hours, according to Ms.
Arnold, Mr. Gates’s spokeswoman. Mr. Epstein subsequently boasted about
the meeting in emails to friends and associates. “Bill’s great,” he wrote in
one, reviewed by The Times.
Mr. Gates, in turn, praised Mr. Epstein’s charm and intelligence. Emailing
colleagues the next day, he said: “A very attractive Swedish woman and her
daughter dropped by and I ended up staying there quite late.”
Mr. Gates soon saw Mr. Epstein again. At a TED conference in Long Beach,
Calif., attendees spotted the two men engaged in private conversation.
ADVER T ISEM ENT
Later that spring, on May 3, 2011, Mr. Gates again visited Mr. Epstein at his
New York mansion, according to emails about the meeting and a
photograph reviewed by The Times.
The photo, taken in Mr. Epstein’s marble-clad entrance hall, shows a

beaming Mr. Epstein — in blue-and-gold slippers and a fleece decorated
with an American flag — flanked by luminaries. On his right: James E.
Staley, at the time a senior JPMorgan executive, and former Treasury
Secretary Lawrence Summers. On his left: Mr. Nikolic and Mr. Gates,
smiling and wearing gray slacks and a navy sweater.
A Vast Charitable Fund
Around that time, the Gates Foundation and JPMorgan were teaming up to
create the Global Health Investment Fund. Its goal was to provide
“individual and institutional investors the opportunity to finance late-stage
CONTINUE
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global on coronavirus
health technologies is available
that have thefor free.
potential to save millions of lives in
low-income countries.”
As the details of the fund were being hammered out, Mr. Staley told his
JPMorgan colleagues that Mr. Epstein wanted to be brought into the
discussions, according to two people familiar with the talks. Mr. Epstein
was an important JPMorgan customer, holding millions of dollars in
accounts at the bank and referring a procession of wealthy individuals to
become clients of the company.
Mr. Epstein pitched an idea for a separate charitable fund to JPMorgan

officials, including Mr. Staley, and to Mr. Gates’s adviser Mr. Nikolic. He
envisioned a vast fund, seeded with the Gates Foundation’s money, that
would focus on health projects around the world, according to five people
involved in or briefed on the talks, including current and former Gates
Foundation and JPMorgan employees. In addition to the Gates money, Mr.
Epstein planned to round up donations from his wealthy friends and,
hopefully, from JPMorgan’s richest clients.
Mr. Epstein thought he could personally benefit. He circulated a four-page

proposal that included a suggestion that he be paid 0.3 percent of whatever
money he raised, according to one person who saw the proposal. If Mr.
Epstein had raised $10 billion, for example, that would have amounted to
$30 million in fees.
Ms. Arnold said Mr. Gates and the foundation had been unaware that Mr.
Epstein had been seeking any fee. She said Mr. Epstein “did propose to Bill
Gates and then foundation officials ideas that he promised would unleash
hundreds of billions for global health-related work.”
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ADVER T ISEM ENT
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How does the Gates Foundation spend its

money to feed the world?
by GRAIN | 4 Nov 2014 | Against the grain
Download PDF version (1.32 MB) Français Español
(You can read a Guardian article about this report,

a Reuters piece in which Gates "refutes" it, and a
response by AGRA.)
“Listening to farmers and addressing their specific

needs. We talk to farmers about the crops they
want to grow and eat, as well as the unique
challenges they face. We partner with
organizations that understand and are equipped to
address these challenges, and we invest in
research to identify relevant and affordable
solutions that farmers want and will use.”
First guiding principle of the Gates Foundation's work on

agriculture.1
At some point in June this year, the total amount given as grants to
food and agriculture projects by the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation surpassed the US$3 billion mark. It marked quite a
milestone. From nowhere on the agricultural scene less than a
decade ago, the Gates Foundation has emerged as one of the
world's major donors to agricultural research and development.
The Gates Foundation is arguably the biggest philanthropic venture

ever. It currently holds a $40 billion endowment, made up mostly of
contributions from Gates and his billionaire friend Warren Buffet.
The foundation has over 1,200 staff, and has given over $30 billion
in grants since its inception in 2000, $3.6 billion in 2013 alone.2
Most of the grants go to global health programmes and educational
work in the US, traditionally the foundation's priority areas. But in
2006-2007, the foundation massively expanded its funding for
agriculture, with the launch of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in
Africa (AGRA) and a series of large grants to the international
agricultural research system (CGIAR). In 2007, it spent over half a
billion dollars on agricultural projects and has maintained funding at
around this level. The vast majority of the foundation's agricultural
grants focus on Africa.
Spending so much money

gives the foundation
significant influence over
agricultural research and
development agendas. As
the weight of the
foundation's overall focus
on technology and private
sector partnerships has A junior business advisor for TechnoServe discusses
farming techniques with a Ugandan farmer.
begun to be felt in the
Technoserve is the NGO receiving the most funds
global agriculture arena, it from the Gates Foundation. It's a US based NGO that
has raised opposition and develops “business solutions to poverty”. Running on
an $80 million annual budget, it received a total of
controversy, particularly $85 million from the Gates Foundation during the
around its work in Africa. last decade. Over half of these funds came through a
2007 grant “to help entrepreneurial men and women
Critics say that the Gates
in poor rural areas of the developing world build
Foundation is promoting business”. Technoserve carries out this work
through partnerships with food corporations such as
an imported model of Cargill, Unilever, Coca Cola and Nestlé, who bring
industrial agriculture based “world-class business and industry expertise” and
on the high-tech seeds and who are offered, through the programme, "new
market and sourcing opportunities”.
chemicals sold by US
corporations. They say the foundation is fixated on the work of
scientists in centralised labs and that it chooses to ignore the
knowledge and biodiversity that Africa's small farmers have
developed and maintained over generations. Some also charge that
the Gates Foundation is using its money to impose a policy agenda
on Africa, accusing the foundation of direct intervention on highly
controversial issues like seed laws and GMOs.
GRAIN looked through the foundation's publicly available financial

records to see if the actual flows of money support these critiques.
We combed through all the grants for agriculture that the Gates
Foundation gave between 2003 and September 20143. We then
organised the grant recipients into major groupings (see table 2)
and constructed a database which can be downloaded as a
spreadsheet or as a more printer-friendly table from GRAIN's
website.4
Here are some of the conclusions we were able to draw from the
data.
1. The Gates Foundation fights hunger in the South by giving money to the North.
Graph 1 and Table 1 give

the overall picture. Roughly
half of the foundation's
grants for agriculture went
to four big groupings: the
CGIAR's global agriculture
research network,
international organisations
(World Bank, UN agencies,
Click to enlarge – Graph 1: the Gates Foundation’s $3
etc.), AGRA (set up by billion pie (agriculture grants, by region).
Gates itself) and the
African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF). The other half
ended up with hundreds of different research, development and
policy organisations across the world. Of this last group, over 80%
of the grants were given to organisations in the US and Europe, 10%
went to groups in Africa, and the remainder elsewhere. Table 2 lists
the top 10 countries where Gates grantees are located and the
amounts they received, highlighting some of the main grantees. By
far the main recipient country is Gates's own home country, the US,
followed by the UK, Germany and the Netherlands.
When it comes to agricultural grants by the foundation to

universities and national research centres across the world, 79%
went to grantees in the US and Europe, and a meagre 12% to
recipients in Africa.
The North-South divide is most shocking, however, when we look at

the NGOs that the Gates Foundation supports. One would assume
that a significant portion of the frontline work that the foundation
funds in Africa would be carried out by organisations based there.
But of the $669 million that the Gates Foundation has granted to
non-governmental organisations for agricultural work, over three
quarters has gone to organisations based in the US. Africa-based
NGOs get a meagre 4% of the overall agriculture-related grants to
NGOs.
2. The Gates Foundation gives to

scientists, not farmers
As can be seen in Graph 2,

the single biggest recipient
of grants from the Gates
Foundation is the CGIAR, a
click to enlange consortium of 15
international agricultural
research centres. In the 1960s and 70s, these centres were
responsible for the development and spread of a controversial
Green Revolution model of agriculture in parts of Asia and Latin
America which focused on the mass distribution of a few varieties
of seeds that could produce high yields – with the generous
application of chemical fertilisers and pesticides. Efforts to
implement the same model in Africa failed and, globally, the CGIAR
lost relevance as corporations like Syngenta and Monsanto took
control over seed markets. Money from the Gates Foundation is
providing CGIAR and its Green Revolution model a new lease on life,
this time in direct partnership with seed and pesticide companies.5
The CGIAR centres have Click to enlarge – Graph 2: the Gates Foundation’s $3
billion pie (agriculture grants, by type of
received over $720 million organisation).
from Gates since 2003.
During the same period,
another $678 million went
to universities and national
research centres across
the world – over three-
quarters of them in the US
and Europe – for research
and development of specific technologies, such as crop varieties
and breeding techniques.
The Gates Foundation's support for AGRA and the AATF is tightly
linked to this research agenda. These organisations seek, in
different ways, to facilitate research by the CGIAR and other
research programmes supported by the Gates Foundation and to
ensure that the technologies that come out of the labs get into
farmers' fields. AGRA trains farmers on how to use the
technologies, and even organises them into groups to better access
the technologies, but it does not support farmers in building up their
own seed systems or in doing their own research.6
We could find no evidence of any support from the Gates

Foundation for programmes of research or technology development
carried out by farmers or based on farmers' knowledge, despite the
multitude of such initiatives that exist across the continent. (African
farmers, after all, do continue to supply an estimated 90% of the
seed used on the continent!) The foundation has consistently
chosen to put its money into top down structures of knowledge
generation and flow, where farmers' are mere recipients of the
technologies developed in labs and sold to them by companies.
3. The Gates Foundation buys political influence
Does the Gates Foundation use its money to tell African

governments what to do? Not directly. The Gates Foundation set up
the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa in 2006 and has
supported it with $414 million since then. It holds two seats on the
Alliance's board and describes it as the “African face and voice for
our work”7.
AGRA, like the Gates Foundation, provides grants to research

programmes. It also funds initiatives and agribusiness companies
operating in Africa to develop private markets for seeds and
fertilisers through support to "agro-dealers" (see box on Malawi). An
important component of its work, however, is shaping policy.
AGRA intervenes directly in the formulation and revision of

agricultural policies and regulations in Africa on such issues as land
and seeds. It does so through national "policy action nodes" of
experts, selected by AGRA, that work to advance particular policy
changes. For example, in Ghana, AGRA's Seed Policy Action Node
drafted revisions to the country's national seed policy and
submitted it to the government. The Ghana Food Sovereignty
Network has been fiercely battling such policies since the
government put them forward. In Mozambique, AGRA's Seed Policy
Action Node drafted plant variety protection regulations in 2013,
and in Tanzania it reviewed national seed policies and presented a
study on the demand for certified seeds. Also in Tanzania, its Land
Policy Action Node is involved in revising the Village Land Act as
well as "reviewing laws governing land titling at the district level and
working closely with district officials to develop guidelines for
formulation of by-laws."8
The African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) is another

Gates Foundation supported organisation that straddles the
technology and policy arenas. Since 2008, it has received $95
million from the Gates Foundation, which it used to to support the
development and distribution of hybrid maize and rice varieties. But
it also uses funds from the Gates Foundation to "positively change
public perceptions" about GMOs and to lobby for regulatory
changes that will increase the adoption of GM products in Africa.9
In a similar vein, the Gates Foundation provides Harvard University

University with funds to promote discussion of biotechnology in
Africa, Michigan University with a grant to set up a centre to help
African policymakers decide on how best to use biotechnology, and
Cornell University with funds to create a global “agricultural
communications platform” so that people better understand
science-based agricultural technologies, with AATF as a main
partner.
Gates & AGRA in Malawi: organising the agro-dealers
One of AGRA's core programmes in Africa is the establishment of

"agro-dealer" networks: small, private stockists who sell
chemicals and seeds to farmers. In Malawi, AGRA provided a
$4.3 million grant for the Malawi Agro-dealer Strengthening
Programme (MASP) to supply hybrid maize seeds and chemical
pesticides, herbicides and fertilisers.
The main supplier to the agro-dealers in Malawi has been

Monsanto, responsible for 67% of all inputs. A Monsanto country
manager disclosed that all of Monsanto’s sales of seeds and
herbicides in Malawi are made through AGRA's agro-dealer
network.
“Agro-dealers... act as vessels for promoting input suppliers’

products,” says one MASP project document. Another states:
“supply companies have expressed their appreciation for field
days because MASP trained agro-dealers are helping them
promote their products in the very remotest areas of Malawi.”
Training the agro-dealers on product knowledge is carried out by
the corporate suppliers of the products themselves. In addition,
these agro-dealers are increasingly the source of farming advice
to small farmers, and an alternative to the government’s
agricultural extension service.
A project evaluation
report states that 44% of
the agro-dealers in the
programme were
providing extension
services. According to
the World Bank: “The
agro-dealers have...
become the most An agro-dealer in Malawi. (Photo: AGRA)
important extension
nodes for the rural poor... A new form of private sector driven
extension system is emerging in these countries.”
The agro-dealer project in Malawi has been implemented by

CNFA, a US-based organisation funded by the Gates Foundation,
USAID and DFID, and its local affiliate the Rural Market
Development Trust (RUMARK), whose trustees include four seed
and chemical suppliers: Monsanto, SeedCo, Farmers World and
Farmers Association.
Adapted from “The hunger games” by War on Want, London,

2012.
Listening to farmers?
“Listening to farmers and addressing their specific needs” is the

first guiding principle of the Gates Foundation's work on
agriculture.10 But it is hard to listen to someone when you cannot
hear them. Small farmers in Africa do not participate in the spaces
where the agendas are set for the agricultural research institutions,
NGOs or initiatives, like AGRA, that the Gates Foundation supports.
These spaces are dominated by foundation reps, high-level
politicians, business executives, and scientists.
Listening to someone, if it has any real significance, should also

include the intent to learn. But nowhere in the programmes funded
by the Gates Foundation is there any indication that it believes that
Africa's small farmers have anything to teach, that they have
anything to contribute to research, development and policy
agendas. The continent's farmers are always cast as the recipients,
the consumers of knowledge and technology from others. In
practice, the foundation's first guiding principle appears to be a
marketing exercise to sell its technologies to farmers. In that, it
looks, not surprisingly, a lot like Microsoft.
GRAIN would like to thank Camila Oda Montecinos for her help in
pulling together the database and the graphic materials.
Putting your money where your mouth is
In September 2014, the Rockefeller heirs decided to follow some

of their philanthropic peers and divest the money in their
foundations from fossil fuels, citing moral reasons. Gates too,
with his foundation holding around $700 million in shares in
Exxon, BP and Shell, has been under pressure to make his
investments more socially responsible.11
In 2007, the Los Angeles Times revealed that hundreds of Gates

Foundation investments – totalling at least $8.7 billion, or 41% of
its assets – were in companies that ran counter to the
foundation's charitable goals or social philosophy. Shortly
afterwards, the (Graphic: Mother Jones)
foundation announced a
review of its
investments to assess
their social
responsibility. That
review, however, was
quickly trashed and the
foundation decided to
stick with a policy of
investing for maximum
return.12
The foundation does,

however, claim
that“when instructing
the investment
managers, Bill and
Melinda also consider
other issues beyond corporate profits, including the values that
drive the foundation's work”.13
It is difficult to see what that amounts to when it comes to its

food and agriculture programme. The Gates Foundation
maintains that “access to diverse, nutritious foods is
fundamental to good health” but its food related investments go
almost exclusively to the fast food industry. A stunning $3.1
billion went to companies like Coca Cola, McDonald’s, Pepsico,
Burger King, and KFC in 2012. The Foundation has $1 billion tied
up in the world's largest supermarket chain, Walmart, which is a
major force driving out small farms in favour of large suppliers.14
The Gates Foundation has also bought $23 million in shares of
the world's leading producer of genetically engineered crops,
Monsanto.15
Table 1: Gates Foundation agricultural grants by type of grantee, 2003-2014
$US
Agency Main recipients
million
The CGIAR is a consortium of 15 international research
centres set up to promote the Green Revolution across the
world. Gates is now amongst its major donors. Main
recipients include: IFPRI ($167 million), CIMMYT ($132m),
CGIAR 720 IRRI ($139m), ICRISAT ($76m), IITA ($49m), ILRI ($15m),
CIP ($55m), CIAT ($33m) and others. Most of the grants are
in the form of project support to each of the centres, and
many of them are focussing on developing new crop
varieties.
A total of 14 grants for core support and AGRA's main issue
AGRA 414 areas: seeds, soils, markets, and lobbying African
governments to change policies and legislation.
World Bank - IBRD ($119m); World Food Programme (WFP)
($79m); UNDP ($54m.); FAO ($50 m.) UN Foundation
($30m). The lion's share of the grants to the World Bank are
Int'l orgs
to promote public and private sector investment in
(UN, World 362
agriculture ($60m), WFP is supported to improve market
Bank, etc.)
opportunities for small farmers, UNDP to establish rural
agro-enterprises in West Africa, and the support to FAO is
mostly for statistical and policy work.
AATF (African Agricultural Technology Foundation) is a
blatantly pro-GMO pro-corporate research outfit based in
Nairobi. Gates supported them with almost $100 m mostly
AATF 95
to develop and distribute hybrid maize and rice varieties, but
also to raise “awareness on agricultural biotechnology for
improved understanding and appreciation”.
Over three quarters of all Gates funding to universities and
research centres goes to institutions in the US and Europe,
such as Cornell, Michigan and Harvard in the US, and
Cambridge and Greenwich Universities in the UK, amongst
many others. The work supported is a mix of basic
agronomic, breeding and molecular research, as well as
policy research. A lot of it includes genetic engineering.
Universities Michigan State University, for example, got $13m to help
& National African policy makers “to make informed decisions on how
678 to use biotechnology”.
Research
Centres. Although most of the foundation's grants are supposed
to benefit Africa, barely 12% of its grants to universities
and research centres go directly to African institutions
($80m in total, of which $30m for the Uganda based
Regional University Forum set up by the Rockefeller
Foundation.
Service 669 The Gates Foundation sees these as agents to implement

delivery its work on the ground. They include both large
NGOs development NGOs and foundations, and the activities
supported tend to have a strong technology development
angle, or focus on policy and education work in line with the
foundation's philosophy. A whopping 76% of these grants
end up with beneficiaries in the US, and another 13% in
Europe. African NGOs get 4% of the NGO grants ($28m
total, $13m of which to groups in South Africa, and another
$13m for “Farm Concern International” an NGO based in
Nairobi with the mission of creating “commercialized
smallholder communities with increased incomes for
improved, stabilized & sustainable livelihoods in Africa and
beyond”.
A relatively minor share of Gates' funding goes directly to
the corporate sector. Most of the grants are for specific
technologies developed by the corporations in question.
The two single largest grants ($23m and $9m) are to the
Corporations 50
World Cocoa Foundation, a corporate outfit representing the
worlds major food and cocoa processors, for (amongst
other things) “grants to industry players who will focus on
improving the productivity of cocoa”.
Here we find a mix of groups working on policy issues to
support the Gates Foundation's agenda, especially in Africa.
The two largest grants are for the Meridian Institute in the
USA, ($20m) to “develop an Africa-based and Africa-led
partnership” and to FANRPAN, a policy research network
based in South Africa ($16m) to set up “nutrition sensitive
agriculture programs” in sub-Saharan Africa.
Advocacy & Please note that much of the foundation's policy and
122 advocacy work is implemented through grants to
policy
institutions in the other groups (such as Universities, the
CGIAR and, most notably, AGRA), to get African policy
makers to change seed, land, IPR and other laws to
favour corporate investment and technology
introduction.
Total 3110
Table 2: Gates Foundation agricultural grant recipients, top 10 countries 2003-

2014
(excluding: grants to CGIAR, AGRA, AATF and Int'l organisations)
$US
Country Main recipients
million
USA 880 By far the largest recipient country of Gates agricultural
grants meant to benefit farmers in poor countries: $880
million dished out in 254 grants. Recipients include US
universities and research institutions to produce for crop
varieties and biotechnology research for farmers in Africa
(e.g. Cornell University, $90m in 12 grants), big NGO projects
mostly oriented to develop technology and markets (e.g.
Heifer, $51m, to increase cow productivity and Technoserve
Inc., $47m, to help poor farmers to “build business that
create income”), and several policy and capacity building
projects to push the foundation's agenda in Africa and
elsewhere.
A total of 25 grants with a focus on academic research such
as for the University of Greenwich to work on cassava value
chains in several African countries (16.6 m), the University of
UK 156 Cambridge to work on epidemiological modelling on wheat
and cassava diseases ($4.2m) and the John Innes Centre to
test the feasibility cereal crops capable of fixing nitrogen
($9.8m).
Three grants for the German Federal Enterprise for
International Cooperation (GIZ) to develop supply chains for
African ca shews and for support to African rice farmers
Germany 115
($51.1m), and another three grants for the German
Investment Corporation to work on African cotton and coffee
farming ($48.8m), amongst others.
Mostly for two grants to the Wageningen University for
Netherlands 61
agronomic research on grain legumes ($47.8m)
Total of ten grants including two grants to PRADAN ($30.8m
India 41 for women farmers training), and to BAIF ($6.3 m. for
establishment of cattle development centres)
Mostly for the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
China 37 (two grants totalling $33 million) to develop new rice
varieties for farmers across the world.
14 grants to a variety of grantees, including the FANRPAN
network to carry out agriculture programmes ($16m),
University of Pretoria ($4.5m for policy research) Sangonet
South ($1.7m. for mobile phone applications for farmers), SACAU
37
Africa (two grants $5.8m to support farmers organisations and
electronic farmer management systems, and the
Association of African Business Schools ($1.5m to develop
agribusiness management and training programmes).
Mostly for RUFORUM (two grants totalling over $30 million
to support agricultural research universities in the region).
Uganda 36 RUFORUM was established as a programme of the
Rockefeller Foundation in 1992 and became an independent
Regional University Forum in 2004.
A total of 14 grants mostly to universities and research
centres to develop sorghum and cowpea hybrids for Africa
Australia 30 and other sorghum breeding programmes, deliver solutions
to dairy cattle genetics in poor countries, and supply cattle
genotypes to dairy farmers in East Africa, amongst others.
A total of 8 grants mostly to universities to ensure adoption
Canada 20 of new technologies, develop cassava seed supply chains in
Tanzania, and radio programmes in Africa, amongst others.
Total top 10 1413 $1.4 billion, or almost half of all agriculture funding from
Gates in the last decade went to grantees in these 10
countries: 90% to the North.
Notes
1 Gates Foundation website, “Agricultural Development, strategic

overview”.
2 Gates Foundation website, Foundation Fact Sheet.
3 We used the grants database on the Gates Foundation website

and analysed the grants listed under 'Agricultural Development', 610
grants totalling US$ 3,110,591,382. (Database last accessed on 7
October 2014: http://tinyurl.com/m9s42z7).
4 Download the database as an Excel spreadsheet or as a more

printer-friendly table (44 pages).
5 For a discussion on Gates and the CGIAR, see: SciDevNet, “Are

Gates and CGIAR a good mix for Africa?”, 2010.
6 Several good critiques on AGRA already exist and we won't repeat

them here. See, for example, African Centre for Biosafety, “AGRA:
laying the groundwork for the commercialisation of African
agriculture” , by Food First, “Out of AGRA: the Green Revolution
returns to Africa” (2008), GRAIN, “A new Green Revolution for
Africa?” (2007) and others.
7 From the Gates Foundation's Agricultural Development Strategy

2008-2011, quoted in Phil Bereano and Travis English, “Looking in a
gift horse's mouth”, in: Third World Resurgence, TWN, Penang, 2010.
8 On the Policy Action Nodes, see: AGRA 2013 Annual Report. For
info about the Ghana Food Sovereignty Network:
http://foodsovereigntyghana.org/
9 Most of these activities are carried out by the Open Forum on

