Bill and Linda Gates Foundation buys 500,000 shares of .........

[Ichingcarpenter]

Why is the Gates foundation investing in GM giant Monsanto?

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which is sponsoring the Guardian's Global development site is being heavily criticised in Africa and the US for getting into bed not just with notorious GM company Monsanto, but also with agribusiness commodity giant Cargill. Trouble began when a US financial website published the foundation's annual investment portfolio, which showed it had bought 500,000 Monsanto shares worth around $23m. This was a substantial increase in the last six months and while it is just small change for Bill and Melinda, it has been enough to let loose their fiercest critics.

Seattle-based Agra Watch - a project of the Community Alliance for Global Justice - was outraged. "Monsanto has a history of blatant disregard for the interests and well being of small farmers around the world… casts serious doubt on the foundation's heavy funding of agricultural development in Africa," it thundered.

But it got worse. South Africa-based watchdog the African Centre for Biosafety then found that the foundation was teaming up with Cargill in a $10m project to "develop the soya value chain" in Mozambique and elsewhere. Who knows what this corporate-speak really means, but in all probability it heralds the big time introduction of GM soya in southern Africa.

The two incidents raise a host of questions for the foundation............


The fact is that Cargill is a faceless agri-giant that controls most of the world's food commodities and Monsanto has been blundering around poor Asian countries for a decade giving itself and the US a lousy name for corporate bullying. Does Gates know it is in danger of being caught up in their reputations, or does the foundation actually share their corporate vision of farming and intend to work with them more in future?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2010/sep/29/gates-foundation-gm-monsanto

And some here love the Gates foundation and all the great work they have done in..... cough.cough... education
and poverty.

[leveymg]

1. The Gates Foundation has heavily invested in GM-modified rice.

Beyer and Monsanto have the rights to a strain, "Golden rice", that retains Vitamin A in the body. They claim is it otherwise has no other effects in the human body and environment. Critics say it threatens to further reduce biodiversity and lifts the impetus to raise other Vitamin A rich foods, such as sweet potato and leafy greens.

[rfranklin]

3. The "Better Living Through Chemistry" mentality...

and making a buck while you do it seems natural for someone like Bill Gates who made his fortune through technology.

[EFerrari]

2. Gates Foundation is acting like a trojan horse. n/t

[midnight]

4. Anyone who aligns themselves with monsanto has no regard for anything but profit. Money trumps peace