Agricultural Biotechnology in Africa (OFAB), created by AATF in
2006 to achieve “increased adoption of GM products in Africa and
the rest of the world” See:
http://allianceforscience.cornell.edu/partners
10 Gates Foundation website, “Agricultural Development, strategic

overview”.
11 Figures based on the foundation's 2012 tax returns, as reported

in Alex Park and Laeah Leet, “The Gates Foundation's hypocritical
investments”, Mother Jones, 6 December 2013.
12 Charles Piller, Edmund Sanders and Robyn Dixon, “Dark cloud
over good works of Gates Foundation”, Los Angeles Times, 7
January 2007.
13 Gates Foundation website, “Our investment policy”
14 Figures based on the foundation's 2012 tax returns, as reported

in Park and Leet, “The Gates Foundation's hypocritical investments”,
Mother Jones, 6 December 2013.
15 John Vidal, “Why is the Gates foundation investing in GM giant

Monsanto?” Guardian, 29 September 2010.
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Home Printer Friendly Version
Supreme Court Pulls Up Government Of India Over

Licensing And Trials With “Cervical Cancer” Vaccines
By Kalpana Mehta, Nalini Bhanot & V. Rukmini Rao
07 January, 2013
Countercurrents.org
Supreme Court admits writ petition against licensing and trials with “Cervical Cancer” vaccines
Support Us
implicating the Drugs Controller of India, PATH, ICMR and others ordering Government of India to
Popularise CC immediately respond
Join News Letter
Gardasil and Cervarix are two unproven and hazardous HPV vaccines purported to prevent cervical cancer,
CounterSolutions
marketed in India by MSD Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd. (subsidiary of Merck) and GlaxoSmithKline Ltd. The
CounterImages
petition challenging their licensing for use in the private sector and attempts to introduce them in the public
CounterVideos
sector has been filed by Kalpana Mehta, Nalini Bhanot and V. Rukmini Rao representing (Gramya Resource
Editor's Picks Centre for Women from Andhra Pradesh). The petition implicates the Drugs Controller for having licensed
Press Releases the vaccines without adequate research on safety and efficacy; the Health Ministry for not carrying out an
Action Alert enquiry into licensing of these vaccines as ordered by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and
Feed Burner Family Welfare in April 2010 nor taking any action on the report of the enquiry committee set up by itself
despite all irregularities of Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH) project being confirmed.
Read CC In Your
Own Language Rather than looking at safety and efficacy of these vaccines in India, this project was meant to influence the
Bradley Manning government to adopt these vaccines for introduction in the public sector.
India Burning
The petitioners are represented by the well known public interest senior advocate Colin Gonsalves of Human
Mumbai Terror
Rights Law Network who presented the case before the Supreme Court on January 7, 2013. The Supreme
Financial Crisis Court admitted the case and has asked the Government of India to immediately file its reply in the matter.
Iraq
PATH had initiated a project for the introduction of the two vaccines in India by signing an MoU with Indian
AfPak War
Council of Medical Research (ICMR) even before they were licensed by the Drugs Controller of India. This
Peak Oil
project was funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) who had substantial stakes in Merck that
Globalisation produced the vaccine and hence there was a direct conflict of interest. PATH was helped by ICMR in carrying
Localism out large scale trials in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat unethically and without regard for health of
Alternative Energy poor tribal girls. The unethical nature of the study and deaths of girls became the subject of Governmental
Climate Change
enquiry in 2010 when the matter was repeatedly raised by activists. This enquiry concluded that there were
many gross violations in the project with respect to procedures for taking informed consent, inadequate
US Imperialism
health facilities for dealing with adverse events and medical emergencies. Yet after two years of the enquiry
US Elections
the government had not even initiated any action to redress the situation and to punish PATH and ICMR as
Palestine
admitted by Ghulam Nabi Azad before the Indian Parliament in December 2011.
Latin America
Communalism
The petitioners are health activists who have been raising the issue with the Health Ministry, the Drugs
Controller, National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights and other authorities including the
Gender/Feminism
government of Andhra Pradesh and have not made any headway. Hence a petition was filed under article 32
Dalit
of the Constitution by them..
Humanrights
Economy
Hazards of the vaccines and unproven benefits :
India-pakistan The vaccines are genetically engineered and their hazards are unknown even to the scientific communities.
Kashmir Though r-DNA has been detected in Gardasil in samples from many countries including India, in their
Environment application for licensing MSD pharmaceuticals claimed that there was no hazard because there was no r-
Book Review DNA. GlaxoSmithKline uses a novel technique for producing Cervarix which involves the use of insect cells.
Gujarat Pogrom Their product information admitted to their vaccine containing insect cells and proteins only in July 2011
Kandhamal Violence though the vaccine was already in use since 2007. These residues or adventitious agents enter the blood
WSF stream when the vaccine is injected and are acknowledged to have the capacity to cause infections, tumours
and cancer. What is noteworthy is that neither of these vaccines has been studied to determine their
Arts/Culture
potential to cause cancer. In addition, the Drugs Controller has not even set standards of acceptable limits for
India Elections
such contamination in vaccines on the basis of which he could have found them safe for licensing.
Archives
Links Though both the vaccines are claimed to prevent cervical cancer, the truth is that cervical cancer takes twenty
or more years to develop and the vaccines have just not been around that long to prove their efficacy in
Submission Policy
preventing cancer. But what is known with certainty is that if these vaccines are given to women who already
About Us
are infected with the virus then they do raise the incidence of cervical cancer among those women.
Disclaimer
Gardasil was first licensed in the USA in June 2006. This licensing was done on fast track with numerous
Fair Use Notice
conflicts of interests not only on the review board but also in that that the vaccine patent was held in PPP and
Contact Us the FDA itself as a part of the health department would benefit from the sales.
Search Our Archive
Licensing issues:
Both vaccines were licensed for use among girls and women in India on the basis of very small studies that
Site Search flouted even the liberalized Indian law. This law allows easy access to the Indian market for drugs and
Our Site vaccines produced by multi-national companies once they are approved in the home country. In 2005 this
Web law also made it possible for multi-national companies to hold trials for unapproved drugs in India
simultaneous to international trials.
Subscribe To Our
News Letter Targeting adolescents
Name:
These vaccines are supposed to work best when administered to girls in the age group of 9-14, before sexual
E-mail: debut. In the case of Cervarix GlaxoSmithKline did a trial with just 176 adult women and was granted a
license for an age group of 10-45 year old women. This trial just looked at anti-body levels achieved and
Subscribe
Unsubscribe immediate side effects. No trial was done among Indian girls.
In the case of Gardasil, Merck through its subsidiary MSD signed an MOU with ICMR in 2005 but did not
proceed with the studies that were envisaged involving thousands of women. But once it was licensed in the
USA it did a speedy trial on its own with only 110 Indian girls 10-14 year old again to see immediate immune
response. But it got a license by the DCGI to administer it to women from 9-26 years old though not a single
adult woman had undergone a trial. According to the Indian law a trial on adults has to precede a trial among
children and it was these violations that had been brought to the notice of the Parliamentary Committee that
had asked for a proper enquiry into licensing.
Violations in PATH project:
PATH on its own had decided to do studies with the HPV vaccine in four countries and India was one of
them. The Indian market is substantial if a vaccine is accepted in the immunization programme. There is
documentary evidence that though PATH is an NGO in this case it had entered into business agreement with
Merck so that Merck had a ready market for the vaccine in the resource poor countries. In fact PATH got
funding from BMGF in the very month that Gardasil was licensed in the USA. It signed an MOU with ICMR
for this purpose. ICMR played along though it was clear that the vaccine was too expensive for India to
afford. For each girl vaccinated the country would need to spend Rs 10,000 for three shots. The vaccines
were marketed by hyping the risk of cervical cancer. Yet the fruits of this approach were not going to be
reaped for 30-40 years or when the ten year olds crossed the age of forty - the age group when women are
susceptible to cervical cancer. ICMR went ahead though it knew that the country is unable to meet the
present needs of medicines to meet the current problems of the population like T.B. and malaria and could ill
afford to spend money for these uncertain products. Further through its cancer registries it was also aware
that the incidence of cervical cancer was declining and it was not a major health problem of the country.
PATH project was carried out in total disregard to scientific approach. It made false claims about the safety
of vaccines and their efficacy. When the project took off there was no data to figure out the need for boosters,
how the malnourished girls of India would respond to the vaccine that had so far only been administered to a
healthy population. Yet a large number of girls in A.P. and Gujarat were told all kinds of lies and
administered a vaccine that had serious side effects including death. When four girls died in Andhra Pradesh
women’s groups raised a hue and cry in 2010 and the government ordered an enquiry. The Government of
AP, of Gujarat and PATH made depositions and provided data. The Enquiry Committee found that records of
even informed consent had been fudged. The girls were not asked for their assent even though the law
provides for such assent to be taken in writing. Further no arrangements were made for providing medical
care to them if they suffered serious side effects.
Thus the rights of all 24,000 girls who were recruited by PATH in these trials were flouted as they were given
the vaccine without a chance to make free informed choice. This assertion of women’s groups was confirmed
by the enquiry. However, the Enquiry Committee had no legal expert and could not determine the liability of
PATH towards the girls who were duped or forced into participation in PATH trial, those who died during
the trial and those who would have suffered serious side effects.
PATH did everything to prevent the problems of the study from becoming common knowledge and sat on
data on deaths despite women’s groups making a hue and cry about it at a public meeting organized by them
in December 2009. The petitioners have pointed out that the data on death during the project is incomplete,
illogical and full of discrepancies yet the deaths were called as being unrelated to vaccine administration.
Side effects reported by the Study were very rare and this was also brought out in the Enquiry. Yet there is no
provision of continuing health care of these rural girls. Extrapolating from trial data of the two companies
the petitioners have estimated that there are at least 1,200 girls in the two states have suffered from serious
side effects or have developed auto-immune disorders who need continuing medical care and treatment.
These questions have been put before the Supreme Court with the hope that prompt justice and care would
be provided to girls who are suffering as a consequence of an ill designed trial carried out by PATH with the
active support of ICMR and the two state governments. By those very governments who are constitutionally
bound to protect their life and health. Given the serious violations indulged by PATH, the petitioners have
asked that PATH be blacklisted and no other foreign agency be allowed to have field presence.
The petitioners have also asked for the licences of the two products to be suspended and the vaccines recalled
as there has been no scientific basis to allow their administration to girls in the private market either. The
two companies have also flouted Indian law with impunity and have not done the post marketing studies
ordered by the Drugs Controller at the time of licensing. They have not up dated their product information
and hence the Indian medical consumer continues to be in the dark about hazards of these vaccines that
contain insect cells and r-DNA. MSD Pharmaceuticals went a step further and got the eligible age group
extended to 45 year old women in India though this was denied in the U.S.A. thrice.
Kalpana Mehta kalpanaindu@hotmail.com Tel: 9425056985

Nalini Bhanot nalinibeez@gmail.com Tel:9899905851
V. Rukmini Rao vrukminirao@yahoo.com Tel: 9440860271
Tweet
Comments are moderated
Home Printer Friendly Version
Supreme Court Pulls Up Government Of India Over

Licensing And Trials With “Cervical Cancer” Vaccines
By Kalpana Mehta, Nalini Bhanot & V. Rukmini Rao
07 January, 2013
Countercurrents.org
Supreme Court admits writ petition against licensing and trials with “Cervical Cancer” vaccines
Support Us
implicating the Drugs Controller of India, PATH, ICMR and others ordering Government of India to
Popularise CC immediately respond
Join News Letter
Gardasil and Cervarix are two unproven and hazardous HPV vaccines purported to prevent cervical cancer,
CounterSolutions
marketed in India by MSD Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd. (subsidiary of Merck) and GlaxoSmithKline Ltd. The
CounterImages
petition challenging their licensing for use in the private sector and attempts to introduce them in the public
CounterVideos
sector has been filed by Kalpana Mehta, Nalini Bhanot and V. Rukmini Rao representing (Gramya Resource
Editor's Picks Centre for Women from Andhra Pradesh). The petition implicates the Drugs Controller for having licensed
Press Releases the vaccines without adequate research on safety and efficacy; the Health Ministry for not carrying out an
Action Alert enquiry into licensing of these vaccines as ordered by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and
Feed Burner Family Welfare in April 2010 nor taking any action on the report of the enquiry committee set up by itself
despite all irregularities of Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH) project being confirmed.
Read CC In Your
Own Language Rather than looking at safety and efficacy of these vaccines in India, this project was meant to influence the
Bradley Manning government to adopt these vaccines for introduction in the public sector.
India Burning
The petitioners are represented by the well known public interest senior advocate Colin Gonsalves of Human
Mumbai Terror
Rights Law Network who presented the case before the Supreme Court on January 7, 2013. The Supreme
Financial Crisis Court admitted the case and has asked the Government of India to immediately file its reply in the matter.
Iraq
PATH had initiated a project for the introduction of the two vaccines in India by signing an MoU with Indian
AfPak War
Council of Medical Research (ICMR) even before they were licensed by the Drugs Controller of India. This
Peak Oil
project was funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) who had substantial stakes in Merck that
Globalisation produced the vaccine and hence there was a direct conflict of interest. PATH was helped by ICMR in carrying
Localism out large scale trials in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat unethically and without regard for health of
Alternative Energy poor tribal girls. The unethical nature of the study and deaths of girls became the subject of Governmental
Climate Change
enquiry in 2010 when the matter was repeatedly raised by activists. This enquiry concluded that there were
many gross violations in the project with respect to procedures for taking informed consent, inadequate
US Imperialism
health facilities for dealing with adverse events and medical emergencies. Yet after two years of the enquiry
US Elections
the government had not even initiated any action to redress the situation and to punish PATH and ICMR as
Palestine
admitted by Ghulam Nabi Azad before the Indian Parliament in December 2011.
Latin America
Communalism
The petitioners are health activists who have been raising the issue with the Health Ministry, the Drugs
Controller, National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights and other authorities including the
Gender/Feminism
government of Andhra Pradesh and have not made any headway. Hence a petition was filed under article 32
Dalit
of the Constitution by them..
Humanrights
Economy
Hazards of the vaccines and unproven benefits :
India-pakistan The vaccines are genetically engineered and their hazards are unknown even to the scientific communities.
Kashmir Though r-DNA has been detected in Gardasil in samples from many countries including India, in their
Environment application for licensing MSD pharmaceuticals claimed that there was no hazard because there was no r-
Book Review DNA. GlaxoSmithKline uses a novel technique for producing Cervarix which involves the use of insect cells.
Gujarat Pogrom Their product information admitted to their vaccine containing insect cells and proteins only in July 2011
Kandhamal Violence though the vaccine was already in use since 2007. These residues or adventitious agents enter the blood
WSF stream when the vaccine is injected and are acknowledged to have the capacity to cause infections, tumours
and cancer. What is noteworthy is that neither of these vaccines has been studied to determine their
Arts/Culture
potential to cause cancer. In addition, the Drugs Controller has not even set standards of acceptable limits for
India Elections
such contamination in vaccines on the basis of which he could have found them safe for licensing.
Archives
Links Though both the vaccines are claimed to prevent cervical cancer, the truth is that cervical cancer takes twenty
or more years to develop and the vaccines have just not been around that long to prove their efficacy in
Submission Policy
preventing cancer. But what is known with certainty is that if these vaccines are given to women who already
About Us
are infected with the virus then they do raise the incidence of cervical cancer among those women.
Disclaimer
Gardasil was first licensed in the USA in June 2006. This licensing was done on fast track with numerous
Fair Use Notice
conflicts of interests not only on the review board but also in that that the vaccine patent was held in PPP and
Contact Us the FDA itself as a part of the health department would benefit from the sales.
Search Our Archive
Licensing issues:
Both vaccines were licensed for use among girls and women in India on the basis of very small studies that
Site Search flouted even the liberalized Indian law. This law allows easy access to the Indian market for drugs and
Our Site vaccines produced by multi-national companies once they are approved in the home country. In 2005 this
Web law also made it possible for multi-national companies to hold trials for unapproved drugs in India
simultaneous to international trials.
Subscribe To Our
News Letter Targeting adolescents
Name:
These vaccines are supposed to work best when administered to girls in the age group of 9-14, before sexual
E-mail: debut. In the case of Cervarix GlaxoSmithKline did a trial with just 176 adult women and was granted a
license for an age group of 10-45 year old women. This trial just looked at anti-body levels achieved and
Subscribe
Unsubscribe immediate side effects. No trial was done among Indian girls.
In the case of Gardasil, Merck through its subsidiary MSD signed an MOU with ICMR in 2005 but did not
proceed with the studies that were envisaged involving thousands of women. But once it was licensed in the
USA it did a speedy trial on its own with only 110 Indian girls 10-14 year old again to see immediate immune
response. But it got a license by the DCGI to administer it to women from 9-26 years old though not a single
adult woman had undergone a trial. According to the Indian law a trial on adults has to precede a trial among
children and it was these violations that had been brought to the notice of the Parliamentary Committee that
had asked for a proper enquiry into licensing.
Violations in PATH project:
PATH on its own had decided to do studies with the HPV vaccine in four countries and India was one of
them. The Indian market is substantial if a vaccine is accepted in the immunization programme. There is
documentary evidence that though PATH is an NGO in this case it had entered into business agreement with
Merck so that Merck had a ready market for the vaccine in the resource poor countries. In fact PATH got
funding from BMGF in the very month that Gardasil was licensed in the USA. It signed an MOU with ICMR
for this purpose. ICMR played along though it was clear that the vaccine was too expensive for India to
afford. For each girl vaccinated the country would need to spend Rs 10,000 for three shots. The vaccines
were marketed by hyping the risk of cervical cancer. Yet the fruits of this approach were not going to be
reaped for 30-40 years or when the ten year olds crossed the age of forty - the age group when women are
susceptible to cervical cancer. ICMR went ahead though it knew that the country is unable to meet the
present needs of medicines to meet the current problems of the population like T.B. and malaria and could ill
afford to spend money for these uncertain products. Further through its cancer registries it was also aware
that the incidence of cervical cancer was declining and it was not a major health problem of the country.
PATH project was carried out in total disregard to scientific approach. It made false claims about the safety
of vaccines and their efficacy. When the project took off there was no data to figure out the need for boosters,
how the malnourished girls of India would respond to the vaccine that had so far only been administered to a
healthy population. Yet a large number of girls in A.P. and Gujarat were told all kinds of lies and
administered a vaccine that had serious side effects including death. When four girls died in Andhra Pradesh
women’s groups raised a hue and cry in 2010 and the government ordered an enquiry. The Government of
AP, of Gujarat and PATH made depositions and provided data. The Enquiry Committee found that records of
even informed consent had been fudged. The girls were not asked for their assent even though the law
provides for such assent to be taken in writing. Further no arrangements were made for providing medical
care to them if they suffered serious side effects.
Thus the rights of all 24,000 girls who were recruited by PATH in these trials were flouted as they were given
the vaccine without a chance to make free informed choice. This assertion of women’s groups was confirmed
by the enquiry. However, the Enquiry Committee had no legal expert and could not determine the liability of
PATH towards the girls who were duped or forced into participation in PATH trial, those who died during
the trial and those who would have suffered serious side effects.
PATH did everything to prevent the problems of the study from becoming common knowledge and sat on
data on deaths despite women’s groups making a hue and cry about it at a public meeting organized by them
in December 2009. The petitioners have pointed out that the data on death during the project is incomplete,
illogical and full of discrepancies yet the deaths were called as being unrelated to vaccine administration.
Side effects reported by the Study were very rare and this was also brought out in the Enquiry. Yet there is no
provision of continuing health care of these rural girls. Extrapolating from trial data of the two companies
the petitioners have estimated that there are at least 1,200 girls in the two states have suffered from serious
side effects or have developed auto-immune disorders who need continuing medical care and treatment.
These questions have been put before the Supreme Court with the hope that prompt justice and care would
be provided to girls who are suffering as a consequence of an ill designed trial carried out by PATH with the
active support of ICMR and the two state governments. By those very governments who are constitutionally
bound to protect their life and health. Given the serious violations indulged by PATH, the petitioners have
asked that PATH be blacklisted and no other foreign agency be allowed to have field presence.
The petitioners have also asked for the licences of the two products to be suspended and the vaccines recalled
as there has been no scientific basis to allow their administration to girls in the private market either. The
two companies have also flouted Indian law with impunity and have not done the post marketing studies
ordered by the Drugs Controller at the time of licensing. They have not up dated their product information
and hence the Indian medical consumer continues to be in the dark about hazards of these vaccines that
contain insect cells and r-DNA. MSD Pharmaceuticals went a step further and got the eligible age group
extended to 45 year old women in India though this was denied in the U.S.A. thrice.
Kalpana Mehta kalpanaindu@hotmail.com Tel: 9425056985

Nalini Bhanot nalinibeez@gmail.com Tel:9899905851
V. Rukmini Rao vrukminirao@yahoo.com Tel: 9440860271
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How DFID
support for
agribusiness is
fuelling poverty
in Africa
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Preface
01
The scandal of global hunger is back in governments to support small farmers and
the news, and rightly so. The fact that genuine agricultural development.
record numbers of people are today
classified as hungry, at a time when there is DFID’s record should be noted by those
unprecedented wealth in the world, is a aid agencies which have been vocal in
testament to the failure of the globalised food congratulating the UK government for its
system. There is a growing consensus that this supposed leadership in the fight against global
failure is the result of deliberate political hunger. Several NGOs spoke out in this vein
choices that favour corporate interests while when British prime minister David Cameron
condemning hundreds of millions to despair. staged a celebrity ‘hunger event’ to coincide
Any system that enriches a few while with the end of the London Olympics in
impoverishing the many is morally bankrupt, August 2012.Yet rather than assisting small
and must be changed. farmers and rural communities to overcome
hunger, this report shows that DFID has
The UK government’s Department for been using the UK aid budget to meet the
International Development (DFID), by commercial interests of major agribusiness
contrast, is using the aid budget to tighten the companies. This is an abuse of aid that needs
corporate stranglehold over the global food to be confronted, not applauded.
system. As this report reveals, DFID has been
using hundreds of millions of pounds of War on Want has engaged with the fight
taxpayers’ money with the express purpose against global hunger ever since the
of extending the power of agribusiness over organisation’s founding 60 years ago. Our
the production of food, especially in sub- work has focused on challenging the root
Saharan Africa. While this will increase the causes of the global food crisis, as well as
profits of corporate giants such as Monsanto, supporting positive solutions that are socially
Unilever and Syngenta, it threatens to equitable as well as environmentally
disempower small farmers and rural sustainable. War on Want has formed
communities and condemn them to long- longstanding partnerships with farmers’
term poverty. DFID’s promotion of genetically movements across the world to promote the
modified crops will also lock small farmers framework of food sovereignty as a positive
into dependency on corporate providers of alternative to a capitalist food system that has
seeds and chemical inputs, undermining any condemned hundreds of millions to despair.
chance of defeating hunger. As described in our recent report Food
Sovereignty: Reclaiming the global food system,
This report also lifts the lid on DFID’s this framework offers a solution to the
support for a complex network of companies food crisis based on principles of local
and investment funds registered in one of empowerment, equity and agroecology. This
Africa’s foremost tax havens. Not only is the is what DFID should be supporting with the
UK aid budget being used to support some of UK aid budget, not more corporate control.
the world’s largest multinational corporations,
but several of the companies and agricultural
investment funds being supported by DFID
are incorporated in the secrecy jurisdiction
of Mauritius. This means that UK aid to
agribusiness is being routed through a known John Hilary
‘conduit haven’, allowing companies to avoid Executive Director
paying taxes that could be used by national War on Want
1. Aid-funded agribusiness
02
The UK government’s Department • The biggest 10 pesticide corporations

The Hunger Games How DFID support for agribusiness is fuelling poverty in Africa
for International Development (DFID) (four of which are also among the top
is required by law to devote British aid 10 seed companies) together control
to the reduction of poverty across the 82% of the world pesticides market
• The top 10 food processing corporations

world – a requirement that applies to
control 28% of the global food processing

DFID’s agricultural aid as much as it
market
does to other sectors. DFID claims that
its investment in agriculture helps small
• The top 15 supermarket companies account

farmers and the “very poorest”
for over 30% of global food sales

people.1 Yet hundreds of millions of
pounds of British taxpayers’ money
Control means profit. In 2010, the world’s

is being used to promote projects
four largest agrochemical companies (Bayer,

designed to benefit the world’s richest
Dow, Syngenta and Monsanto) and three

agribusiness corporations and to extend
largest grain traders (Bunge, Cargill and

their control over the global food
ADM) together made profits of US$20 billion.

system.This is nothing less than a
Such profits come at a time when the world

scandal when hundreds of millions
is experiencing record levels of hunger, and

of people – over half of them small
the connection between the two is clear.

farmers – go hungry.
DFID’s website lists 72 bilateral agricultural As global agriculture becomes increasingly

aid projects worth around £180 million in dominated by the power of agribusiness,
2012 and £270 million in 2011. In addition, small-scale peasant farmers and indigenous
some of DFID’s support to multilateral peoples become more vulnerable to hunger
organisations such as the EU, World Bank and poverty. Locked into dependency on
and the UN is spent on agricultural projects. corporate seeds and chemical inputs, small
As this report shows, much of DFID’s farmers find themselves trapped in an
support for agribusiness is channelled escalating spiral of debt and despair. In India,
through public-private partnerships such as over 150,000 farmers have committed suicide
the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa as a result of this chronic indebtedness.3
(AGRA), the Southern Agricultural Growth
Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT), Grow Africa DFID has long championed a model of
and the New Vision for Agriculture. This agriculture based on free trade, corporate-
includes support for genetically modified owned technology and greater private sector
(GM) food through DFID’s funding of control over the production and distribution
initiatives such as the African Agricultural of food. Accordingly, much of DFID’s aid to
Technology Foundation (AATF) and agriculture is designed to extend the power
HarvestPlus. of agribusiness over the global food system.
DFID is promoting the supply of chemical
War on Want’s previous report Food inputs and seeds sold by major agribusiness
corporations, which reinforces the
subordinate role of small farmers in global
Sovereignty: Reclaiming the global food
system documented the power that major
agribusiness corporations wield over supply chains. The effect is to give agribusiness
the global production, distribution and corporations access to new markets to
consumption of food, and the catastrophic expand their sales. For small farmers, by
impact this has on farmers worldwide. contrast, the model locks them into a
According to the United Nations dependency on private sector forces beyond
Environment Programme:2 their control, and turns them into contract
labourers producing mainly for the profit of
• Just four seed companies now control over others. As this report shows, DFID is also at
half the world’s commercial seed market the centre of an intricate nexus of
03
Photo: FCO
corporations and donor-sponsored priorities resulting in a win-win for

institutions seeking to maximise private trade and development.”5 DFID has
profit from agriculture, at the expense stepped up its efforts to help British business
of the world’s poorest people. Personal secure new markets, especially in Africa.
connections play a vital role, and there is a Former Secretary of State for International
significant ‘revolving door’ of staff between Development Andrew Mitchell told the
DFID and agribusiness corporations. Indeed, London School of Business in July 2011:
the personal links go beyond DFID to the “If this is a moment of opportunity in
heart of the UK government and its many places across Africa, it is also a
economic policy. moment of huge opportunity for business…
this Coalition Government is working
The UK government is committed to to make it easier for companies
using all the tools at its disposal to advance to do business in Africa… Africa is the
British commercial interests, and its export next, maybe even the last, big market.”6
promotion arm UK Trade & Investment
provides a dedicated ‘aid-funded business’ DFID’s support for agribusiness is
service that advises corporations on how to by no means restricted to advancing UK
make money out of aid budgets.4 ‘Tied aid’ commercial interests. Under the guise of
– the practice of using official development promoting ‘food security’, DFID has used
assistance to promote the commercial the aid budget to take forward an ideological
interests of donor nations – is banned under agenda of support for agribusiness, regardless
the International Development Act 2002.Yet of any corporation’s home country. In
official guidance issued jointly by DFID, the addition, this report reveals DFID’s
Foreign Office and UK Trade & Investment in involvement in a network of private
April 2011 instructs DFID staff that they can enterprises and investment fund managers
support commercial benefits to the UK incorporated in the secrecy jurisdiction of
resulting from the use of aid “provided that Mauritius. Not only is DFID using the aid
they are not its primary purpose”. The budget to support agribusiness corporations;
guidance continues: “There are many practical it is also at the heart of a network of private
ways in which DFID, UKTI and FCO can sector companies being run out of one of
work together to deliver UK commercial Africa’s foremost tax havens.
2. DFID and Monsanto
04
the products sold by agribusiness

corporations, and in so doing they increase

the reliance of farmers on the chemical inputs
provided by those corporations, marginalising
sustainable agriculture alternatives. As noted
in the case study overleaf, the main supplier
Monsanto is one of the world’s to the agro-dealers in Malawi has been
largest seed and agrochemical Monsanto, responsible for 67% of total inputs.
companies, with 21,000 employees Monsanto’s country manager in Malawi
spread across 66 countries. admitted that all of Monsanto’s sales of
Headquartered in the US city of St seeds and herbicides are made through the
Louis, Missouri, it sells maize, soya bean, AGRA-supported agro-dealer network.
cotton, wheat, canola, sorghum and
sugar cane seeds the world over, as well Monsanto is also a partner in the African
as 18 brands of herbicides. Monsanto Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF),
is also one of the leading corporate another initiative to which DFID provides
promoters of biotechnology and GM. core funding. The AATF is a leading force in
In 2011, it recorded sales of $11.8 the promotion of GM food, its current
billion and net profits of $1.6 billion.7 strategy stating unequivocally that it aims at
the “adoption of genetically modified crops”.10
DFID is using the UK aid budget to support DFID is spending £7.5 million on supporting
Monsanto through the Alliance for a Green the AATF during 2010-14, in addition to the
Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and its £5 million already provided in 2004-09.
promotion of agro-dealer networks. AGRA DFID’s website notes that it “has been
is a private organisation backed by DFID, a core donor of AATF since its establishment
USAID and the Bill & Melinda Gates in 2004”, and that DFID funds “have been
Foundation, among others, which seeks to pivotal in supporting both core and project
“trigger a uniquely African Green Revolution activities”.11 DFID’s funding to the AATF
that transforms agriculture into a highly is also designed to “promote public
productive, efficient, competitive and understanding and policy support for its
sustainable system that assures food security products”, and AATF confirms it will “monitor
and lifts millions out of poverty”.8 This is the Press and public opinion and be proactive
despite the known social and environmental in providing product-specific information
disasters caused by the Green Revolution in that addresses concerns regarding issues
Asia and Latin America from the 1970s such as genetic engineering or intellectual
onwards, including significant increases in the property protection”.12
numbers of people going hungry.9 DFID
provided £7 million in core funding to AGRA Both DFID and Monsanto sit on the Design
during 2008-11. Committee of the AATF, which helped shape
the foundation and selected its pilot crop
AGRA’s main programme is providing research projects. One of AATF’s current
support to agro-dealer networks: small, five projects is on cowpea, and specifically
private stockists of chemicals and seeds develops “transgenic [i.e. GM] cowpea
who sell these inputs on to farmers. These varieties that are resistant to the Maruca
networks function as vehicles to promote pest”, with Monsanto as the private sector
05
partner for the project.13 Another AATF especially in the case of hybrid seeds
project is Water Efficient Maize for Africa which can be used for only one season.
(WEMA), which is a further GM initiative The multinationals selling the chemicals and
seeking to develop drought-tolerant maize. seeds, on the other hand, reap substantial
AATF notes that WEMA is incorporating benefits from aid projects promoting farmers’
a drought-tolerant trait developed by use of these inputs, since they give these
Monsanto and BASF “using transgenic companies access to new markets. DFID and
breeding, sometimes referred to as genetic Monsanto are also partners in the World
modification”. Field trials of the GM maize are Economic Forum’s New Vision for Agriculture
already underway in South Africa, Kenya and and its SAGCOT project, described later
Uganda, while Mozambique and Tanzania are in this report.
also working towards starting similar trials.14
Overcoming popular resistance to GM in In Kenya and Tanzania, DFID has been
Africa is integral to WEMA’s success: funding a company called Farm Input
“Creating awareness on the benefits that the Promotions Africa (FIPS-Africa) in
WEMA drought-tolerant maize varieties will projects to provide farmers with
bring to smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan agro-chemicals and seeds supplied by
Africa and to build support from all the companies including Monsanto, Bayer
relevant stakeholders is a crucial component and DuPont Pioneer.17 By developing
of the project.”15 networks of village-based agricultural
advisers who conduct demonstrations
The AATF not only develops GM technology of seeds and chemical products and sell
but seeks to counter opposition to it through them to farmers, FIPS-Africa has become
changing national regulation. In June 2012, “an integral part of Monsanto’s marketing
AATF Executive Director Denis Kyetere operation to small farmers in Kenya”.18
referred to “immediate challenges to By September 2010 the scheme
overcome so as to advance biotechnology had reached more than 37,000 smallholders
development” in Africa, which included in 165 villages in western Kenya.19 DFID
“emerging regulatory / biosafety frameworks reports note that “in cooperation” with
that may delay smallholder farmers from Monsanto and a Kenyan firm, the Western
accessing the tools of biotechnology”. Seed Company, 15,000 mini-packs of seed
Kyetere was referring to the fact that only varieties were distributed to farmers
three countries – South Africa, Burkina Faso in Kenya and a network of over 120 farm
and Egypt – have so far commercialised GM input stockists was established throughout
crops, while a further six countries have the country’s Central Province. In addition,
biosafety laws in place allowing for such “FIPS-Africa, with cooperation of Monsanto,
commercialisation.16 developed a new method for promotion
of herbicides” by which around 3,000
DFID promotes Monsanto’s interests in a farmers were visited and Monsanto’s
number of projects which deepen farmers’ herbicide Roundup Max was demonstrated
reliance on chemical pesticides, herbicides, on a 5 x 10m plot. “It can be concluded
fertilizer and hybrid seeds. These inputs are that the promotion method was very
expensive for poor farmers, and reliance on successful in catalysing adoption of Roundup
them can lock farmers into dependency on Max by small-scale farmers,” the DFID
the multinational corporation concerned, document notes.20
3. DFID and Monsanto in Malawi
06
of that 30,000 tonnes market. Our goal is to

The main programme of the Alliance

for a Green Revolution in Africa take the whole 30,000 tonnes into improved
(AGRA) is promoting agro-dealer [i.e. hybrid] seed.”24
networks: small, private stockists who
sell chemicals and seeds to farmers. In MASP project literature makes no secret
Malawi, AGRA provided a $4.3 million of the fact that the agro-dealer network
grant for the Malawi Agro-dealer is designed to create demand by farmers
Strengthening Programme (MASP), for the products of multinational
which funded an expansion of the corporations. “Agro-dealers… act as vessels
network, training agro-dealers and for promoting input suppliers’ products,”
providing them with finance.The inputs one project document reads.25 Another
supplied by the agro-dealers are hybrid states: “supply companies have expressed
maize seeds and agro-chemical their appreciation for field days because
pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers.21 MASP trained agro-dealers are helping them
promote their products in the very remotest
The main supplier to the agro-dealers in areas of Malawi.”26 In October 2008, a total
Malawi has been Monsanto, responsible for of 25 herbicide demonstration plots were
67% of all inputs. Indeed, Monsanto’s country established in Malawi and Kenya, funds for
manager Paul Chimimba told us in an which were provided by Monsanto, Dow,
interview that all of Monsanto’s sales of Bayer and FMC, a Belgian agro-chemicals
seeds and herbicides are made through company. “Herbicide products for the
the AGRA-supported agro-dealer network, demo plots were selected by the herbicide
which enables it to reach farmers across the companies,” including Monsanto, which
country. 22 A project evaluation report states also supplied the maize seeds. The project
that the programme achieved an 85% increase document states that “the main objectives
in sales by agro-dealers, and that they sold of the field days were to train the farmers
10,908 tonnes of seed and 18,071 tonnes on various maize varieties and the
of fertilizers during 2007-10. In all 10 maize importance of growing hybrid varieties
hybrids were sold: five from Monsanto and of maize” and that “field days have largely
five from another company, SeedCo.23 been a marketing tool for both the
agro-dealers as well as the input suppliers
Monsanto is the leading seller of herbicide in because it has acted as a platform for
Malawi (mainly through its Roundup brand) promotion of different brands of agriculture
controlling 60% of the market. It is also the technologies.” In total, 848 demonstration
largest hybrid seed seller, selling six varieties plots were established in three regions
and controlling 50% of the hybrid seed of Malawi “to generate demand for yield-
market. Monsanto currently sells 4,200 enhancing inputs among agro-dealers’
tonnes of hybrid seeds a year out of a market farmer customers”.
of around 8,500 tonnes. But the market for all
seeds (not just hybrids) in Malawi is around Training the agro-dealers on product
30,000 tonnes, the huge majority of which is knowledge has been carried out by the
traditional or recycled seed used by small corporate suppliers of the products
farmers. Monsanto’s country manager told themselves. In addition, these agro-dealers
our researcher: “Our target is to get more are increasingly the source of farming advice
07
to small farmers, and an alternative to the organisation funded by USAID and DFID,
government’s agricultural extension service. and its local affiliate the Rural Market
A project evaluation report states that 44% Development Trust (RUMARK), whose
of the agro-dealers in the programme were trustees include four seed and chemical
providing extension services.27 Indeed, a suppliers: Monsanto, SeedCo, Farmers World
World Bank report notes that: and Farmers Association.29 CNFA argues that
“leveraging the power of private enterprise –
The agro-dealers have…become the most from large multinational corporations to local
important extension nodes for the rural poor… input supply stores – is the best route to
A new form of private sector driven extension sustainable, market-based development
system is emerging in these countries [Malawi, solutions”.30 The organisation was “at the
Kenya and Uganda] as the major agricultural forefront of development in the early 1990s
input supply companies are increasingly building free market systems in the Newly
conducting commercial demonstrations of new Independent States of the former Soviet
technologies in rural areas with rural stockists.28 Union”.31CNFA’s president and founder,
John Costello, is a member of the US State
The agro-dealer project in Malawi has Department’s Advisory Committee for
been implemented by CNFA, a US-based International Economic Policy.
Farming in central Malawi

Photo: ILRI / Mann
4. DFID and Unilever
08
Unilever is a UK / Dutch projects: “Doing so can open up new markets,

company established in lead to the development of new products and

the 1890s, which today drive growth.”37
sells 400 brands with a
portfolio ranging from DFID is working with Unilever in many other
household care products initiatives. One is the New Alliance for Food
to tea. Unilever is the Security and Nutrition, which DFID funds
world’s largest tea company, with through the World Bank. Announced in
Lipton, the world’s best selling brand, Washington DC ahead of the G8 leaders’
and PG Tips, the UK’s number one tea. meeting in May 2012, the initiative involves
Consumers worldwide purchase 170 45 of the largest multinational corporations,
billion Unilever products each year, including British businesses Unilever, Diageo
while the company buys up 12% of the and Vodafone investing $3 billion in African
world’s black tea crop, 3% of its agriculture and signing up to a voluntary
tomatoes, 3% of its palm oil and large code of ‘responsible investment’ – a clear
quantities of onions, soya and rapeseed way of expanding the presence of
oil. Unilever says it has around 1.3 agribusiness in African agriculture.38 DFID
million smallholders linked into its is set to contribute a massive £395 million
supply chain. In 2011, Unilever’s to the New Alliance for Food Security and
turnover was ⇔46.5 billion and its Nutrition over the coming three years,
profits after tax totalled ⇔4.6 billion. including programmes in Ethiopia, Tanzania,
Unilever has developed a “10-year Ghana and Mozambique.39
strategy designed to enable the
company to double in size”. DFID is DFID also works with Unilever in another
helping the company achieve this goal.32 new pro-agribusiness initiative: Grow Africa.
Grow Africa describes itself as “a partnership
In recent years, DFID has funded at least platform that seeks to accelerate investments
three projects in which Unilever was a and transformative change in African
corporate beneficiary: a tomato project in agriculture”. It builds on public-private
Ghana, a tea project in Kenya (benefitting partnership models piloted by the World
Lipton, part of the Unilever group) and a nut Economic Forum’s New Vision for
project in Tanzania.33 All three were funded by Agriculture, and “works to increase private
DFID’s Business Linkages Challenge Fund, an sector investment in African agriculture by
initiative on which DFID spent £18.2 million supporting partner countries in developing
during 2000-09. Currently, DFID is supporting investment blueprints”. Launched in January
a portable toilet project involving Unilever in 2011, the New Vision for Agriculture is led by
Ghana34 and a ‘Sunrise’ initiative with Unilever 28 global partner companies of the World
and Oxfam to source vegetables from Economic Forum which provide strategic
farmers in Azerbaijan.35 In March 2012, DFID leadership of the initiative, including Unilever,
launched a scheme in Bangladesh supporting Monsanto and Kraft. Other partners read like
women to sell Unilever products (along with a who’s who of global agribusiness: ADM,
those from Danone and Bata) ranging from BASF, Bayer, Bunge, Cargill, Coca-Cola, Diageo,
shampoos and soaps to mobile phone DuPont, Louis Dreyfus Commodities, Maersk,
packages and shoes.36 Unilever CEO Paul Nestlé, PepsiCo, SABMiller, Syngenta, Mosaic,
Polman explains the value of engaging in such Vodafone, Wal-Mart and Yara. DFID and
09
Unilever are both Task Force members of this report, small farmers will be mainly
Grow Africa, along with Syngenta, Diageo outgrowers working for large agribusiness
and Yara, among others.40 corporations. Indeed, SAGCOT project
documents are explicit in affirming “the
DFID works alongside Unilever in the importance of incorporating smallholder
Investment Climate Facility (ICF) for Africa, farmers within commercial agriculture
an initiative set up with DFID money in 2005 businesses”.44 It is also noteworthy that
to “help bring about more business friendly SAGCOT’s investment blueprint defines small
policies, laws and regulations across the farmers as those with a turnover of less than
continent”.41 By August 2012, DFID had $5,000 per year – 10 times more than most
spent £17.9 million funding the ICF. Unilever, Tanzanian small farmers – suggesting that the
one of the ICF’s corporate sponsors, also project will mainly target larger farmers. The
contributed $1 million over two years to the SAGCOT documents also make clear that the
ICF, its press release noting: “We want to project will lobby for low taxes for investors,
work with the ICF to lift the constraints such as corporation tax holidays and
that currently exist for business in terms exemptions from VAT and withholding tax.
of bureaucracy, capacity, finance and good
business planning.”42 The ICF’s first chair The SAGCOT project’s executive committee
was Niall Fitzgerald, former CEO of Unilever has been co-led by the Tanzanian Minister of
from 1996 to 2004. Agriculture and a vice-president of Unilever,
and delivered an investment blueprint for the
Unilever is a key player in the Southern corridor. The committee also established the
Agricultural Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT), SAGCOT Centre to coordinate and mobilise
a project that comes out of the DFID-funded investments and partnerships in the corridor,
Grow Africa and New Vision for Agriculture and a Catalytic Fund to spur investments.45
initiatives. Launched at the World Economic The Catalytic Fund for SAGCOT is managed
Forum Africa in 2010, SAGCOT is a public- by AgDevCo, a company with links to DFID
private partnership that aims to bring as described later in this report.
350,000 hectares of land under agricultural
production and to generate $2.1 billion of Few companies exemplify better than
private sector investment in agriculture over Unilever the personal nexus of relations
20 years. The project’s founding partners between the UK government and
include Unilever, Monsanto, Diageo, Syngenta, agribusiness. Nick Dyer, DFID’s current
SABMiller,Yara, AGRA and DuPont. DFID Director of Policy, started his career in
joined with the EU and USAID in September Unilever before joining DFID in 1990; prior
2012 to earmark funding for an upgrade of to joining DFID’s policy department, Dyer
road infrastructure in the corridor – “the first headed up DFID’s programme in Malawi.
component of a significant UK programme of Douglas Brew, Unilever’s current External
support to SAGCOT”, according to Diane Affairs Director for Africa, spent nearly nine
Corner, British High Commissioner to years at DFID as a Senior Adviser and Africa
Tanzania.43 Regional Manager, joining the company in
2012 after being Head of Africa, Development
SAGCOT states that it will benefit small and Humanitarian at the UK Representation
farmers but, just as with the Beira Agricultural to the EU. Unilever has also been represented
Growth Corridor project described later in by its retired Senior Vice President Jeroen A.
10
Bordewijk on the Programme Advisory business development and pro-poor growth”.

Committee of the pro-GM DFID-funded The company has for many years received
HarvestPlus initiative, described below. substantial funding from DFID, and in the
three years to March 2012 was paid over
Unilever’s board of directors is truly £113 million from the aid budget.46
a revolving door from UK government
cabinets. Three former Conservative Other current non-executive directors of
ministers were until recently on the Unilever also have connections to the
board as non-executive directors: government. Byron Grote, formerly at BP, was
a member of the UK Business-Government
• Baroness Lynda Chalker, the former UK Forum on Tax and Globalisation from 2008
Minister for Overseas Development, was an to 2010, and Vice-Chairman of the UK
advisory and then a non-executive director government’s Public Services Productivity
of Unilever from 1998 to 2007, and is Panel from 1998 to 2000. Paul Walsh, non-
currently a trustee of the Investment executive director of Unilever and also CEO
Climate Facility for Africa, of which of Diageo, is a member of the government’s
Unilever is a corporate sponsor. Business Advisory Group (described in
more detail below) and an adviser to the
• Leon Brittan, now Baron Brittan of Department of Energy and Climate Change.
Spennithorne, a high-ranking Conservative
minister in the 1980s and then European Yet few business leaders can boast such
Commissioner, joined the Unilever board close association with the UK government’s
as a non-executive director in 2004. international development effort as Unilever
CEO Paul Polman, who has a personal
• David Simon, now Baron Simon of Highbury, interest in selling agro-chemicals (a key DFID
former UK trade minister and CEO of BP, policy) since he is also non-executive director
also joined the board as a non-executive of Dow Chemicals. Polman sits on the UN
director in 2004. panel co-chaired by UK prime minister David
Cameron, whose mandate is to determine
On the current Unilever board as a the direction for international development
non-executive director is Sir Malcolm Rifkind, in the period after 2015, the target date
the former Foreign Secretary, who is also set for the achievement of the Millennium
a non-executive director of Adam Smith Development Goals. Such a position affords
International, the consultancy created out Unilever a unique measure of influence,
of the right-wing Adam Smith Institute. enabling the company to argue for more
Adam Smith International is an explicitly pro- pro-corporate policies on a panel which has
privatisation consultancy that works to create been widely criticised for failing to include
“an enabling environment for market and any civil society representation.47
5. DFID and Syngenta
11
of which Syngenta is a founding partner.

DFID and Syngenta also work together in
the HarvestPlus initiative, which DFID funds
through its grant to the Consultative Group
Syngenta, based in Switzerland, is one for International Agricultural Research
of the world’s largest pesticide and seed (CGIAR). DFID contributed £154 million
companies, with more than 26,000 to CGIAR during 2008-12, including funding
employees in over 90 countries. In 2010 directed explicitly towards research into the
Syngenta had sales of $11.6 billion, of development of new GM crops.52 DFID’s 2005
which $8.9 billion came from herbicides, policy paper Growth and poverty reduction: the
fungicides and insecticides and $2.8 role of agriculture, which formally remains
million came from seeds.The company DFID policy, states: “Biotechnology has the
provided $1.4 billion in net income to potential to provide significant benefits for
its shareholders.48 Syngenta is a leading poor people”, adding that this is “particularly
proponent of genetically modified true for Africa”.53 Ever since then, as this
crops, and has been working to report shows, DFID has continued to fund
introduce its varieties of GM maize research supporting the introduction
and bananas for many years. of GM crops.
Emerging markets are critical to Syngenta’s HarvestPlus, which is supported by Syngenta

profits. CEO Mike Mack said in 2011 that as well as by DFID, is an organisation
the company’s sales “have almost doubled “conducting preliminary research to
since Syngenta’s creation ten years ago” and determine what role transgenics [i.e. GM]
that “expansion has been particularly rapid can play in breeding biofortified crops”.54
in the emerging markets, which now account HarvestPlus “seeks to reduce hidden hunger
for almost 50% of our sales”.49 In May 2012, and provide micronutrients to billions of
Syngenta announced a commitment “to build people” by using a process of biofortification
a $1 billion business in Africa over the next to bring higher levels of micronutrients into
10 years” since “Africa has become one key staple foods. One of its main projects has
of our strategic growth regions and been GM rice, known as Golden Rice, which
our aspiration is to contribute to the is claimed to tackle vitamin A deficiency in
transformation of African agriculture”.50 regions where rice is a staple food. Both the
Syngenta’s aim is, of course, to grow still science and the politics behind Golden Rice
further: “Our aim is to gain an average have been repeatedly challenged over a
0.5% market share across our combined period of more than 10 years.55 Syngenta,
businesses … and a continuous increase which holds the rights to commercial
in the dividend.”51 exploitation of Golden Rice, sublicenses
it for ‘humanitarian’ use by farmers on
DFID works with Syngenta in several of the incomes of less than $10,000 a year.
same initiatives as with Unilever, such as the
New Vision for Agriculture, of which Syngenta DFID’s support for GM research is de facto
is co-chair; Grow Africa, in which Syngenta is support for the ‘big six’ multinational
a Task Force member; and the Southern corporations that lead the research and
Agricultural Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT), development of GM crops: Monsanto, Bayer,
12
Syngenta, BASF, Dow and DuPont. GM built on our first demonstration of any
crops have been largely developed for global transgenic banana with a useful trait carried
commodity markets served by large-scale out in other work funded... by Syngenta”.60
farmers growing maize, soya and cotton.56
There is little evidence that GM crops Syngenta is also a partner in the DFID-funded,
produce higher yields (their supposed pro-GM African Agricultural Technology
rationale) but considerable evidence of the Foundation (AATF), described earlier in this
risks involved in reliance on GM technology report. In addition to its other GM trials, the
– even before the furore in September 2012 AATF is carrying out field trials of GM
caused by new research linking exposure to bananas in Uganda based on original research
Monsanto’s GM maize and Roundup herbicide conducted at Leeds University, which was
with tumours in rats.57 If small farmers use funded by DFID and the Biotechnology and
GM crops, they are locked into buying Biological Sciences Research Council.61
expensive seed from large corporations, David Lawrence, former Head of Research
as well as often needing to use more and Development at Syngenta and now one
chemical pesticides. This has been shown of the company’s non-executive directors,
to be a sure route to indebtedness and is a member of the Biotechnology and
long-term poverty.58 Biological Sciences Research Council, and also
of the Industrial Biotechnology Leadership
One earlier DFID-funded project involved Team, another body advising the government
a partnership with Syngenta Bangladesh to on biotechnology policy. Lawrence was also
promote pest management for rice farmers. a member of the Lead Expert Group advising
The project documentation noted that it the government on global agriculture policy,
enabled partners “to assist Syngenta to assure which wrote the influential Foresight report
quality, and promote the technology to on The Future of Food and Farming.62
farmers and policy makers” in the context of
Syngenta holding a 70% share of the pesticide Syngenta also enjoys other personnel
market in Bangladesh. The DFID project connections to the UK government.
involved “providing training to Syngenta Andrew Bennett, a board member and
personnel, pesticide retailers affiliated to former Executive Director of the Syngenta
them, and their customers… in parallel with Foundation, was previously Director of
training of Syngenta marketing personnel and Rural Livelihoods and Environment at DFID.
pesticide retailers”. The project was “designed He is also a board member of UK-based
to transfer knowledge to Syngenta and their consultancy CABI, which receives £1.2 million
dealer network” and “to assist Syngenta to DFID funding for its CABI Development
develop strategies for promoting pheromone Fund as part of DFID’s contribution to the
products to a receptive farmer population in CGIAR.63 The Chair of CABI, John Ripley,
order to enable sustainable transfer of the spent 35 years at Unilever, most recently
technology into the market place.”59 Another as Head of Corporate Development.
DFID-funded project involved promoting The Chair of Syngenta is Martin Taylor,
transgenic (i.e. GM) resistance to pest former CEO of Barclays plc, who served
damage. The project was “the first as a member of the Independent Banking
demonstration world-wide of a transgenic Commission established in June 2010
East African Highland banana” and “the results by Chancellor George Osborne.
6. DFID and Diageo
13
countries; DFID funds nine of these projects

and jointly funds 29 others.67
The AECF’s current director, Hugh Scott, was

UK-based Diageo is one of the world’s Senior Private Sector Development Adviser
largest brewing companies, employing for sub-Saharan Africa for DFID, and prior
over 20,000 people and with offices in to that worked with DFID in Kenya; he was
80 countries. Diageo in Africa comprises also strategic adviser to the Chair of the
13 breweries, producing a range of Investment Climate Facility for Africa. DFID
African beer brands along with whisky, is also working with Diageo in the New
gin and vodka. In the year to June 2012, Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition,
Diageo recorded sales of £10.8 billion, the Grow Africa initiative (in which Diageo
providing profit to its shareholders of is a member of the Task Force) and in the
£1.9 billion. Emerging markets account New Vision for Agriculture, on whose
for almost 40% of Diageo’s business, board Diageo sits. Diageo is also a founding
and increased operating profit by 23% partner of SAGCOT.
in 2012.The company notes that “Africa
represents Diageo’s largest group of Paul Walsh has been Diageo’s CEO
emerging markets in terms since 2000; as noted above, he is also
of net sales”.64 a non-executive director of Unilever,
and acts as an adviser to the Department
In its 2011 private sector strategy document, of Energy and Climate Change. Walsh is a
The engine of development:The private sector member of the Business Advisory Group
and prosperity for poor people, DFID boasted convened by David Cameron “from sectors
of its support for a Diageo project to replace of strategic importance to the UK to
imported barley with locally grown sorghum provide regular, high level advice on critical
in its beer brewing operation in Cameroon. business and economic issues facing the
The money in question – a matched funding country”. The group is designed to function
commitment of $250,000 – was provided “as a sounding board through which
through the Africa Enterprise Challenge Ministers can listen to and debate the
Fund (AECF).65 concerns and priorities facing industry
and can discuss the Government’s economic
The AECF is a $150 million private sector and business policy”. Members of the
fund which supports agribusiness and large group include not only Diageo’s Paul Walsh,
commercial farms, backed by some of the but also the CEOs or Chairs of Sainsbury’s,
biggest names in development finance and Tata, GlaxoSmithKline and BAE Systems.
hosted by the Alliance for a Green Revolution In addition, Diageo boasts among its
in Africa (AGRA). Its aim is “to encourage non-executive directors Lord Davies of
private sector companies to compete for Abersoch, a former trade minister under
investment support for their new and the Labour government from 2009 to
innovative business ideas”.66 According to 2010 and previously a non-executive
DFID, the AECF has 58 projects in 17 director of Tesco.
14
DFID LINKS TO LAND GRABBING
Photo: War on Want

The DFID-supported Africa Enterprise become a model for sustainable development
Challenge Fund (AECF) and Emerging Africa in Africa”.71 Addax has been given a range
Infrastructure Fund (EAIF) are promoting at of tax incentives by the Sierra Leonean
least two projects accused of land grabbing in government, notably a 13-year exemption
Africa. According to DFID, “An example of from payment of corporation tax and a tax
positive impact on wider market system [sic] stabilisation clause whereby any change in law
by an existing AECF supported initiative is will require the government to compensate
Dominion Farms in Western Kenya. Through the company for any revenue losses.72
provision of expertise and nationwide supply
of tilapia fingerlings, Dominion Farms has built DFID has also been accused of supporting
the aquaculture market system in Kenya.”68 a ‘villagisation’ programme in Ethiopia
But Dominion Farms, a US-based company designed to remove 1.5 million people from
which leases 17,000 hectares of land in Kenya, their lands in order to make way for the
has been accused of displacing thousands of introduction of commercial agriculture.
people from their farmland, as well as Widespread human rights violations have
polluting water and sickening farm animals; been reported in the forced evictions that
the company denies the allegations. accompanied the resettlement programme,
and DFID has acknowledged that there
In Sierra Leone, the DFID-sponsored EAIF is “may have been” human rights abuses
funding a biofuels project by Addax Bioenergy, committed.73 DFID has also admitted that
a subsidiary of the Addax & Oryx Group, to it provided support to the villagisation
establish a sugar cane plantation on 10,000 programme when approached by the
hectares of land along with an ethanol Ethiopian government in February 2011,
refinery and a biomass power generation in the form of guidelines and “examples of
plant. This is the largest private sector good practice relating to resettlement and
investment in agriculture in Sierra Leone, villagisation processes”, but has denied the
through which Addax will export the ethanol allegation that funds supplied by DFID to
to the EU. Recent reports criticise the Ethiopia’s Protection of Basic Services
project for taking over land currently used programme have been used in the
to grow staple foods, for poor consultation resettlement process.74 Lawyers have
processes with local communities and for threatened legal action against the UK
failing to deliver on promises to promote government over its connection with the
local economic development.70 Addax, by human rights violations committed by
contrast, states that “the project aims to Ethiopian soldiers carrying out the evictions.75
7. DFID and SABMiller
15
SABMiller is a investment leading to accelerated job

creation and income generation in central
Mozambique bringing additional benefits in
UK-based company
terms of food security, increased productivity

that is one of the
of rural farmers and communities”.79 Beira

world’s leading
Corridor supporters include corporations

brewers, with more
such as Yara, Sun Biofuels, DuPont and Rio

than 200 beer
Tinto, plus donors including DFID, Norway,

brands and 70,000 employees in over
AGRA and the World Bank.
75 countries.The company recorded
sales of $31.4 billion in 2012, and profits
of $4.2 billion. SABMiller has a major As with other cases of large-scale land
presence in Africa, which provided over grabs, the Beira Corridor project documents
a third of its pre-tax earnings in 2012.76 boast of “large tracts of unutilized land” for
foreign investors that can be leased for 99
SABMiller is a member of the New Vision years at a rate of just $1 per hectare. Over
for Agriculture and one of the founding 80,000 hectares have already been allocated
partners of SAGCOT (see earlier in this to investors since 2007. Mining and biofuels
projects are integral to the initiative, and
report). It is also one of the investors in
project documents indicate that the main
the Beira Agricultural Growth Corridor,
targets will be medium and large-scale
a large agricultural investment project in
farmers; smallholders are meant to benefit
Mozambique being funded by DFID to the as outgrowers for the corporations, and will
tune of £6.5 million during 2010-15. A $20 be supported “in the transition to modern
million Catalytic Fund supported by DFID farming” involving their increasing use of
has been set up to make investments in fertilizer and hybrid seeds.80
agribusinesses engaging in the Beira Corridor,
which include not only SABMiller but also The Catalytic Fund for Beira, like that for
Nestlé, Tata and Chiquita. The Beira Corridor the SAGCOT project in Tanzania, is managed
website states that the Catalytic Fund “is an by AgDevCo, a company based in London.
AgDevCo describes itself as “a not-for-profit
agribusiness start-up fund which will make
distribution agricultural development
refundable advances to start-up businesses
company operating in sub-Saharan Africa”.81
to help ‘kick start’ commercially-viable
AgDevCo’s Executive Director of Business
agriculture in the Beira corridor region”.77 Development, Chris Isaac, is a former
economic adviser for DFID, while another
Launched at the World Economic Forum, Executive Director, Daniel Hulls, formerly
the Beira Corridor is an initiative of Grow worked at the Treasury. AgDevCo’s Chair
Africa and the New Vision for Agriculture. is Keith Palmer, who is also the founder
Its aim is to establish the Beira Corridor in Chair of the DFID-funded Emerging Africa
Mozambique “as a major new agricultural Infrastructure Fund (EAIF); a founder board
producing and processing region over the member of DFID-funded GuarantCo; and a
next 20 years”, putting 190,000 hectares founder and Chair of CEPA, a consultancy
under irrigation.78 The Beira Corridor firm whose clients include the EAIF itself,
project describes itself as a partnership the Private Infrastructure Development
between governments, private investors Group (PIDG) and the African Agricultural
and donor agencies which aims to boost Technology Foundation (AATF) – all of
agricultural productivity in Mozambique and which bodies are described in this report.
the wider region. According to DFID, the
aim of the project is: “To catalyse economic Among the “core supporters” of the Beira
activity and leverage in private sector Corridor project being funded by DFID is
16
British mining corporation Rio Tinto, on In June 2010, SABMiller won nearly
whose board sits DFID non-executive $1 million funding from the Africa Enterprise
director Vivienne Cox. Cox’s biography Challenge Fund (AECF) to “introduce an
describes her as the “lead independent innovative local sourcing model for cassava”
director on the Ministerial Board of the through a local subsidiary; SABMiller will
Department for International Development”, contribute $2 million through the partnership
and she has remarkable personal business
to match the funding provided by the AECF.84
contacts, sitting also on the boards of BG
In addition to SAB Miller’s cassava project,
Group (formerly British Gas), Pearson
(owner of the Financial Times),Vallourec another AECF project is the Ghana Grains
(a manufacturing company for the energy Partnership, which supports one of the
industry) and INSEAD (an elite business world’s largest fertilizer corporations,
school with offices worldwide). She is also a Yara, to supply chemical fertilizers to
former executive vice-president of BP, where farmers, alongside the Dutch / Ghanaian
she worked from 1981 to 2009. Rio Tinto company, Wienco, supplying pesticides.
is described as a “strategic partner” of The project seeks to provide maize
AgDevCo and has “partnered with AgDevCo, farmers with access to chemical fertilizer
the Government of Mozambique and the and seed, along with extension services.
British Government to assist farmers in Project documentation notes that Yara
the vicinity of mines in Moatize, central conducts demonstration plots and trains
Mozambique, to boost their crop yields for
the farmers on the use of fertilizer, while
commercial food production”.82 Rio Tinto
“Yara and Wienco have also jointly
has recently gained access to Mozambique’s
large coal reserves through its acquisition developed small plots within the
of Australian mining company Riversdale, communities to communicate the
and has been negotiating with the message of new inputs techniques and
Mozambican government to upgrade the the financial implications of embracing
country’s infrastructure in order to facilitate new technology”.85 This model is being
the transportation of coal from Moatize replicated in the Beira Corridor and
to the coast.83 SAGCOT projects.
8. The Mauritius connection
17
In addition to the millions of pounds transport, water, power and agribusiness.

of taxpayers’ money being diverted DFID has provided 67% of EAIF’s capital, and
through the aid budget to support since 2002 the EAIF has made commitments
some of the world’s largest agribusiness of $495 million to finance 26 projects.
corporations, several of the companies
and investment funds being supported The EAIF is managed by a fund management
by DFID are incorporated in the company that is also incorporated in
secrecy jurisdiction of Mauritius.This Mauritius: Frontier Markets Fund Managers
means that UK aid to agribusiness is Limited (FMFML).89 DFID provides equity to
being routed through a known tax the EAIF through the PIDG Trust, a Mauritian
haven, allowing companies to avoid trust established in 2002 by the Private
paying taxes that could be used by Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG)
governments to support small farmers to mobilise private sector investment to
and genuine agricultural development. infrastructure projects in the global South,
including agribusiness. The PIDG launched the
The island of Mauritius, situated in the Indian EAIF, which in turn acts as the debt provider
Ocean to the east of Madagascar, set itself to infrastructure projects established by the
up as an offshore banking centre with help PIDG.90 The PIDG Trust, which invests in,
from the City of London in 1989. With tight owns and manages the PIDG facilities, has
secrecy and negligible tax rates, Mauritius acts two Mauritian professional trustee service
as a ‘conduit haven’ for money flowing in and providers: Multiconsult Trustees Ltd and
out of Africa and Asia. The island is also a Minimax Ltd.91 DFID is one of the original
favourite destination for corporations or members of the PIDG and states that the
wealthy individuals seeking to engage in the PIDG “plays a critical role to UK
offshore activity of ‘round-tripping’, whereby development objectives”.92 Indeed, DFID
money is routed through Mauritius before is providing a massive £459 million in core
being returned to the country of origin under funding to the PIDG during 2012-15, a sum
the guise of foreign investment. Around 40% which could be increased “up to a possible
of foreign investment into India is registered £700 million, subject to performance”.93
as coming from Mauritius – much of it
ostensibly coming from just one building Another company registered in Mauritius and
in the Mauritian capital Port Louis.86 supported by DFID is GuarantCo.94 Launched
in 2006, GuarantCo is a sister entity to the
DFID is the main sponsor of equity for the EAIF and is owned indirectly by members of
London-based Emerging Africa Infrastructure the PIDG through the PIDG Trust. It is also
Fund (EAIF), established in 2002 and run by Frontier Markets Fund Managers
registered in Mauritius. A recent DFID report Limited, the fund management company
states that it has hitherto spent £102.5 incorporated in Mauritius, as noted above.
million on the EAIF and plans to spend a GuarantCo provides “credit enhancement to
further £100 million in the four years support long-term local currency lending in
2011-15.87 According to DFID, the EAIF is emerging markets by facilitating the financing
“a public-private partnership providing long- of infrastructure in low income countries
term debt finance for the construction and worldwide”, and has completed eight
development of private infrastructure in transactions since 2006, providing $100
sub-Saharan Africa”.88 It funds projects across million of guarantees supporting projects
a range of sectors including telecoms, worth $1.6 billion in countries such as Kenya,
18
Chad and India. The GuarantCo concept funded by DFID, as described earlier in
came from the PIDG, and DFID has provided this report.98
$42 million in funding to GuarantCo, some
through the PIDG Trust, with plans to spend AGRA has also had a long relationship with
£102 million in 2011-15.95 Pearl Capital Partners, a specialist agriculture
investment firm that has invested in small and
The DFID-funded Alliance for a Green medium-sized East African agribusinesses
Revolution in Africa (AGRA) is also closely since 2006.99 While it has offices in Kampala
linked to companies incorporated in and Nairobi, the company is licensed in
Mauritius. The African Agriculture Fund (AAF), Mauritius. Pearl Capital’s Managing Partner is
a special initiative of AGRA, is a company Tom Adlam, formerly chief financial officer of
incorporated in Mauritius.96 The AAF the UK government’s CDC Group’s African
“supports private agricultural companies and agro-industries investment portfolio. As head
cooperatives that implement strategies to of Pearl Capital, Adlam is also managing
increase and diversify agricultural production director of African Agricultural Capital (AAC),
in Africa and reduce risks from volatility in a fund which has had a long relationship with
commodity prices” and aims to grow to a AGRA through the African Seed Investment
size of €500 million.97 The AAF is run by Fund, also managed by Pearl Capital.100
Phatisa Fund Managers, a subsidiary of Phatisa According to DFID, AAC is one of the
Group Ltd, also incorporated in Mauritius. investment funds acting as a co-funder
Phatisa is also involved in the Beira on initiatives with the Africa Enterprise
Agricultural Growth Corridor project being Challenge Fund.101
ENTITIES REGISTERED IN MAURITIUS

DFID Multiconsult Trustees Minimax
PIDG Trust
FMFML
AGRA
GuarantCo
EAIF
AAF Phatisa
AAC Pearl Capital Partners

9. Conclusion
19
This report has traced how the UK assistance.Yet the crisis in the global food
government’s Department for International system has revealed the need for alternative
Development (DFID) is spending hundreds models of food production, distribution and
of millions of pounds of taypayers’ money consumption that guarantee communities
in order to expand corporate control over control over their own natural resources,
agriculture in Africa. At the same time as vast strengthen local and national markets and
tracts of African farm land are being handed promote agroecological production methods.
over to private investors, DFID is seeking to These positive alternatives come together
bring millions of African farmers under the under the framework of food sovereignty
control of the world’s largest agribusiness as developed by the worldwide farmers’
companies through increased dependency on movement La Vía Campesina and described in
corporate seeds and chemicals and through full in War on Want’s report Food Sovereignty:
their transformation into outgrowers for Reclaiming the global food system.
private sector investment initiatives. In some
instances, such as the Malawi case study War or Want believes that:
featured in this report, agricultural extension
projects funded by DFID are the sole means • DFID should suspend its support for
by which corporations are able to penetrate initiatives promoting land grabbing
these new markets. The fact that much UK by multinational corporations and
aid to agribusiness is being routed through agricultural extension activities involving
the tax haven of Mauritius adds further insult the sale of corporate seeds and chemical
to injury. inputs to small-scale farmers. In their
place, DFID should respond to the call
DFID is using the UK aid budget to from Olivier De Schutter, UN Special
drive forward the privatisation of African Rapporteur on the Right to Food, who
agriculture, denying people’s right to control has urged all states to promote the model
their own food production. Rather than of agroecology in their plans to reduce
meeting DFID’s mandate of poverty reduction, poverty and climate change.
this pro-corporate agenda threatens to • DFID should suspend its funding for
deepen hunger and poverty among rural research into GM crops. Instead, DFID
populations into the long-term future. There should support agricultural research focused
is an urgent need to halt DFID’s support for on sustainable, low-input and traditional
the corporate takeover of African agriculture breeding programmes developed by
before irreversible damage is done. small-scale farmers around the world.
DFID’s promotion of agribusiness is an • DFID should take immediate action to

integral part of its ‘food security’ agenda, ensure that UK aid funds are not routed
which argues that the world’s food needs through Mauritius or any other tax havens
will be assured through greater private sector or secrecy jurisdictions. DFID should
control over the global food system as a make a comprehensive public declaration
whole. That agenda is kept alive in turn by a detailing the full extent of all initiatives and
revolving door of appointments and personal investment funds connected with the UK
connections that ensure DFID remains close aid budget, and where each is registered,
to the companies that benefit from its irrespective of sector.
20
Notes
1
‘Agriculture’, at www.dfid.gov.uk 17
‘FIPS-Africa helps farmers in Makueni district
2 improve their crop yields through promotion of
improved seed, fertilizer and soil management’,
Towards a Green Economy: Pathways to Sustainable
Development and Poverty Eradication: UNEP, 2011.
The six biggest pesticide companies are: Syngenta DFID, April 2007
(Switzerland), Bayer (Germany), BASF (Germany), 18
Blind Alley? Is DFID’s policy on agriculture in danger
Monsanto (US), Dow (US) and Dupont (US). The 10 of failing to deliver food and environmental security?
biggest seed companies are Monsanto (US), Dupont GM Freeze, June 2009
(US), Syngenta (Switzerland), Limagrain (France), Land 19
‘RIUtv meets Benson Maniaji from FIPS-Africa’,
O Lakes (US), KWS (Germany), Bayer (Germany), 22 September 2010
Dow (US), Sakata (Japan) and DLF-Trifolium 20
‘Crop Protection Programme: Improved access to
(Denmark). The seven biggest fertilizer companies are:
appropriate farm inputs for integrated maize crop
Yara (Norway), Mosaic (US), Agrium (Canada), K+S
management by small-scale farmers in Kenya and
Group (Germany), Israel Chemicals, CF Industries
Tanzania’, DFID, 31 December 2005; ‘Appropriate
(US), Potashcorp (Canada); see Who Will Control the
inputs for Kenya’s farmers: How farmers can increase
Green Economy? ETC Group, November 2011
yields while reducing costs’, DFID, 28 March 2006
3
Food Sovereignty: Reclaiming the global food system, 21
War on Want, October 2011
Malawi Agro-Dealer Strengthening Program, Interim
Evaluation Phase 1 Report, University of Malawi
4
The Aid Funded Business Service, previously a Centre for Agricultural Research and Development
team within UK Trade & Investment, has now been (CARD), December 2009
outsourced to a joint venture run by British Expertise 22
Interview with Paul Chimimba, February 2011
and the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce.
23
Interview with Godfrey Chapola, RUMARK,
5
‘Working as one team at Post: Guidance for DFID,
February 2011
UKTI and FCO staff on HMG’s Commercial
Diplomacy and Untied Aid Agenda’, April 2011
24
Interview with Paul Chimimba, February 2011
‘Africa is open for business’, Andrew Mitchell, speech
25
6 Malawi Agro-Dealer Strengthening Program, Interim
to London School of Business, 11 July 2011 Evaluation Phase 1 Report, University of Malawi
7 Centre for Agricultural Research and Development
(CARD), December 2009
Leading in Innovation: 2011 Annual Report,
Monsanto, 2011
26
8
‘AGRA: A partnership for change’, at http://www.agra-
Malawi Agro-dealer Strengthening Program:
Interim Report 7, University of Malawi Centre for
alliance.org; for a full critique, see Alliance for a Green
Agricultural Research and Development (CARD),
November 2010
Revolution in Africa (AGRA): Laying the groundwork for
the commercialization of African Agriculture, African
Centre for Biosafety, September 2012
27
Malawi Agro-Dealer Strengthening Program, Interim
Evaluation Phase 1 Report, University of Malawi
9
For more details, see Food Sovereignty: Reclaiming the
Centre for Agricultural Research and Development
global food system, War on Want, October 2011
(CARD), December 2009
10
‘Bridging the gap to new technologies for 28
‘Developing Rural Agricultural Input Supply Systems
smallholder farmers in Africa’, AATF Strategy
for Farmers in Africa’, in Fertilizer Toolkit: Promoting
(2007-2015), November 2006
Efficient and Sustainable Fertiliser Use in Africa, World
11
‘Ending Striga’s reign with IR maize’, DFID, March Bank, 2007
2011 29
Interview with Godfrey Chapola, February 2011
12
‘Bridging the gap to new technologies for 30
‘CNFA: A Market-Driven Approach’, CNFA Fact
smallholder farmers in Africa’, AATF Strategy
Sheet, August 2012
(2007-2015), November 2006
31
‘Our History’, at www.cnfa.org
13
Details from the AATF website: http://www.aatf-
africa.org
32
See Paul Polman, ‘Towards inclusive growth: a new
model for capitalism’, International Trade Forum
14
WEMA Progress Report May 2012, AATF, 2012
Magazine, 1 April 2012; statistics from Unilever
15
WEMA Progress Report 2008-2011, AATF, 2011 annual and CSR reports
16
‘Support biotechnology development in Africa – 33
‘Tomatoes bring hope for Ghanaian farmers’, in
private sector urged’, AATF, 20 June 2012 Development Works, DFID, June 2006; ‘Promoting
growth and jobs’ in G8: Two Years On, DFID, March
2008; The Farmer Field School Project: Growing
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Gates Foundation refutes report it fails

African farmers
by Karrie Kehoe, Thomson Reuters | 5 Nov 2014 |
corporations | technologies | food crisis | seeds & biodiversity | Blog
Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation - Wed, 5 Nov 2014 19:38 GMT
http://www.trust.org/item/20141105193804-4c8pi/?
source=fiHeadlineStory
By Karrie Kehoe
LONDON, Nov 5 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation has rejected accusations that too much of its
funding goes to Western researchers, saying it is helping small
farmers in African countries.
GRAIN, a non-profit group that supports small farmers, said in a

report issued on Tuesday that the Gates Foundation pumps
donations into agricultural research in Western countries and policy
change in African states, but fails to help farmers in some of the
world's poorest countries.
"Gates is not engaging with groups on the ground in Africa where a

lot of experimentation and improvement in agriculture is possible
and could take off with some support," Henk Hobbelink, co-founder
of GRAIN, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
GRAIN analysed funding from the Gates Foundation since 2003 and
found that of the more than $3 billion the charitable body gave in
food and agriculture grants, just 5 percent of funds went to African
groups besides the Nairobi-based Alliance for a Green Revolution in
Africa (AGRA) and the African Agricultural Technology Foundation
(AATF).
AGRA, an international partnership set up jointly by the Gates

Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation in 2006, received 13
percent, and the AATF got 2 percent.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said the report was
"deliberately misleading".
"The central assumption is that only organisations located in Africa

can benefit African farmers - and we think that is incorrect," the
foundation said in a statement.
The Gates Foundation, one of the world's largest private charitable

organisations, pointed out that African groups are direct recipients
of 20 percent of its agricultural funds.
Gates said it "invests directly" in the ability of national governments

to execute their own agricultural strategies, and joins with national
donors to fund those plans.
According to the foundation's website, the organisation has

committed more than $2 billion to agricultural development efforts,
primarily in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
Researchers at GRAIN said the foundation focuses too much on
science and research in Western countries, and not enough on
helping small farmers in food-insecure countries adopt techniques
that work for them.
"Much more, we see groups supported by Gates working on high-

tech solutions and (they) have very little connection to farmers on
the ground," Hobbelink said.
The foundation is "orientated towards bringing foreign technology

into Africa and opening up markets to foreign corporations, rather
than building on the possibilities, capacities and knowledge the
farmers already have", he added.
The Gates Foundation maintains that farming in Africa is "back-

breaking labour" and "science and innovation can make life easier
and better for farmers by making farms more productive and
sustainable".
In the 2014 Global Food Security Index of the 25 most food-

insecure countries in the world, 19 are African.
The Belinda & Melinda Gates Foundation, established by Microsoft

tycoon Bill Gates and his wife Melinda, has handed out a total of
over $3 billion in 2014 alone.
(Reporting By Karrie Kehoe; editing by Megan Rowling)
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Does Gates funding of media taint objectivity?

Originally published February 19, 2011 at 5:00 pm | Updated February 23, 2011 at 1:16 pm
1 of 3 | ... More
Better-known for its battles against global disease, the Gates Foundation has also become a
force in journalism. The foundation's contributions to nonprofit and for-profit media have
helped spur coverage of global health, development and education issues. But some people
worry that its growing support of media organizations blurs the line between journalism and
advocacy.
By Sandi Doughton and Kristi Heim
Did you catch ABC’s recent special on an incubator to boost preemie survival in Africa and a new machine to
diagnose tuberculosis in the developing world?
Perhaps you saw Ray Suarez’s three-part series on poverty and AIDS in Mozambique on the PBS NewsHour. Or
listened to Public Radio International’s piece on the rationing of kidney dialysis in South Africa.
Beyond their subject matter, these reports have something else in common: They were all bankrolled by the Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation.
Better-known for its battles against global disease, the giant philanthropy has also become a force in journalism.
The foundation’s grants to media organizations such as ABC and The Guardian, one of Britain’s leading
newspapers, raise obvious conflict-of-interest questions: How can reporting be unbiased when a major player
holds the purse strings?
But direct funding of media organizations is only one way the world’s most powerful foundation influences what
the public reads, hears and watches.
To garner attention for the issues it cares about, the foundation has invested millions in training programs for
journalists. It funds research on the most effective ways to craft media messages. Gates-backed think tanks turn
out media fact sheets and newspaper opinion pieces. Magazines and scientific journals get Gates money to
publish research and articles. Experts coached in Gates-funded programs write columns that appear in media
outlets from The New York Times to The Huffington Post, while digital portals blur the line between journalism
and spin.
The efforts are part of what the foundation calls “advocacy and policy.” Over the past decade, Gates has devoted
$1 billion to these programs, which now account for about a tenth of the giant philanthropy’s $3 billion-a-year
spending. The Gates Foundation spends more on policy and advocacy than most big foundations — including
Rockefeller and MacArthur — spend in total.
Much of the money goes to analyses of policy questions, such as the best way to finance vaccines for poor
countries. But the “advocacy” side of the equation is essentially public relations: an attempt to influence
decision-makers and sway public opinion. The ultimate goal is to boost funding and focus from governments,
businesses and other foundations for the battle against disease and poverty — particularly now, as Congress
considers deep cuts in foreign aid.
“As big as the foundation is, there is no single area we work in where we can remotely succeed without other
partners and actors,” said Mark Suzman, head of policy and advocacy for the foundation’s global-development
programs.
While the aims may be laudable, the ability of one wealthy foundation to shape public discourse is troubling to
some.
“Even if we were to satisfy ourselves that the Gates Foundation were utterly benign, it would still be worrisome
that they wield such enormous propaganda power,” said Mark Crispin Miller, professor of media, culture and
communications at New York University.
Some of the foundation’s approaches are controversial, such as its embrace of genetically modified crops and
emphasis on technological fixes for health problems. Critics fear foundation funding of media will muffle those
debates. And with only three trustees setting the overall strategy — Bill and Melinda Gates and fellow billionaire
Warren Buffett — there’s something “deeply anti-democratic” about such a concentration of influence, Miller
said.
“We’re not dealing with a lively discussion among players. We’re dealing with one gigantic entity … that seems
to be very skilled at promoting its agenda,” he said.
Foundation officials say they’re not out to control the way the media cover global disease and poverty, or even
the foundation’s own programs. They just want increased visibility for life-and-death issues that often get
ignored, especially in the face of shrinking newsroom budgets.
“We’re trying to do everything we can to make sure people understand not just the need, but the opportunity, to
make a huge difference in the lives of millions of people around the world,” said Joe Cerrell, who oversees the
foundation’s policy, advocacy and communications work in Europe. “For us, it’s about making sure that these
stories get told.”
A growing media force
There’s nothing new about powerful organizations attempting to massage media and get attention for their
causes.
“It would be naive to believe big-money foundations don’t play the same game that corporations and other
special interests do,” said Marc Cooper, assistant professor at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg
School for Communication & Journalism. “I don’t find that inherently troubling.”
New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof recently argued that “good people engaging in good causes” need to
sell the public on the need to take action when children are starving or being stunted by preventable disease.
No charity is better positioned to take on that challenge than Gates, with assets totaling more than $60 billion
(including Buffett’s donation) and Microsoft’s media-savvy legacy to draw upon.
The foundation’s direct funding for media and media programs, which so far totals nearly $50 million, initially
followed the path taken by other foundations and corporations: Money for journalist training and for nonprofits
such as NPR and PBS. But rather than providing general support, Gates usually stipulates reporting on the
issues it cares about most: diseases such as HIV, malaria and TB; poverty in the developing world; and
education in the United States.
The International Center for Journalists got nearly $6 million for a program that pairs veteran journalists with
news organizations in Africa. One collaboration helped reverse a ban on midwives in Malawi by pointing out the
hazards faced by pregnant women en route to clinics, said program supervisor Jerri Eddings. 484 developing-
world journalists have been trained in reporting about AIDS through a Gates grant to the National Press
Foundation.
At PBS’ NewsHour, Suarez said a $3.6 million Gates grant has allowed him to cover stories that would
otherwise have been out of reach, such as river blindness in Tanzania and Mexican programs to improve
nutrition among the poor.
Other grants include $3.3 million to Public Radio International, $5 million to NPR and $1 million to Frontline.
Grumbling among media observers peaked late last year when the foundation for the first time teamed up with
major for-profit operations such as ABC and the Guardian.
The foundation provided ABC $1.5 million to fund overseas travel for reports on global health and development.
ABC put up $4.5 million. Neither the foundation nor the Guardian will reveal the dollar amount of the deal that
helped the British daily establish an online forum on global health and development.
The Seattle Times received a $15,000 Gates grant through Seattle University for a series of stories on
homelessness in 2010.
Some uneasiness
Recipients of Gates’ largesse all say the foundation does not dictate the specific stories they cover.
Foundation officials did provide the NewsHour a list of potential story subjects, but no mandates, Suarez said.
“The beauty of this relationship is that they trust our editorial process,” he said. “It’s not like we’re getting calls
from Washington state saying: It’s time to do HIV. It’s time to do malaria.”
But some journalists are uneasy with the arrangements. Seattle freelancer Robert Fortner stopped writing about
Gates for Crosscut after the local online news site received general support grants that total $500,000,
contingent on matching funds. Guardian health Editor Sarah Boseley has said she often shies away from
coverage of the foundation — positive or negative — for fear of being accused of a conflict.
Cooper, the journalism professor, finds it “laughable” when media claim Gates money doesn’t influence their
coverage. Every grant comes with at least one string attached, he said: the hope that the grant will be renewed.
Recipients can be reluctant to bite the hand that feeds them.
Indeed, few of the news organizations that get Gates money have produced any critical coverage of foundation
programs. The Guardian is an exception, with a recent blog post that blasted the foundation’s associations with
agricultural giant Monsanto, a leader in genetically modified crops.
“I don’t know if the Gates Foundation’s projects work,” Cooper said. “And if the Gates Foundation is going to
pay for all the news coverage around this, we’re never going to know.”
A blurry line
A larger question is whether Gates funding steers media coverage in directions that serve specific foundation
goals, both humanitarian and political, diverting attention from other issues.
Some grants have indeed spelled out coverage topics, including male circumcision to reduce transmission of
AIDS, and clinical trials — the latter of which are crucial for Gates-supported vaccines and drugs being tested in
the developing world.
The foundation’s latest media push, launched by Melinda Gates in 2010, is to shift coverage from stories of
despair to stories that show problems can be solved.
“People need to hear and see these success stories,” she said. “In the U.S. media, too often you hear what is not
working.”
There’s nothing wrong with telling positive stories, said global- health expert Laurie Garrett, of the Council on
Foreign Relations, which has received Gates funding. But it’s important to recognize that it’s also a political
tactic, she pointed out. Everyone who works in international aid and development is terrified government
spending will be slashed. Gates-sponsored research shows people are more likely to donate or support foreign
aid after seeing hopeful news. Success stories also show that past investments haven’t been wasted, the
foundation’s Suzman said.
To get those positive stories to the public, the foundation has launched a blitz that covers multiple bases,
including the establishment of digital outlets that bypass conventional media. After commissioning a British
think tank to identify development and health successes, the foundation showcased such stories in a series of
videos and articles called “Living Proof.”
At least one of the “Living Proof” stories touted by Melinda Gates has already found its way into the mainstream
media. The use of skin-to-skin cradling called “kangaroo care” to boost newborn survival was featured recently
in a New York Times column.
When ABC launched its Gates-funded global health initiative, “Be the Change: Save a Life,” it mirrored that
positive approach. Each segment of the inaugural program, hosted by Diane Sawyer, paired problems with
possible solutions, like a low-cost incubator for premature babies.
A website encourages people to donate money. Within the first week, more than $600,000 poured in.
Foundation officials say they don’t require ABC to report positive stories, though one of the grant’s goals is to
“inspire and motivate the millions of viewers to take action.”
Another foundation grant, to California-based LinkTV, is explicit in its aim of spreading good news. The
satellite network got $2 million to create a digital video library that spotlights progress in global development
and health. Called ViewChange, its target audience includes bloggers and journalists, as well as nonprofits that
can use the videos in their own advocacy campaigns, said general manager Wendy Hanamura.
Some news outlets present reports from Gates-funded health organizations as “news,” but those reports aim to
inspire people to donate money, rather than uncover facts, according to a recent analysis of global-health
journalism.
And while many positive stories are valid, media observers point out that an emphasis on good news can mean
less watch-dogging of programs that may not be working.
A wide reach
Beyond direct links to media, the foundation also supports a dizzying mix of organizations whose goals include
influencing media coverage. An interested citizen might think she’s getting news and information from a variety
of sources, but many of them might be funded by Gates.
The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, a health-care think tank, has received nearly $20 million from Gates to
provide global health information and analyses. That includes media fact sheets and reporting guides, a free
video library for journalists and an influential daily roundup of global health news.
Gates gives money to policy magazines such as Health Affairs and Global Health Magazine, and has funded
scientific journals to publish articles on global health. Scientists trained in a Gates-funded program to “engage
policy makers, thought leaders, the media and the public” brief lawmakers and write op-ed pieces that appear in
newspapers and on news sites.
In the field of education, where Gates’ emphasis on teacher quality and small schools has been hotly debated, a
$500,000 grant to the Brookings Institution aims to “re-engineer media coverage of secondary and
postsecondary education.” Education Week magazine has received $4.5 million from the Gates Foundation.
These are just a smattering of the hundreds of policy and advocacy grants the foundation has issued. Gates isn’t
the sole funder for most of the groups, nor does Gates money mean grantees march to the same beat. But with
virtually every major player in global health — and many in education — receiving Gates money, it’s clear the
foundation’s voice is highly amplified in the media and beyond.
“It’s an echo chamber,” Cooper said.
Garrett, a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist, said she would prefer a more diverse set of voices. But without
Gates funding and interest, long-neglected diseases and the suffering of the world’s poor would receive far less
attention than they do today, she pointed out.
“Back when I was covering global health, I was pretty much the only person on the beat,” she said. “That’s not
the case anymore, and that’s good news.”
Seattle Times reporter Justin Mayo contributed to this report.
Sandi Doughton: 206-464-2491 or sdoughton@seattletimes.com
Kristi Heim: 206-464-2781 or kheim@seattletimes.com
Sandi Doughton: 206-464-2491 or sdoughton@seattletimes.com; on Twitter: @SandiDoughton.
Kristi Heim
HOME
How much of Bill Gates’ philanthropy is supported

by Microsoft’s tax planning?
Posted on June 7 2011
Bill Gates likes to be thought of as a great philanthropist. He's referred to as such,

so I guess he's happy about it. And in some senses he is.
But remember he gets tax relief as a result.
Remember something else too: the value of Microsoft has undoubtedly been
in ated by its tax planning. Low taxes equals higher value is a golden rule of the
stock market: it's the motive for tax avoidance.
So ask a question: how much of Gates' philanthropy has been paid for by the US
Exchequer? Quite a lot, I suspect. It's still philanthropy, but not quite as it rst looks.
And does philanthropy subsidised by the Exchequer really give a right to try to
direct how state funding is spent, as so many philanthropists of this sort seem to
think? I question that.
I'd go further: I'd rather less philanthropy, less hype, less high pro le giving to
publicity laden causes and rather more tax paid to ensure that the government in
each country in which a multinational corporation trades has the tax due to it to
ensure it can supply the public services the people in that country deserve.
That's a judgement: Gates is allowed to act as he does.
But I question whether it's all quite such a good cause as some would claim, or
even as generous as it might seem. There's too much tax distortion in it all for me
to feel comfortable with any such suggestion.
HOME
0 0
11
11 Responses
Steve says:
June 8 2011 at 12:51 pm
And how much value for the US Exchequer has Gates created over the years?
I suppose in your view, he should be grateful that they allowed him to start a business?
Richard Murphy says:

June 8 2011 at 1:41 pm
I don’t suppose Gates set out to create a penny of value for the US Exchequer
He does have a duty to pay tax
Yes, he should pay it
It is a duty – you’re right – implicit in his right to run a US business
Steve says:
June 8 2011 at 5:06 pm
I’m sure his intention was to make a tonne of money, which he plainly has.
I suppose that he pays personal tax on income and capital gains, his rm pays tax in
multiple jurisdictions, his employees pay tax, his customers pay sales tax, and I’ve
probably missed o several other taxes, and all the US Exchequer needs to do is sit there
and wait for the cheques to roll in – they are doing pretty well out of the deal all things
considered.
A bit of tax relief would seem to be fair to the man.
Are you implying that without the tax relief, Gates would not give to good causes?
Rather mean-spirited of you…
HOME Richard Murphy says:
June 8 2011 at 5:30 pm
Hardly…much of the evidence in the Uk suggests that without tax relief the rich would not
give, and as a proportion of income they give less than the poor, many of whom get no tax
bene t. But Gates may be an exception – but I really do expect he claims the relief
Stephen Gri ths says:

June 8 2011 at 4:29 pm
What Bill Gates seems to fail to mention re his admitedly large donations for Polio eradication is
that it is a
50:50 donation partnership with the Rotary organization. As a member of Rotary I and others are
getting a little fed up that he does not mention us in PR opportunities that we are giving half of the
donations from the funds we raise.
SadButMadLad says:
June 8 2011 at 8:30 pm
So instead of Bill Gates spending his money on worthy topics of his choosing you would rather he
give the money as tax for the state to spend on worthy topics of its choosing. If they topics of both
are the same you would still prefer the state to collect the tax and then spend it? With
governments known to be very good at spending money e ciently.

June 8 2011 at 9:19 pm
Yes, of course I would
It’s called democracy
I like it
Don’t you?
Adam Bell says:

June 9 2011 at 10:40 am
Richard, taking your principle to its logical conclusion would make it wrong to give money to
HOME
beggars, on the grounds that it should be carried out by the State. It presents a bar to personal
altruism, which – I would argue – is a factor in encouraging people to vote for State altruism. What
happens if, denied an outlet for personal altruism, people vote to end any outlet for State altruism
too?

June 9 2011 at 11:48 am
Of course it’s not wrong to give
It’s right to give
But does it need to be tax deductible?
And if the giving is the proceeds of tax avoidance is that right?
That’s what I asked – don’t construct straw men
As for state altruism – isn’t that your metaphor for hating democracy?
Adam Bell says:

June 9 2011 at 1:21 pm
I would perhaps take your comment about straw men slightly more seriously if you hadn’t
gone and constructed one of your own about ‘state altruism’ meaning ‘hating democracy’.
All State Altruism means is actions taken by the state for the intended bene t of its
citizens, which I’d presumed you were in favour of.
However, the broader point – which I accept I failed to entirely capture – about tax
deductibility is interesting. But isn’t it the case that we want more spent on what could be
considered social goods, and that it doesn’t matter who does it? Whether the state or the
individual does good, that good is still done for that amount of resource.

June 9 2011 at 2:09 pm
Take it seriously or not: if you can’t be bothered to say what you mean in comprehensible
fashion then I didn’t create a straw man, I misunderstood you
I did however consider your comment on state altruism pretty weak – do you always
HOME
argue in absurdum?
And no – I don;t agree with you: means are important to ends. The state is accountable in
ways the individual is not: especially a wealthy individual able to impose a personal
agenda of priorities on others
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Microsoft: tax avoider

Posted on September 21 2012
Way back in 2005 I was involved in the rst ever story on Microsoft's tax dodging.
In 2012 they're still doing it. As CNN has reported:
Microsoft has saved nearly $7 billion o its U.S. tax bill since 2009 by using loopholes
to shift pro ts o shore, a Senate panel said in a report released Thursday.
The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations reviewed tax loopholes used by

dozens of companies in the high-tech industry to shift pro ts o shore. But it focused
on moves by Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ, Fortune 500),
according to Sen. Carl Levin, the Michigan Democrat who runs the panel.
The Senate investigation, which included subpoenas and voluntary correspondence
with the companies, provided an in-depth look into how the companies set up and
use overseas tax shelters, as well as the impact on government co ers.
Levin acknowledged that Microsoft has broken no laws. But he blamed a loose tax
code, Congress and tax o cials for allowing the loopholes.
"The tax practices and gimmicks range from egregious to dubious validity," Levin said.
"What these gimmicks do is shift the burden of taxes to citizens that don't use armies
of lawyers and accountants and subsidiaries to lower their tax bill."
In the case of Microsoft, the company transferred nearly half of its net revenue from
U.S. retail sales to a Puerto Rican subsidiary between 2009 and 2011. That saved the
rm $4.5 billion in U.S. taxes, according to the panel.
And the Irish ruse I was involved in exposing in 2005 continues, of course.
I agree with Levin's comments.
HOME
But think of this another way. Bill Gates has given billions to charity. I acknowledge
the philanthropy. But it's fair to ask how much of that
philanthropy was possible because his company avoided tax? And to ask how
much good might have been done if that tax had been paid?
It's a strange world where we grant power and status to those who secure
in uence with government based at least in part on the ability of their companies
to not pay the right amount of tax in the right place at the right time where right
means that the economic substance of the transactions undertaken coincides with
the place and form in which they are reported for taxation purposes.
0 0
5
5 Responses
Patrick says:
September 21 2012 at 2:50 pm
Can’t really anyone boycotting Microsoft in protest though, can you?

I do my best these days
Hum... says:
Of course you can.

Try to understnad how your computer works, learn linux and install it. Millions of people use it
and never use Microsoft again.
Go and see http://www.ubuntu.com for an example of what free software can do for you.
And before you say that it’s for geeks and experts, know that the French Assembly uses it for
all its MPS.
HOME
James says:
It’s a fair question about the Gates Foundation (and one you could just as well ask of Bono).
Part of the answer is tied up in how much of Microsoft Bill still owns or controls. From what I
understand he is still (non-executive) chairman and owns about 6% of the stock (the largest
individual shareholder), but he gave up being CEO in June 2008. So he doesn’t have an awful lot of
control over its operations.
But part of it, I suspect, is also the geek in him saying “it’s OK to do it, because I can do it”. If you
look at the sort of things he got up to as a kid – nding bugs in operating systems and exploiting
them to get free computer access, writing programs to schedule high-school classes that put him
in with a large number of girls – you can see the pattern. Because he was Microsoft for so long, it
is not entirely surprising that the company went looking for tax loopholes. It is interesting to see
that Apple, Google, Amazon and HP – all companies stacked full of geeks – are all similar in this
respect to MS.
And yet… there is a signi cant contradiction. Gates set his rst charitable trust up in 1994, long
before you broke the tax dodging story. The Gates trust is reputedly transparent about what it
gives and to whom. There might be something in the geek ethos of “it’s OK because I can do it” in
the way the trust runs – having seen how intergovernmental initiatives like the UN’s 0.7% take
forever to get anywhere, Gates reckons that his gains, ill-gotten or otherwise, can get a result
faster and cheaper. (And to be honest, he might be right).
On the substantive question: yes, as CEO in 2005 he would have to hold up his hands to the
“Double Irish” (was it the Double Irish and Dutch Sandwich?). I think you cannot directly blame him
for the Puerto Rican dodge Sen Levin is talking about, but there is, of course, the question of
company culture (and that could take decades to turn around).
But on the whole I think that Bill Gates is not fundamentally an evil man: awed certainly – but not
beyond redemption. Someone with the intelligence and wealth Gates has could destroy the earth
if he chose, and what I see says that is not his choice – unlike, say, Bob Diamond, a man who
apparently has no moral compass whatsoever.

Fair comment
But if he’s serious time to say to Microsoft “change your ways”

He has the power to do that
HOME
If he doesn’t the aw is pretty big, and perpetuated by choice
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Slimming World's
Young Slimmer of the
Year says doctors told
her she would only lose
weight through surgery

Danielle Lloyd joins

her excited sons in
clapping for the NHS
outside her home...
while her pot and pan-
wielding boys wear
charity T-shirts

Boris Becker joins

nation in clapping for
the NHS... as he reveals
social distancing has
allowed him to visit the
park without being
'bothered'

'I couldn't move at one

point': Gogglebox's
Jonathan Tapper details
his horrifying battle with
COVID-19 as his family
reveal their 'panic' while
he fought for his life
Chloe Ferry leaves

little to the imagination
in a TINY silver bikini as
she displays her two
stone weight loss in
another sizzling snap
Toned and trim
Ruby Rose flaunts her

toned legs in short
shorts as she leaves a
friend's house after a
dip in the pool
Was dressed to beat the
heat
Jeremy Clarkson
shares video of his glam
girlfriend Lisa Hogan
showing off her sultry
dance moves as the
couple entertain
themselves in lockdown

Melanie Sykes, 49,

shows off her six pack
in a sports bra for a
makeup-free selfie
ahead of daily workout
She has been giving
followers daily updates
Pixie Lott showcases

her taut abs in a sports
bra as she joins Mark
Wright for a gruelling
morning workout at
home
Working up a sweat
Joanna and Chip

Gaines on the farm! A
look inside the
look inside the
charming country home
the Fixer Upper vets are
self-isolating in: 'A walk
on the wild side'

Whitney Port shares a

selfie at her laptop
for Take Your Kids to
Work Day with her son
Sonny, two, seen using
a training potty in the
background

Dancing With The

Stars vet Brooke Burke,
48, reveals the three
simple moves to get
toned abs at home as
she self-isolates in
Malibu

Prince Harry and

Meghan Markle send
message to family of
girl, 18, who brought a
smile to prince's face
when they met but died
during lockdown

EXCLUSIVE Charlotte
Tilbury launches
Instagram series with A-
list pals about tips for
finding happiness -
starting with Joan
Collins

Princess Charlotte is
'a little leader' as she
instigates the family's
NHS clap, while Prince
George takes his cues
from his sister, body
language expert reveals

Jessica Wright
combats lockdown
boredom by fashioning
a dress out of her
bedsheets as she puts a
spin on the pillow
challenge
Charlotte Hawkins
looks casually cool in
white jeans and zebra
print top as she leaves
GMB studios
Caught the eye on Friday
morning
Myleene Klass looks

incredible in plunging
floral cut-out maxi dress
as she heads to work at
Smooth FM radio
Caught the eye as she
ventured out on Friday
Ashley Roberts nails

her spring style in a
sheer white knitted
sheer white knitted
dress as she leaves the
Heart Radio studios
Beamed at the gorgeous
sunshine
GMB's Andi Peters

reveals he's given his
garage a makeover after
missing competition
segment as he was too
busy making TOAST
Funny
'When I met you, I

found me': Stacey
Solomon shares
romantic love letter to
boyfriend Joe Swash on
date night as she calls
him 'her love, her life'

'No apologies for my

enthusiasm!' Love
Island's Dr Alex George
taps a wooden spoon
on his front door as he
claps for his hospital in
Lewisham

Rochelle and Marvin

Humes reveal their
daughter Alaia-Mai
'prayed' for baby
brother... as songstress
reflects on being
pregnant in lockdown

Love Island's Malin

Andersson marks
National Lingerie Day
with sizzling snap while
urging fans to remain
body confident and
empowered

Helen Flanagan
highlights her svelte
physique in a gorgeous
pink spotted maxi dress
as she poses for stylish
snap during COVID-19
lockdown

'I want to keep going

until I can't': Jamie
Oliver's wife Jools, 45,
reveals she wants
SIXTH child despite
saying they would stop
at five

Matt Lucas admits he's

keen to 'get fitter' after
putting on 'a little bit of
weight' during the UK's
lockdown amid the
coronavirus crisis
Setting goals
Ex fiancée of Princess
Beatrice's husband-to-
be Edo Mapelli Mozzi
be Edo Mapelli Mozzi
tells followers to
'empower yourself' after
a breakup as she shares
advice on moving on

Pregnant sisters Chloe

and Lauryn Goodman
perform the viral Baby
Mama Dance together
as they count down the
days to giving birth
Looking ahead
Mollie King is bowled

over by the best as she
joins cricketer boyfriend
Stuart Broad for another
game in their garden
Let her hair down on
Thursday afternoon
Khloe Kardashian
shares heartwarming
snap of daughter True,
two, playing with her
Trolls toys
Enjoyed some fresh air
with her two-year-old
Catherine Tyldesley
reveals Strictly gave her
the confidence to be
naked as she admits
she was even nervous
to strip off in front of
her husband

Phoebe Waller-Bridge
admits she felt 'shocked
and embarrassed' when
she revisited Fleabag's
stage show as she
discusses raising
money for the NHS

Georgia Toffolo shares

heartache over her
grandfather Umberto's
death... and reveals she
has a junior doctor
living in her Chelsea flat
rent free

BBC's Big Night In:

Doctor Who stars Jodie
Whittaker and David
Tennant join forces with
former Time Lords to
praise NHS staff amid
COVID-19 crisis

BBC's Big Night In:

The Body Coach Joe
Wicks can barely
manage three sit-ups
and orders a pizza as he
turns into a lazy PE
teacher

'Looks more like a Big

Night OUT!' BBC misses
the point AGAIN as
the point AGAIN as
viewers SLAM the use
of FIVE presenters for
Big Night In

Binky Felstead gives

her boyfriend Max
Fredrik Darnton a brand
new look by SHAVING
his head during
lockdown
New look
Coleen and Wayne

Rooney clap for carers
with their four sons Kai,
10, Klay, 6, Kit, 4, and
Cass, 2, while wearing
matching PJs in weekly
salute to NHS

BBC's Big Night In:

Strictly's Oti Mabuse
and Anton Du Beke lead
the pros (and energetic
fans!) in epic dance-
along to Dua Lipa's
Physical

'It was horrible!' Liam

Payne admits missing
son Bear's third
birthday has been the
'hardest thing' for him
during lockdown
Difficult
Cameron Diaz shares

rare glimpse inside her
home and raves
marrying husband Benji
Madden is 'the best
thing that's ever
happened' to her

Myleene Klass is
joined by partner Simon
Motson, baby son
Apollo and daughters
Ava, 12, and Hero, 9, as
the family take part in
Clap For Our Carers

Emily Ratajkowski
sizzles as she poses
topless with a towel on
her head...before
sharing throwback
bikini-clad snapshot
Racy
Hollywood tough guy

Jason Statham is the
ultimate doing dad as
he treats his son Jack to
a piggyback ride during
stroll near their Los
Angeles home

Khloe Kardashian
reveals she's freezing
embryos to have a
embryos to have a
second baby and ex
Tristan Thompson will
be the sperm donor in
KUWTK

Ant McPartlin's
'£31million divorce from
Lisa Armstrong is
FINALISED after two-
year battle... leaving him
free to marry girlfriend
Anne-Marie Corbett'

Coronation Street's
iconic 'Rovers Return
pub to be CLOSED
when filming resumes
to reflect real life amid
the coronavirus
pandemic'

Travis Scott's Fortnite

concert has a minor
hiccup after his
daughter Stormi takes
control... but still ends
up with 12million
viewers

Amber Rose shows off

her curves in skintight
white ensemble in new
social media snaps
Left little to the
imagination while showing
off her curvy figure
Alyson Hannigan dons

a face mask and
oversized dungarees as
she steps out for food
and supplies with
husband Alexis Denisof
Stayed safe
EXCLUSIVE Sofia
Richie shows off her
bikini body as she
wraps her legs around
boyfriend Scott Disick
for a cruise along the
Malibu sands

Pregnant Rachel
McCord rocks bikini and
lace duster as she steps
out for dog walk with
hubby Rick Schirmer
Due to give birth next
month
Gwyneth Paltrow
shares a silly moment
with daughter Apple
after stepping out for a
stroll with husband
Brad Falchuk in LA
Fun and games
Joaquin Phoenix and

Casey Affleck sell
$3.13m NYC penthouse
they bought together
they bought together
before their friendship
fell apart
Off the market
Tiger King's Dillon

Passage reveals he's
been inundated with X-
RATED snaps from fans
since show's release...
and admits he feels
sorry for Carole Baskin

Computer says YES!

Little Britain revival has
BBC Big Night In
viewers demanding a
new series (and the
jokes are still as risqué
and un-PC as ever!)

Jennifer Lopez and

Alex Rodriguez look
totally committed for the
lip-sync of the hilarious
'F*** this job' TikTok
Had some down time at
the end of the day
BBC'S Big Night In:

Dawn French RETURNS
as the Vicar of Dibley as
she jokes about Easter
egg bra, getting to grips
with Zoom and her
lockdown regime

BBC's Big Night In:

Catherine Tate reprises
her iconic role as
schoolgirl Lauren as
she reunites with Doctor
Who co-star David
Tennant

Tiger King's husband

Dillon Passage, 22,
discusses marriage to
jailed Joe Exotic, 57,
who he admits is STILL
who he admits is STILL
fixated on rival Carole
Baskin

Megan Thee Stallion

shows off her
bombshell bikini body
in a barely-there black
two-piece as she suns
herself in the backyard
Stunning
Alex Rodriguez reveals

his wedding to Jennifer
Lopez is 'paused' due to
the coronavirus
outbreak: 'We have to
go with the flow now'

Coronation Street's
Alan Halsall pokes fun
at himself after pals
notice he has the face of
Child's Play doll Chucky
on his knee in creepy
snap

Ashley Graham
cradles baby Isaac while
enjoying the great
outdoors at her family's
Nebraska farm in new
Vogue spread about
self-isolation

'My bebes!' Proud

mom Chrissy Teigen
shares photo of her
adorable kids Miles and
Luna during lockdown
Shares her children with
husband John Legend
Hilaria Baldwin slips

on a cozy flannel shirt
to enjoy a 'late night
workout date' with
herself and her
burgeoning baby bump
She's expecting
Jersey Shore: Ronnie

Ortiz-Magro describes
arrest on seven charges
as 'bunch of
unfortunate events'
On Thursday's Jersey
Shore: Family Vacation
'My life was a s**t

storm': Chris Hughes
reactivates Twitter
account after week-long
break from social media
platform following Jesy
Nelson split

Richard Madeley, 63,

flaunts his new
bleached blond locks as
he becomes the latest
celebrity to style his
own hair amid the

'Such fun!': BBC's Big
Night In viewers rejoice
as Miranda reunites with
her former co-stars for a
Zoom call during
lockdown
She's back
BBC's Big Night In:

'Get out of ma virtual
pub, you're barred!'
Corrie's Liz McDonald
leaves EastEnders cast
furious as she
gatecrashes their quiz

Davina McCall opts for

a sustainable fashion
choice as she recycles
a yellow dress she wore
to the ITV Palooza last
year while hosting the
Big Night In
BBC's Big Night In:

Cheryl urges others to
'only go out on
essential trips' as she
joins Benedict
Cumberbatch in sharing
COVID-19 advice

Kaia Gerber says her

tattoo obsession
inspired her to take her
first stab at some DIY
ink during quarantine
Has had to resort to giving
herself a tattoo
Iskra Lawrence reveals

her baby had to be
resuscitated by midwife
after homebirth as she
shares first pictures of
'miracle' daughter
Thankful
Ellen Pompeo defends

herself after her
insensitive two year old
'it takes two to tango'
Harvey Weinstein
comments spark
outrage

Revealed: Adorable
photograph of'His Royal
Hugness' Prince
Charles released to
mark grandson Prince
Louis's second birthday
was taken by Kate

BBC's Big Night In:

Dua Lipa stresses the
importance of
'connecting with friends
and family' amid
lockdown as she leads
musical performances

Myleene Klass helps

son Apollo, 7 months,
bang pots as they join
Ava, 12, and Hero, 9, in
the weekly Clap For Our
Carers applause for the
NHS
Cute
Travis Scott's
Astronomical concert
shattered a Fornite
record attracting 12.3
MILLION people on the
game at the same time
Well done
Well done
Jodie Turner-Smith
thanks her fans and
tells them 'I'm a mother!'
after giving birth to her
first child with husband
Joshua Jackson

Total Bellas: Nikki

Bella and brother JJ
Garcia clash during
family photoshoot over
favoritism claim
The pair confronted each
other
A clean shave! Ruby

Rose says goodbye to
'Gary the Mullet' and
debuts a unique buzz
cut
Changed up her look
while self-isolating
Sarah Silverman stays

warm in a green sweater
as she steps out on her
fire escape for her daily
salute to essential
workers
Showed her appreciation
Lili Reinhart looks

cheery as she steps out
for some fresh air in a
denim romper... after
calling people 'a**holes'
amid Cole Sprouse
cheating rumors

Ireland Baldwin goes

barefoot and dresses
down in sweater and
shorts as she returns
home from a grocery
trip
Low key appearance
Diane Kruger stays

cool in t-shirt and denim
cutoffs on trip to the
park with toddler
daughter in LA
Sported sunglasses and
also a face mask
Melanie Griffith shows

off trim figure and taut
midriff in activewear as
steps out during
Stepped out for a walk in
Los Angeles
Rooney Mara blocks

out the sun with a black
fedora as she breaks
quarantine for a walk
Was swallowed up in
baggy clothes and a large
hat
Hilary Duff kicks back

after homeschooling
son Luca, 8,
posting: '2nd grade
teachers love
@whiteclaw ammorite
??'

Chris Hemsworth was

moved meeting Brad
Pitt for the first time: 'He
went to do a handshake
and I went for the hug!'
Opened up about his
meeting with the legend
Dolly Parton, 74,

declares she's 'always
declares she's 'always
in glam' even when
confined to home
during COVID-19
quarantine
Country crooner
CHRISTOPHER
STEVENS reviews last
night's TV: Forget fake
news... fake cheese is
the real problem to
chew over
Interesting watch
Stacey Solomon
cosies up to partner Joe
Swash... as they join a
host of stars including
Peter Andre and his wife
Emily MacDonagh in
clapping for the NHS

Vicky McClure shows

her appreciation for
frontline workers as she
joins the Clap For
Carers alongside her
family

Jamie Lee Curtis takes

a barefoot stroll in Los
Angeles... ahead of live
Dirty Dancing screening
The 61-year-old made
sure she grabbed some
fresh air on Thursday
Lucy Hale grabs coffee

to go before donning a
pink face mask to run
errands in Los Angeles
Made sure to beat the
heat by grabbing a drink
from Starbucks
Jordana Brewster
steps out in tank top
and cropped
sweatpants for walk
around her
LA neighborhood
Panama-born beauty
Jesse Metcalfe serves

two looks as he runs
errands amid COVID-19
quarantine... as he
isolates with ex Cara
Santana
Solo appearance
Lili Reinhart deletes

tweets talking about
karma and calling
people 'a**holes' amid
Cole Sprouse and Kaia
Gerber cheating rumors

Julianne Hough leaves

cute comment for
husband Brooks Laich
as they self-isolate in
different states... after
calling quarantine alone
'glorious'

Bachelorette alum
Peter Kraus reveals why
he turned down his
chance to become The
Bachelor: 'Why would I
give up the rest of my
life?'

Tyler Cameron shows

off his ripped physique
as he takes shirtless jog
with mystery woman...
with mystery woman...
after isolating with ex
Hannah Brown
Well built
Brody Jenner serves

summer vibes as he
makes a grocery run in
Calabasas during break
from quarantine
Made an appearance in
LA on Thursday
Lauren Silverman
looks stylish an in all-
white ensemble as she
enjoys bike ride with her
cute son, Eric, 6, in
Malibu

Love Island's Malin

Andersson isn't scared
of catching coronavirus
as she returns to her job
as a carer... after
admitting nothing could
top her past trauma

BAZ BAMIGBOYE:
Take That are to relight
their fire... with a big
screen version of their
stage musical

Khloe Kardashian
shows off her toned
tummy and bottom as
she models pink athletic
wear... after hinting she
will have a baby with
her ex

Julia Garner is
springtime chic in floral
jumpsuit as she makes
grocery run with
husband Mark Foster in
LA
Side by side
Parks And Recreation

cast including Amy
Poehler and Chris Pratt
getting back together
for scripted reunion
special benefiting
Feeding America

Will & Grace series

finale recap: Will, Grace,
Jack and Karen go their
separate ways as the
iconic series comes to a
hilarious and poignant
end

Line of Duty star

Stephen Graham was
set to join the star-
studded cast of Peaky
Blinders before the
coronavirus crisis
halted series six filming

LIVE TOP
STORIES
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Nick Cordero's wife
Amanda Kloots gets
candid about 'waiting
game' for him to wake
up after leg amputation
amid coronavirus battle
Concern
Kim Kardashian
shares a fun photo of
son Saint, four, getting
animated for the camera
at home: 'Look at this
face!'
Cute
BBC's Big Night In:

'You look like Billie
Eilish's gran!' Joe Sugg
butchers Strictly
girlfriend Dianne
Sugwell's haircut

Made In Chelsea's
Tiffany Watson displays
her pert posterior in a
white thong as she
admits she and Zara
McDermott are NOT
friends

Taylor Swift reignites

Scooter Braun feud as
she SLAMS him for
'shameless greed' as
former record label is
former record label is
set to release album of
live performances

Kanye West gave his

wife Kim a 'break last
week' by bringing their
four kids to visit his two
Wyoming ranches

Jameela Jamil refuses

to be 'dragged into
celebrity feuds' after
Twitter fans hit out at
her interviewing Demi
Lovato

Jason Davis cause of

death revealed:
Troubled oil heir who
voiced Mikey on Recess
died at 35 due to
accidental fentanyl
overdose

Cardi B urges 'health

over capitalism' and
says Georgia governor
is opening businesses
back up too early amid
coronavirus pandemic
Voicing her opinion
Love Island's Molly-

Mae Hague and
boyfriend Tommy Fury
show support and clap
for frontline workers...
after breaking lockdown
rules

EXCLUSIVE
DailyMailTV: Lindsay
Lohan reveals days
living 'in the public eye'
in Los Angeles served
as the inspiration
behind her new single

Lauren Goodger
flaunts her voluptuous
curves in TINY crop-top
and leggings as she
puts on a glamorous
display on morning run

Ryan Phillippe, 45,

flaunts his toned and
tattooed biceps in a
sleeveless tank
top...while out on his
daily jog

Mark Ruffalo
celebrates the
anniversary of 13 Going
On 30 with a screen
grab of himself with co-
star Jennifer Garner:
'Missing that time'
Ariana Grande
becomes the latest
celeb to join the All In
Challenge for COVID-19
relief with one lucky fan
getting a 'studio
hangout' and dinner
Katy Perry and

Orlando Bloom are
'having some ups and
downs' as relationship
'has changed since she
got pregnant'

Tom Hanks sweetly

sends his beloved
vintage Corona
typewriter to 'sad and
angry' boy, 8, bullied for
being named Corona

'With deep regret':

Elton John postpones
next leg of Farewell
Yellow Brick Road Tour
to protect fans during
COVID-19 pandemic
'
Chris Hemsworth
reveals wife Elsa Pataky
'unintentionally'
stockpiled 15 boxes of
toilet paper in their
$20million Byron Bay
mansion
Kim Kardashian
shares photos of her
four children with Vogue
as she reveals they
spend most of their time
in the 'theater room'
during self-isolation

Saturday Night Live

announces a second
SNL AT Home episode
with the entire cast this
weekend
Two weeks after first
successful remote
episode
The Weeknd backs

Captain Tom Moore to
reach the number one
spot with his NHS
charity single as the
chart battle closes in
Kind gesture
EXCLUSIVE Louise
Thompson says she's
reached 'peak physical
fitness' after trolls who
called her a 'dwarf'
spurred her on

'I got thicc in

quarantine': Lottie Moss
shares sensational
swimwear pictures after
posting some very racy
underboob snaps on
Instagram

EXCLUSIVE The
Kardashian clan are
selling their hand-me-
down duds online for
NINE times more than
retail prices to 'promote
sustainability'

Tori Spelling carries

her pet pig during a low-
key walk with husband
Dean McDermott and
their three-year-old son
Beau

Baring it all in her

quarantine suit! Bella
Hadid poses nude for a
stunning new fashion
campaign that was shot
in mom Yolanda's home
over FaceTime

Thor blimey! Action
man Chris Hemsworth
goes from Marvel hero
to Netflix's new killing
machine: BRIAN VINER
reviews Extraction

BAZ BAMIGBOYE:
Esther Smith is busy
buffing up her funny
bone ahead of the
launch of new show
Trying

Picture perfect royal!

Amateur photographer
Kate Middleton marks
Prince Louis's second
birthday with adorable
snaps she took of him
supporting the NHS

Elle Fanning gives the

FINGER on the poster
for Hulu's highly-
fictionalized biopic
on Catherine the Great
Daring
Rapper Fred The

Godson, known for the
hit song Doves Fly, dies
from COVID-19 at 35
after asking fans to
think of him: 'Keep me
in y'all prayers!'

Beyonce's BeyGOOD
pledges $6million in
initiative with Twitter's
Jack Dorsey to provide
mental health support
amid COVID-19
pandemic

Gigi Hadid turns 25!

The supermodel wears a
tiara while treated to a
splashy breakfast party
at her family farm as
sister Bella calls her 'my
best friend'

Georgia Kousoulou
wows in a plunging red
swimsuit as she
remises on last summer
with throwback snaps
while under coronavirus
lockdown

Sean Hayes reveals

one of his favorite Will &
Grace episodes was
with Cher while doing
his impression of the
diva

Shakira reveals she

completed online
course in ancient
philosophy during
lockdown: 'It took a lot
of hours after the kids
were asleep'

Hugh Jackman and his

wife Deborra-lee
Furness wear protective
face masks while out for
a stroll with their dogs
in New York City
Keeping safe
'Lockdown made me
'Lockdown made me
do it': Rhian Sugden
shows off dramatic new
red hairdo as she
resorts to DIY home
makeover
Transformation
Ariana Grande and

Halsey to 'battle' over
Midsommar May Queen
gown in A24's virtual
charity auction
Worn by Florence Pugh in
the film
BAZ BAMIGBOYE:
Why Nicole Raquel
Dennis is now living the
dream Supremes!
Playing lead Effie Melody
White in UK tour of
Dreamgirls
'What is this?' Allison

Janney shocks fans as
she appears to forget
her 'iconic role' starring
in 1999 teen classic 10
Things I Hate About You

Neymar's mother
'dumps 23-year-old
toyboy after discovering
he had dated a string of
men'... just days after
PSG star gave romance
seal of approval

Michelle Keegan and

Mark Wright wear
workout gear to pick up
a coffee and hit the bike
shop in Essex

EXCLUSIVE 'The NHS

never called me back':
Roddy Alves reveals
frustration at being
unable to volunteer
amid the coronavirus
crisis

EastEnders star Jessie

Wallace flashes glimpse
of her new Elvis tattoo...
which bears an uncanny
resemblance to on-
screen husband Shane
Richie

Chris Hemsworth says

his wife Elsa Pataky
STILL doesn't know
snakes can be
dangerous despite
living in Australia for
years

MIley Cyrus gives her

facemask the fashion
treatment in Gucci print
as she puts on a PDA
with her boyfriend Cody
Simpson

Holly Willoughby
shares rare glimpse of
son Chester, 5, in sweet
selfie to promote NHS
charity T-shirts

Ben Affleck adjusts his

face mask to have a
cheeky puff on a
cheeky puff on a
cigarette ...as he packs
on the PDA with Ana de
Armas while out during
LA heatwave

'They made him out to

be almost a victim':
Tiger King trial juror
slams Netflix series for
portraying Joe Exotic as
a 'lovable guy'

Princess Charlene of
Monaco calls for people
to stay at home during
the pandemic in a new
road safety campaign
alongside Patrick
Dempsey and Pharrell

Josh Gad shares his

first makeup test as
Mulch in Artemis Fowl...
after it's revealed movie
will head straight to
Disney+ this June

The Rolling Stones

release new single
Living In A Ghost Town
amid lockdown...
marking their first
original track in EIGHT
years

Naomi Watts, 51, jokes

she is trying to 'stay
relevant' by filming
TikTok dancing videos
with her 11-year-old son
Kai in lockdown

Nikki Bella's mom

Kathy REFUSES to
include daughter's
fiancé Artem
Chigvintsev in their
family photo: 'I'm more
cautious with Artem'
EXCLUSIVE Ex Vogue
editor André Leon Talley
rips into Anna Wintour,
revealing friendship
ended because he was
'too old, overweight and
uncool'
'She is homeschooling
three kids!': Rio
Ferdinand leaps to wife
Kate's defence after
she's accused
of 'having too much
time on her hands'

Aaron Carter and

girlfriend Melanie Martin
poke their heads out of
the house to pick up
packages... after
announcing they're
expecting a baby

'You're different to the

f***ers before': Jesy
Nelson sings about new
love as she shows off
her impressive vocals
following split from
Chris Hughes

Gisele Bundchen, 39,

pulls off difficult yoga
move with mini-me
daughter, 7, as she
daughter, 7, as she
shares self-isolation
caused her to 'reflect on
what is most important'

Jeff Brazier prepares

for games night with
wife Kate Dwyer and
sons Bobby, 16, and
Freddie, 15, in
heartwarming family
selfie

All My Children star

Eva LaRue adopts her
ex-husband John
Callahan's dog weeks
after he died at 66: 'I
promise she's in good
hands'

Ruby, is that you?

Batwoman star Rose
looks barely
recognisable as she
goes makeup free and
debuts her new purple
hair in Los Angeles

Kristin Cavallari says

she is 'daydreaming' as
she poses in swimwear
to promote her brand...
after returning from the
Turks And Caicos
EXCLUSIVE
DailyMailTV: Dr. Phil and
Robin McGraw get
creative to produce his
talk show from home
while they make the
most out of quarantine

Jerry Seinfeld takes a

spin in a Porsche after
giving fans a look of his
first comedy special in
22 years
Taking a ride
Lizzie Cundy, 51, puts

on an eye-popping
display in a tiny pink
bikini as she does her
radio duties while
sunbathing in the
garden

'This experience is
overwhelming': Sienna
Miller reflects on the
challenge of
homeschooling
daughter Marlowe, 7, in
a global pandemic

'That was the biggest

crisis that I've ever
faced': Kate Winslet is
paranoid about being
trapped in a house fire
after being caught in
Necker Island blaze

Suki Waterhouse
shows off her svelte
frame as she slips into a
satin bra and shorts
while larking around at
home
'I'm celebrating by not

wearing pants!' Andy
Cohen poses inside his
closet as he gears up to
closet as he gears up to
host RHOA reunion in
his underwear

Frankie and Wayne

Bridge pose for family
snap with sons Parker
and Carter as they join
Ronan Keating in
supporting
#ArtForHeroes

Holly Willoughby jokes

John Torode has 'saved
her marriage' as he
offers advice for her
husband Dan
Baldwin's 'annoying'
typing

Maya Jama flaunts her

incredible figure in a hot
pink bikini as she soaks
up the sun and dances
to music during
lockdown

WHAT BOOK would

comedian and writer
Robert Webb take to a
desert island?
Ulrika Jonsson urges

people to be 'f***ing
kind' after a stranger
shouted at her and a
family member during a
shopping trip for not
standing apart

Storytime at the castle!

Crown Princess Leonor
of Spain, 14, and sister
Princess Sofia, 12, read
Don Quixote in tribute
to those on the frontline
of Covid-19

Kate Middleton wears

a blue £129 floral Ghost
dress as she joins
Prince William and their
children Prince George,
Princess Charlotte and
Prince Louis

Cristiano Ronaldo's
girlfriend Georgina
Rodriguez shows off her
pert posterior as she
works out at home amid
the coronavirus crisis

Halsey is one with

nature as she poses
completely nude in lush
pool of blue-green water
for Earth Day: 'Now that
I have your attention'

Gary Rhodes' son

George pays tribute to
the late chef on his 60th
birthday... six months
after his tragic death

Love Island's Laura

Anderson sizzles in a
skimpy orange bikini as
she celebrates her 31st
birthday alone in
lockdown by dancing in
her bedroom

Listeners are moved to

tears by charity song
Times Like These after
Dua Lipa and Ellie
Goulding take part in
BBC Radio 1's biggest
ever Live Lounge

Catherine Tyldesley
looks incredible as she
debuts 'experimental'
rose gold hair in sultry
Instagram lockdown
snap

Professor Green
reveals he is observing
Ramadan for the first
time during lockdown in
Morocco... yet is
accused of 'trivilising'
the Muslim practice

Sophie Ellis-Bextor's
eldest son Sonny
celebrates 16th birthday
in lockdown as singer
shares rare family snap
to mark special day

Kelly Bensimon, 51,

flashes her abs as in
black sports bra and
shorts as she takes a
break from self-isolation
to catch up with pals
over iced tea

Whitney Houston
biopic moves forward
as Bohemian Rhapsody
screenwriter signs up

Alicia Silverstone and

son Bear, 8, recreate
iconic Paul and Linda
McCartney PETA
campaign: 'I've been
lucky to be an activist'

Christie Brinkley's
daughter Alexa Ray Joel
posts a bathing suit
photo as she shares
'blessings'... after
delaying her wedding to
Ryan Gleason

RHOBH's Denise
Richards says she fears
daughters could grow
up with 'daddy issues'
like the women their
troubled father Charlie
Sheen 'entertained'

Georgia Toffolo
displays her slender
pins in a flirty pink
frilled sundress as she
takes her puppy Monty
for a walk during
lockdown

Jamie Lomas shares

adorable throwback
snap with Emmerdale
star sister Charley
Webb as he laments
missing family during
missing family during
lockdown

EXCLUSIVE Jennifer
Lopez awkwardly strips
down to her nude lacy
bra in front of A-Rod's
ex wife at step
daughter's 12th birthday
bash in Miami

Florence Pugh admits

she 'felt low' at the
beginning of COVID-19
lockdown... but lifted
her spirits by growing a
vegetable patch

'Time to embrace the

British weather!'
Georgia Harrison shows
off her lithe physique in
a two-tone bikini as she
prepares for sunbathing
session

EXCLUSIVE Caprice's
family have ALL had
Covid: 19 symptoms
and she is desperate to
be tested in case she's
an asymptomatic carrier

'Strip off and have a

bounce': Amanda
Holden admits she
jumped on her
daughter's trampoline
totally NAKED after
being dared to

Pregnant Lauren Pope

looks radiant as she
shares a before and
after make-up tutorial
and excitedly reveals
she's attending her
midwife appointment

'It's difficult as a
working mum': Danielle
Lloyd reveals she
shoots racy OnlyFans
content in the GYM as
she discusses return to
glamour modelling

Lydia Bright displays

her trim post-baby
figure in a blue crop top
and leggings as she
hilariously tries to teach
her Nan how to use a
tablet

Duncan Bannatyne, 71,

works out with wife
Nigora, 40, in their home
fitness studio after
slamming Sir Richard
Branson over plea for
taxpayer help

Hoda Kotb breaks

down in tears while
officiating a surprise
Zoom wedding for a
couple who had to
cancel their big day
because of coronavirus

Charli XCX poses in

sexy neon pink bikini
and cargo pants as she
brings new single
release date forward

Holly Willoughby
downs a mojito after
getting the giggles as
Alison Hammond whips
up a cocktail in VERY
boozy This Morning
segment

Bella Thorne displays

her stunning figure as
she poses in bikini-clad
snaps while sharing a
steamy kiss with her
beau Benjamin Mascolo

Stacey Solomon larks

around with beau Joe
Swash as they perform
S Club 7 dance routine...
after trolls claimed the
actor is 'irritated' by the
Loose Women star

Kaia Gerber has been

striving to remain
'healthy on the inside'
during the coronavirus
pandemic: 'That's just
been a really big part of
my routine'

RHOBH's Garcelle
Beauvais recalls
exposing husband's
alleged FIVE-YEAR
affair in e-mail to his
colleagues

EastEnders' Hetti
Bywater shows off her
incredible figure in tiny
bikinis as she shares
slew of throwback
snaps

Trinny Woodall's
partner Charles Saatchi,
76, accidentally walks
into her livestream
NAKED as style guru,
56, shares beauty tips
from the bathroom

Larsa Pippen sets

pulses racing as she
shows off her toned
figure in a quirky blue
bikini while remaining
indoors during the
coronavirus crisis

Ben Higgins reveals he

is waiting for marriage
to have sex with fiancee
Jess Clarke... and is
even sleeping in a
separate bedroom

Doctor Who stars

David Tennant and Matt
Smith to join Jodie
Whittaker and a slew of
former Time Lords to
praise NHS staff during
BBC's Big Night In

Robbie Williams
dresses up as medieval
knight for VERY
dramatic reading of
Aqua's Barbie Girl in
bizarre video from
lockdown
lockdown

Orlando Bloom
displays his hunky
physique as he goes
shirtless for a splash in
the sea in California

MIC's Oliver Proudlock

and fiancée Emma
Louise Connolly
celebrate their wedding
weekend at home as the
big day is postponed by
COVID-19

A grand piano
serenade, balloon arch,
and a VERY sparkly
gift... Adam Thomas
marks wife Caroline's
30th birthday with EPIC
lockdown surprise

Matthew Wright strips

down to a white bikini
as he recreates Myleene
Klass's iconic jungle
shower look... (leaving
Holly and Phil in
hysterics)

Teen Mom OG star

Cory Wharton and
girlfriend Taylor
Selfridge welcome their
first child together

Baseball jersey for

baby Archie, and an Air
Force One bomber
jacket for Prince Philip
from Trump are among
the weird and wonderful
official gifts given to the
royals in the last year

Council Of Dads actor

J August Richards, 46,
reveals he is gay like his
TV character then adds
the support he has
received is like an
'avalanche of LOVE'

Jess Wright, 34, voices

fears over 'leaving it too
late' to have a big family
with fiancé... six years
after slamming mum
Carol for urging her to
freeze her eggs

Coronation Street's
Alan Halsall and
girlfriend Tisha Merry
dress to impress in
Peaky Blinders-inspired
ensembles for fun quiz
night at '£750k home'

Kate Middleton
dressed Prince Louis in
a £12 Tu check bodysuit
by Sainsbury's for his
birthday portrait that's
just like his dad's
signature style

Jussie Smollet's
lawsuit for malicious
prosecution against
Chicago PD is thrown
out by a federal judge -
out by a federal judge -
but the disgraced
Empire actor can refile
IF he is found not guilty

Tori Spelling fondly

remembers her late
legendary producer
father Aaron on his
birthday: 'I was such a
daddy's girl'

Erika Jayne, 48, gets

grilled about sex life
with husband Tom
Girardi, 80, by Garcelle
Beauvais before hitting
out at skeptics

EXCLUSIVE Too Hot

To Handle: Harry
reveals details behind
THAT oral sex scene
and what happened with
Francesca on final night

Richard Gere, 70,

welcomes his second
child with wife Alejandra
Silva, 37, as she gives
birth to a baby boy

Pregnant Vogue
Williams covers her
baby bump in baggy
mint hoodie as she
steps out for stroll with
adorable son Theodore

Hope Solo announces

arrival of twins Vittorio
and Lozen and thanks
medical staff who cared
for them in NICU during
pandemic
Ashley Roberts steps

out in a pink 'rock 'n roll
vibe' suit in honour of
her late father's 70th
birthday

EXCLUSIVE
Jacqueline Jossa
admits to admiring Dan
Osborne's body as he
trains in lockdown and
says it has given her the
chance to refresh

Sharron Davies, 57,

stuns with gravity-
defying video of herself
'swimming' in her
kitchen

Grandpa's favourite
photo: Prince Charles
releases a black and
white portrait with
Prince Louis that sits
pride of place in his
drawing room

'Instagram vs reality'!
Playful Prince Louis
beams as he smears
rainbow paint across
his cheeks in a VERY
messy new picture
taken by Kate Middleton
taken by Kate Middleton

'I really struggled with

being so tall my whole
life': 6'2" Karlie Kloss
reveals she put
WEIGHTS on her head
to try and stunt her
growth as a teen

'Keep remaining
positive!' Gemma
Collins shares a wistful
swimsuit throwback as
she urges fans to keep
their chins up during
lockdown

Anna Wintour warns

that fashion will never
be the same again after
the COVID-19 pandemic
because 'people's
values will have shifted'

Prince Charles is told

to install wildlife nest
boxes and plant new
trees to offset the
environmental impact of
building wedding venue
at Dumfries House

Amanda Holden puts

on a casual chic display
in Comic Relief's Love
Wins T-Shirt and a black
mini-skirt as she heads
to work in London

Binky Felstead shares

her various attempts at
a headstand in hilarious
video as she jokes
about nearly 'breaking
her neck and fence'

Coronation Street's
Tanisha Gorey says
Asha Alahan's sexting
plot is educational for
young people as she
reveals she can't wait to
get back to filming

Designer wallpaper
and a walk-in wardrobe
BURSTING with luxury
labels: Danielle Lloyd
gives fans a tour of her
Birmingham mansion

Jess Shears displays

her incredible post-baby
body in satin lingerie in
sizzling snap from
lockdown... seven
months after giving
birth

'I've had my first

wobble': Frankie Bridge
discusses
homeschooling her
kids, life in lockdown
and experiencing
working mum guilt

Myleene Klass looks

like the cat that got the
cream after a
passionate pre-work
smooch with boyfriend
Simon Motson outside
Smooth FM studios

'It was like she was

choking': James Jordan
reveals he and wife Ola
had to rush baby
daughter Ella to hospital
after terrifying health
scare
.
Back To The Future

writer Bob Gale finally
explains THAT Marty
McFly plot hole after
renewed debate around
the sci-fi classic

flaunts her incredible
physique in tight blue
sportswear as she
shares gruelling
workout video during
lockdown

Noel Fielding reveals

he's MEDITATING with
Russell Brand and
baking with his
daughter Dali and Paul
Hollywood during

Princess Beatrice
speaks of 'incredibly
challenging time' as she
appears for the first
time since postponing
her wedding

'African and Irish roots

rolled in to one':
Natasha Hamilton
showcases her
incredible likeness to
sister Georgina and
details their heritage

Mansion where Roxy

Music and Pink Floyd
recorded hits and where
Renée Zellweger stayed
while filming Judy is
back on the market for
£6m

Great British Sewing

Bee fans admit they
have a weird crush on
'dishy' mustachioed
judge Patrick Grant, 47,
as the series returns

'I'm taken aback by

this': Captain Tom
Moore says he is 'proud
and humbled' as he is
honoured with a
surprise Pride Of Britain
award

'She told me she was

going on a ski trip... but
didn't come back':
Davina McCall recalls
being abandoned by her
mother when she was
aged four

Nicole Scherzinger
displays her sizzling
physique in tiny
Pussycat Dolls crop top
while performing saucy
dance to the band's hit
Buttons

Melanie Sykes, 49,

gives a glimpse of her
toned abs in crop top
before sharing stunning
throwback snaps from
her Boddington's advert
days

Gregg Wallace, 55,

reveals he now weighs
less than 12 stone as he
admits he finds it 'easier
to make good' choices
while at home in
lockdown

The Body Coach Joe

Wicks is covered in
lipstick and has his hair
styled into bunches as
daughter Indie, 21
months, gives him an
extreme makeover

Captain Tom Moore

the TV star: Former
Army officer who's
raised £28million for
NHS charities will share
his WWII experiences in
an ITV documentary

EXCLUSIVE
Jacqueline Jossa
reveals plans to return
to EastEnders in five
years and says her
departure was not
goodbye forever

Peter Andre lets

talented daughter
Princess, 12, take centre
stage as she reveals
pitch perfect vocals in
singer's latest acapella
video

Prince Louis is a mini

Michael Middleton!
Royal fans claim the
two-year-old is 'the
image' of his
grandfather in birthday
portraits

Ferne McCann leaves

fans in hysterics after
daughter Sunday, 2,
copies her and says
'f**k' after she
accidentally swears on
First Time Mum

Russian Doll co-

creator Leslye Headland
set to helm female-
centric Star Wars show
for Disney+

Ashley Roberts
honours her late father
Pat on his 70th birthday
with series of sweet
snaps... two years after
his tragic suicide

Alesha Dixon gives

interior designer Kelly
Hoppen a tour of her
palatial living room on
Instagram... who then
tells her what's wrong
with it
with it

Boy Meets World alum

Maitland Ward is
slapped with $270K
lawsuit by porn
colleagues

Peter Kay thanks NHS

staff and key workers
for taking part in
Amarillo remake as he
prepares to reunite with
Tony Christie for Big
Night In performance

Katya Jones admits

she had a serious
complaint from her
furious neighbour after
making too much noise
during lockdown

Emmerdale star
Michelle Hardwick
reveals a hotel
handyman CRASHED
her Graceland wedding
to Kate Brooks... after
announcing baby news

Lady Gaga smiles with

boyfriend Michael
Polansky while
watching Tony Bennett
on New Jersey benefit

Jennifer Lopez flaunts

her cleavage in chic
swimsuit for Earth Day...
after stripping down to
her lace bra at A-Rod's
daughter's birthday
party

Uma Thurman helps

daughter Maya Hawke
cut her hair as they
spend time together in
quarantine amid the
ongoing coronavirus
crisis

'Dinner was good':

Heidi Klum flashes her
bare tummy alongside
hubby Tom Kaulitz and
twin Bill in Instagram
snap

Sam Faiers dresses up

as a cowgirl in TINY
hotpants and crop-top
for fun TikTok dance
video with daughter
Rosie, 2

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Global development
This article is more than 5 years old
Bill Gates dismisses criticism of high prices for

vaccines
Criticising the cost of vaccines could lead to pharmaceutical
companies withdrawing research funding, warns Gates, as donors
pledge $7.5bn for immunisations of children in poor countries
Your privacy
Sarah Boseley
We use cookies
Tue 27 Janto improve
2015 11.29 EST your experience on our site and to show you personalised
advertising.
178
To find out more, read our privacy policy and cookie policy.
Bill Gates
Information thathas
maydismissed
be used criticism by health campaigners of the high prices of
some vaccines, warning that it only serves to deter pharmaceutical
Purposes
companies from working on life-saving products for poor countries.
I'm OK with that Options

In an interview with the Guardian from a major international vaccine-
funding conference in Berlin, which on Tuesday announced that $7.5bn had
been pledged for immunisation of children in poor countries, Gates denied
that the cost of the new vaccine against pneumococcal disease was too high.
“Pneumococcus vaccine saves lives for about $1,000 per life saved,” said
Gates. “So if you are going to do any helping at all, ever build a hospital, ever
pay a doctor, you would [be willing to] pay for pneumococcus vaccine.”
The humanitarian aid organisation Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) last week
called publicly for the two big pharma companies making the vaccine to drop
the price to $5 per child. Each child needs three doses of the vaccine.
At the pledging meeting for Gavi, the global vaccines alliance, hosted by
German chancellor Angela Merkel, MSF organised a stunt featuring
supporters dressed as Merkel, David Cameron, Barack Obama and others
spinning “Pharma’s wheel of fortune”, claiming that whichever way the
wheel was spun, the drug companies always won.
However, immunisation, Gates said, “is the cheapest thing

ever done in health. This general thing where
organisations come out and say, ‘hey, why don’t vaccines
cost zero?’ – all that does is that you have some pharma
Help us
crowdsource companies that choose never to do medicines for poor
vaccine prices countries because they know that this always just
around the world
becomes a source of criticism. So they don’t do any R&D
Read more
[research and development] on any product that would
help poor countries. Then they’re not criticised at all
because they don’t have anything that these people are saying they should
price at zero.”
Your privacy
We use cookies to improve your experience on our site and to show you personalised
advertising.
Information that may be used
Purposes
Only two pharmaceutical companies, GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer, currently
manufacture the pneumococcus vaccine, which is being made available
I'macross
OK with
thethat Options
developing world with help from Gavi.
On Monday, Pfizer offered to cut the price from $3.30 a dose to $3.10.
The $7.5bn will help fund the vaccination effort in poor countries over the
next five years. Gates and the UK government put in the largest sums, at
about $1.5bn each.
Gates praised pharmaceutical companies that were willing to invest in

vaccine research and development for poor countries. These companies
charge different prices according to countries’ ability to pay, he said. “We get
a great price for these things, which is tiered pricing, which in all cases would
be about a 50th of what the US price for these things would be. And that’s
how we manage to cut childhood death in half, not by saying to pharma
companies, ‘hey, you better not do poor world medicines because we’ll come
and attack you’.”
Although he did not name MSF, Gates made clear his opposition to the
organisation’s views, as well as his admiration for its other work: “I think
there is an organisation that’s wonderful in every other respect, but every
time we raise money to save poor children’s lives, they put out a press
release that says the price of these things should be zero. Every five years
when we are raising billions – that is the most effective foreign aid ever given,
that saves millions of lives.
“In fact, there is a legitimate element to it, which is that we have to make
sure we understand the cost structure of making those vaccines. In the case
of pneumococcus, believe me – the amount we’ve studied it and gone to the
factories – this thing is super, super complicated. The quality you want for
these things to be made is really pretty mind-blowing. To focus on ‘why isn’t
everything free’ is a misdirection that has to do with the fact that they don’t
actually know anything about the costs.”
Gavi says that half a billion children have been immunised through its
suport in the 15 years since it was founded and 7 million lives saved. It hopes
to immunise 300 million more children between 2016 and 2020.
Crucial to that will be improved immunisation systems in poor countries,

says Gates. Some low-income countries, such as Ghana, Ethiopia and
Your privacy
Rwanda, do very well. If their practices could be extended to much bigger
and richer
We use cookies countries,
to improve such
your as Nigeria,
experience onPakistan and to
our site and India,
showthe extra
you 300
personalised
million children would be reached very quickly.
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“The
To find out primary
more, read healthcare
our privacysystem in northern
policy and India, northern Nigeria and
cookie policy.
Pakistan are not well run, so whether it is immunisations or getting
antibiotics, there needs to be effort putting in international help to get those
Purposes
things up to be very high quality,” Gates said. Pilot projects in Bihar, which
has a population of more than 80 million, had increased the vaccination rate
I'mfrom
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35%that Options
to over 80%.
Often the supply chain is the limiting factor, Gates said. Improving supply,
which means a cold chain in the case of vaccines, transport over difficult
terrain and information about what is missing and what is available, also
takes a burden away from primary healthcare providers.
It is important also to ensure families keep coming to have their children

vaccinated. “When a mother brings her kids from a distance and gets to
primary healthcare and [they] are told the stuff isn’t there, that breaks down
the demand model,” Gates said.
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
Bill Gates’ Polio

Vaccine Program
Eradicates Children,
Not Polio
   
CHRISTINA ENGLAND
TOP STORIES
By Christina England, BA Hons /

November 26, 2013
In the depths of cyberspace lurks a press release written by the
CDC, confirming that the OPV, or oral polio vaccination, given to

millions of children throughout the developing world, is causing
them to develop vaccine-induced polio. Instead of banning the
vaccination, as one would expect, the CDC has decided in its
wisdom that the best way to tackle the problem is to maintain a

high rate of vaccination in all countries!
Yes, that is correct. The CDC recommends maintaining a high rate

of vaccination, vaccinating as many children as possible with a
vaccine that causes polio.
The CDC Spills The Beans

In 2012, the CDC wrote a press release titled Update on Vaccine-
Derived Polioviruses — Worldwide, April 2011–June 2012. They
wrote:
“In 1988, the World Health Assembly resolved to eradicate

poliomyelitis worldwide. One of the main tools used in polio
eradication efforts has been the live, attenuated oral
poliovirus vaccine (OPV). This inexpensive vaccine is
administered easily by mouth, makes recent recipients
resistant to infection by wild polioviruses (WPVs), and
provides long-term protection against paralytic disease
through durable humoral immunity. Nonetheless, rare cases
of vaccine-associated paralytic poliomyelitis can occur both
among immunologically normal OPV recipients and their
contacts and among persons who are immunodeficient. In
addition, vaccine-derived polioviruses (VDPVs) can emerge
to cause polio outbreaks in areas with low OPV coverage and
can replicate for years in persons who are immunodeficient.”
(emphasis added)
They continued:
“VDPVs can cause paralytic polio in humans and have the
potential for sustained circulation. VDPVs resemble WPVs
biologically and differ from most vaccine-related poliovirus
(VRPV) isolates by having genetic properties consistent with
prolonged replication or transmission. VDPVs were first
identified by sequence analyses of poliovirus isolates.”
(emphasis added)
The CDC recommended that the best way to deal with this
problem is mass vaccination. They stated:
“To prevent VDPV emergence and spread, all countries

should maintain high vaccination coverage against all three
poliovirus serotypes.” [1]
Immunodeficiency disorders occur when the body’s immune

response is reduced or absent. In other words, governments
worldwide are actively promoting a vaccine that they know will
cause millions of vulnerable, sick and immunodeficient children to
develop vaccine-induced polio. [2]
[adrotate banner=”9″]
Billy Goes To Bollywood

In order for governments to mass vaccinate more efficiently, they
are fully backing the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a group
that has made it very clear that their aim is to wipe out wild polio
from the planet. The Gates Foundation appears to be ignorant of
the fact that they are causing tens of thousands of children to
suffer from vaccine-induced polio.
While a large majority of us look on in sheer horror at the number
of children who now suffer life-threatening disabilities caused by
the vaccine itself, vaccine-crazed Bill Gates has decided to step up

his polio campaign by hiring an array of Bollywood stars such as
the notorious Bollywood mega-star Amitabh Bachchan to help
him dish out the vaccination.
In this short video clip, Bachchan can be seen giving these deadly
drops to the children of India during a recent advertising
campaign promoting the vaccination. [3] [video_player
type=”youtube” width=”560″ height=”315″ align=”center”

margin_top=”0″
margin_bottom=”20″]aHR0cDovL3d3dy55b3V0dWJlLmNvbS93
YXRjaD92PW9VRHRrWXJtYXM0[/video_player]
It appears that Bachchan is not the only Bollywood star helping

Gates to promote vaccination. According to reports, Bill Gates
also met up with Bollywood superstar Khan Aamir.
Commenting on their discussion, Gates posted the following

comment on his blog:
“Talking toilets with Bollywood star Aamir Khan, discussing

how satellites help fight disease. We were filming a question-
and-answer segment in front of a studio audience for his
show on New Delhi Television, one of India’s largest news
networks. Prannoy was asking me and Bollywood star Aamir
Khan about philanthropy, health, and India’s development …”
[4]
This is an excellent piece of PR work by Bill Gates, as the people of
India are totally in love with Bollywood and believe that if stars
such as these are recommending their children to be vaccinated,
then the vaccine must be safe!
In the meantime, the rates of vaccine-induced polio go through

the roof.
The Rates Of Vaccine-Induced

Polio Soar
In 2010, the Polio Global Eradication Initiative, founded in 1988
by the World Health Organization, Rotary International, UNICEF,
and the US CDC stated that there were only 42 cases of wild
polio reported in India.
This all sounds extremely impressive, until we learn that public

health experts estimate that between 100 and 180 children in
India develop vaccine-associated polio paralysis (VAPP) every
year.
The Activist Post stated that:
“According to the Polio Global Eradication Initiative’s own

statistics there were 42 cases of wild-type polio (WPV)
reported in India in 2010, indicating that vaccine-induced
cases of polio paralysis (100-180 annually) outnumber wild-
type cases by a factor of 3-4. Even if we put aside the
important question of whether or not the PGEI is accurately
differentiating between wild and vaccine-associated polio
cases in their statistics, we still must ask ourselves: should
not the real-world effects of immunization, both good and
bad, be included in PGEI’s measurement of success? For the
dozens of Indian children who develop vaccine-induced
paralysis every year, the PGEI’s recent declaration of India as
nearing “polio free” status, is not only disingenuous, but
could be considered an attempt to minimize their obvious
liability in having transformed polio from a natural disease
vector into a man-made (iatrogenic) one.” [5]
The Activist Post has a point, however; the public health ‘experts’
are way off target regarding the numbers of children suffering
from vaccine-associated polio paralysis. According to the Oxford
Journal – Clinical Infectious Diseases, there have been many
more cases than those being reported. They reported that:
“In 2005, it was reported that children in a small village in the

United States had contracted vaccine-derived polio. In
Nigeria, >70 cases have been reported. In 2006, 1600 cases of
vaccine-induced polio occurred in India, according to the
Indian Medical Association Sub-Committee on
Immunisation’s report on the Polio Eradication Initiative. The
point to be noted is that these cases were reported during
repeated mass-immunization campaigns in which repeated
doses of OPV were administered. In 2008, many cases of
polio were reported in all provinces of Pakistan, where OPV
is used for repeated mass-immunization campaigns.”
(emphasis added) [6]
Over the years, the figures have continued to increase and a
recent paper has reported that the number of children now

suffering from vaccine-induced polio has reached epic
proportions.
A paper written by Neetu Vashishi and Jacob Puliyel published in
the Medical Journal of Medical Ethics recently stated that:
“… while India has been polio-free for a year, there has been a
huge increase in non-polio acute flaccid paralysis (NPAFP). In
2011, there were an extra 47,500 new cases of NPAFP.
Clinically indistinguishable from polio paralysis but twice as
deadly, the incidence of NPAFP was directly proportional to
doses of oral polio received. Though this data was collected
within the polio surveillance system, it was not investigated.
The principle of primum-non-nocere was violated.” [7]
Conclusion
With numbers of this size being reported about vaccine-induced
polio, you would think that someone, somewhere, would have
tried to stop the devastation. However, instead of stopping the

vaccination program and trying to rein in Bill Gates, it appears
that governments worldwide have given Gates the green light to

do exactly what he wants.
Many of the children affected with vaccine-induced polio will die
as a result of their illness. This is not eradication of polio; this is
eradication of the children of India, plain and simple. For

eradication of a disease to be effective, you do not replace one
disease for another; you must have disease-free, healthy children.

In my opinion this is nothing more than another elaborate
vaccination hoax and it needs to be stopped.
[contentbox headline=”References” type=”normal”]

1.
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6137a3.htm
2.
http://umm.edu/Health/Medical/Ency/Articles/Immunodeficienc
y-disorders
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUDtkYrmas4
4.
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/celebrities/features/type/vi
ew/id/5085
5. http://www.activistpost.com/2012/01/polio-vaccines-now-1-
cause-of-polio.html
6. http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/49/8/1287.full
7. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22591873
[/contentbox]

Photo Credit
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Home > Vol 9, No 2 (2012) > Vashisht
COMMENTS
Polio programme: let us declare victory and move on
Neetu Vashisht, Jacob Puliye
DOI: https://doi.org/10.20529/IJME.2012.035
Abstract
It was hoped that following polio eradication, immunisation could be stopped. However the synthesis of polio virus in 2002, made
eradication impossible. It is argued that getting poor countries to expend their scarce resources on an impossible dream over the last
10 years was unethical.
Furthermore, while India has been polio-free for a year, there has been a huge increase in non-polio acute flaccid paralysis (NPAFP).
In 2011, there were an extra 47,500 new cases of NPAFP. Clinically indistinguishable from polio paralysis but twice as deadly, the
incidence of NPAFP was directly proportional to doses of oral polio received. Though this data was collected within the polio
surveillance system, it was not investigated. The principle of primum-non-nocere was violated.
The authors suggest that the huge bill of US$ 8 billion spent on the programme, is a small sum to pay if the world learns to be wary of
such vertical programmes in the future.
“For of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: ‘It might have been’!”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892)
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January 12, 2012, marked a significant milestone for India. It was the first anniversary of the last reported wild polio case from India.
Keeping the country free of polio for a whole year was a feat that is a tribute to the Government of India and its 2.3 million vaccinators,
who visited over 200 million households to ensure that the nearly 170 million children (under five years in age) were repeatedly
immunised with oral polio vaccine (OPV) (1). India’s programme has largely been self financed. The country has thus far spent more
than Rs 120 billion (US$2.5 billion US$ 1 = Rs 50) on polio eradication after the programme started here in 1994 (2). The $2.5 billion
spent by India must be seen against $2 billion spent by the United States of America on world-wide polio eradication (3), the $1.3
billion expended by Bill Gates (4), and the $0.8 billion raised by the loudest voice for polio eradication – Rotary International – over
the last 20 years (5).
The celebrations of January 12, 2012 would have been accompanied by a collective, massive sigh of relief because a new ‘name and
shame’ policy has been adopted by the World Health Organisation (WHO), apparently without approval (6), to boost the eradication
effort. In this vein, the acronym PAIN has been used, while referring to the polio-endemic countries of Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and
Nigeria. While the exact origin of this oft-repeated acronym is unclear (7, 8), India will be happy to be rid of the opprobrium.
Internationally, supporters of eradication desperately needed a victory in India to drum up enthusiasm, at a time when commitment to
the programme had been flagging, and funding was rapidly drying up. With a $410 million shortfall in the funds available, this gap
threatens to undermine eradication efforts (9). While India chalked up a year of being polio free, four other countries, Angola, Chad,
the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan, have had year-long outbreaks. Another 13 countries have had recent infections – eight
in Africa, along with Nepal, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Russia (10). The ethics of spending so much on polio
eradication has been challenged by Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet(11), and Arthur L Caplan, director of the University of
Pennsylvania’s bioethics centre (12). Besides, former supporters of the programme are now questioning its feasibility (13, 16).
History and origin

Professor William Muraskin, the noted historian who specialises in problems of international health policy and infectious disease, has
written in his book Polio Eradication and its discontents that the polio programme was primarily designed to prove the fundamental
usefulness of eradication as a public health tool by the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) – the incubator of eradication
campaigns (17).
It is noteworthy that the Pulse Plus programme was begun in India with a $ 0.02 billion grant from overseas in 1995 (18), at a time
when experts in India felt that polio eradication was not the top priority for the country. Four years into the programme of eradication,
in 1998, Dr T Jacob John wrote, “Today poliomyelitis is not the number one priority of public health in India. However, we must
eradicate it for the sake of the rest of the world.” (19). Having accepted the grant of $ 0.02 billion, India has spent a hundred times as
much. This is a startling reminder of how initial funding and grants from abroad distort local priorities.
Terminology: eradication versus elimination versus control

The first step in understanding the issue is to clarify what the term eradication implies as distinct from elimination and control of
disease.
The different concepts have been described by Dowdle (20):
Control is the reduction of disease to a locally acceptable level as a result of deliberate efforts; continued intervention is required to
maintain the reduction.
Elimination is reduction of the incidence of a disease to zero in a defined geographical area as a result of deliberate efforts. Even
after elimination, continued intervention is needed to maintain the incidence at zero.
Eradication is the permanent reduction to zero of the worldwide incidence of infection as a result of deliberate efforts such that
intervention is no longer needed.
Extinction is said to have occurred when the specific infectious agent no longer exists in nature or in the laboratory.
Eradication spares future generations the risk of infection and renders further vaccination unnecessary. Eradication is thus considered
an investment with resultant huge savings from not having to vaccinate any more (6, 21). Caplan, in his essay entitled ‘Is disease
eradication ethical?’, has noted that eradication may be public health’s greatest rhetorical weapon and unmatched in its ability to
command funding, popular support, the attention of politicians and positive media coverage (12). The stakes involved portend relief
forever as well as the ability to relax humanity’s guard against the disease (12).
Synthetic polio makes eradication impossible

The charade about polio eradication and the great savings it will bring has persisted to date. It is a paradox, that while the director
general of WHO, Margret Chan, and Bill Gates are trying to muster support for polio eradication (22) it has been known to the
scientific community, for over 10 years, that eradication of polio is impossible. This is because in 2002 scientists had synthesised a
chemical called poliovirus in a test-tube with the empirical formula C332, 652H492, 388N98, 245O131, 196P7, 501S2, 340. It has
been demonstrated that by positioning the atoms in sequence, a particle can emerge with all the properties required for its
proliferation and survival in nature (23, 24). Wimmer writes that the test-tube synthesis of poliovirus has wiped out any possibility of
eradicating poliovirus in the future. Poliovirus cannot be declared extinct because the sequence of its genome is known and modern
biotechnology allows it to be resurrected at any time in vitro . Man can thus never let down his guard against poliovirus. Indeed the
18-year-old global eradication campaign for polioviruses will have to be continued in some format forever. The long promised “infinite”
monetary benefits from ceasing to vaccinate against poliovirus will never be achieved (24). The attraction that ‘eradication’ has for
policy makers will vanish once this truth is widely known.
The elephant in the room: the problem of non-polio Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP)
It has been reported in the Lancet that the incidence of AFP, especially non-polio AFP has increased exponentially in India after a
high potency polio vaccine was introduced (25). Grassly and colleagues suggested, at that time, that the increase in AFP was the
result of a deliberate effort to intensify surveillance and reporting in India (26). The National Polio Surveillance Programme maintained
that the increased numbers were due to reporting of mild weakness, presumably weakness of little consequence (27). However in
2005, a fifth of the cases of non-polio AFP in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) were followed up after 60 days. 35.2% were found
to have residual paralysis and 8.5% had died (making the total of residual paralysis or death – 43.7%) (28). Sathyamala examined
data from the following year and showed that children who were identified with non-polio AFP were at more than twice the risk of
dying than those with wild polio infection (27).
Data from India on polio control over 10 years, available from the National Polio Surveillance Project, has now been compiled and
made available online for it to be scrutinised by epidemiologists and statisticians (29).
This shows that the non-polio AFP rate increases in proportion to the number of polio vaccine doses received in each area. Nationally,
the non-polio AFP rate is now 12 times higher than expected. In the states of Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Bihar, which have pulse polio
rounds nearly every month, the non-polio AFP rate is 25- and 35-fold higher than the international norms. The relationship of the non-
polio AFP rate is curvilinear with a more steep increase beyond six doses of OPV in one year. The non-polio AFP rate during the year
best correlates to the cumulative doses received in the previous three years. Association (R2) of the non-polio AFP rate with OPV
doses received in 2009 was 41.9%. Adding up doses received from 2007 increased the association (R2 = 55.6% p < 0.001) (30).
Population density did not show any association with the non-polio AFP rate, although others have suggested that it is related to polio
AFP (31).
The international incidence of non-polio AFP is said to be 1 to 2/100,000 in the populations under 15 (32, 33). The benchmark of good
surveillance is the ability to detect one case of AFP per 100,000 children even in the absence of polio (34). In 2011, an additional
47,500 children were newly paralysed in the year, over and above the standard 2/100,000 non-polio AFP that is generally accepted as
the norm. (32, 33). It is sad that, even after meticulous surveillance, this large excess in the incidence of paralysis was not
investigated as a possible signal, nor was any effort made to try and study the mechanism for this spurt in non-polio AFP. These
findings point to the need for a critical appraisal to find the factors contributing to the increase in non-polio AFP with increase in OPV
doses – perhaps looking at the influence of strain shifts of entero-pathogens induced by the vaccine given practically once every
month.
From India’s perspective the exercise has been extremely costly both in terms of human suffering and in monetary terms. It is
tempting to speculate what could have been achieved if the $2.5 billion spent on attempting to eradicate polio were spent on water
and sanitation and routine immunisation. Perhaps control of polio, to the level of elimination, may well have been achieved as it has
been in more developed countries. When the US was badly mired in Iraq in 2005, Joe Galloway suggested that the US must simply
declare victory, and then exit (35). Perhaps the time is right for such an honourable strategy with regard to polio eradication.
Strategy for the future
Eckard Wimmer has noted the WHO’s current policy calls for cessation of OPV vaccination three years after the last case of
poliovirus-caused poliomyelitis. Injectable polio vaccine (IPV) will replace OPV in countries which can afford it. The risks inherent in
this strategy are immense. Herd immunity against poliomyelitis will rapidly decline as new children are born who have not been
infected with wild-type viruses or were not vaccinated, a situation that has never existed in human history. Thus, any outbreak of
poliomyelitis will be disastrous, whether it is caused by residual samples of virus stored in laboratories, by vaccine-derived
polioviruses, or by poliovirus that is chemically synthesised with malignant intent (24).
The huge costs of repeated rounds of OPV in terms of money and non-polio AFP shows that monthly administration of OPV must
cease. The low incidence of non-polio AFP in places given less than six doses, suggests that routine immunisation is relatively safe.
Our resources are perhaps better spent on controlling poliomyelitis rather than trying to eradicate the disease. Routine immunisation
must be strengthened and perhaps one or two rounds of pulse polio may be needed.
The problem however is that the manufacturers of OPV may cease to produce the vaccine – a scenario that was predicted for India
eight years ago (36). The Government of India is in a quandary, having given up its capacity to manufacture OPV indigenously, on
misguided advice from overseas (37). It is now dependent on international manufacturers for its supplies. India needs to urgently
ensure that adequate supplies of the vaccines that it requires are available for our children, so that this eradication adventure does
not transform itself into an epidemic disaster.
Conclusion
The polio eradication programme epitomises nearly everything that is wrong with donor funded ‘disease specific’ vertical projects, at
the cost of investments in community-oriented primary health care (horizontal programmes) (38). Gilliam has described how vertical
programmes undermine broader health services through duplication of effort (each single disease control programme requires its own
bureaucracy), distort national health plans and budgets and, because salaries of donor-funded vertical programmes are often more
than double those of equally trained government workers, lead to a diversion of skilled local health personnel from primary healthcare,
causing an ‘internal brain drain’ (39). We have seen how polio, that was not a priority for public health in India, was made the target
for attempted eradication with a token donation of $ 0.02 billion. The Government of India finally had to fund this hugely expensive
programme, which cost the country 100 times more than the value of the initial grant.
De Maeseneer and colleagues suggest that vertical programmes have unwittingly increased the incidence of other diseases and
broken the first rule of medicine-primum non nocere- first do no harm. They cite the example of HIV and hepatitis caused by WHO-
endorsed immunisation programmes against other diseases (40). With polio eradication there was a huge increase in non-polio AFP,
in direct proportion to the number of doses of the vaccine used. Though all the data was collected within an excellent surveillance
system, the increase was not investigated openly. Another question ethicists will ask, is why champions of the programme continued
to exhort poor countries to spend scarce resources on a programme they should have known, in 2002, was never going to succeed.
In the final analysis, if the right lessons have been learnt and the world does not repeat these mistakes, the costs may yet be justified.
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About the Authors
Neetu Vashisht (puliyel@gmail.com)

Department of Paediatrics
St Stephens Hospital, Delhi 110054
Jacob Puliye (puliyel@gmail.com)

Department of Paediatrics,
St Stephens Hospital, Delhi 110054
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MEDICAL COUNTERMEASURES

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Bill Gates Met With Jeffrey Epstein Many Times,

By Emily Flitter and James B. Stewart

Published Oct. 12, 2019 Updated Nov. 26, 2019

Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender who committed suicide in

ADVER T ISEM ENT

Employees of Mr. Gates’s foundation also paid multiple visits to Mr.

Thanks for reading The Times.

ADVER T ISEM ENT

ADVER T ISEM ENT

ADVER T ISEM ENT

The photo, taken in Mr. Epstein’s marble-clad entrance hall, shows a

Mr. Epstein pitched an idea for a separate charitable fund to JPMorgan

Mr. Epstein thought he could personally beneﬁt. He circulated a four-page

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ADVER T ISEM ENT

© 2020 The New York Times Company

How does the Gates Foundation spend its

Download PDF version (1.32 MB) Français Español

(You can read a Guardian article about this report,

“Listening to farmers and addressing their speciﬁc

First guiding principle of the Gates Foundation's work on

The Gates Foundation is arguably the biggest philanthropic venture

Spending so much money

GRAIN looked through the foundation's publicly available ﬁnancial

Graph 1 and Table 1 give

When it comes to agricultural grants by the foundation to

The North-South divide is most shocking, however, when we look at