Gated Development

The Foundation is the world’s
biggest funder of GM research
One of the greatest controversies of the BMGF’s
funding is its support for research into genetic
modification (GM). But alongside funding research,
the foundation is also funding public relations
activities and changes to national regulations to
promote the widespread adoption of GM. There
are several concerns and dangers related to GM.
Evidence from the roll-out of GM crops in countries
where this is occurring shows that these crops
often push farmers into debt, cause irreversible
environmental damage and encourage land
concentration, among other problems. 189 Genetic
engineering has failed to increase the yield of food
crops but has vastly increased the use of chemicals
and the growth of “superweeds”, according to a
recent report by 20 Indian, south-east Asian, African
and Latin American food and conservation groups. 190
The BMGF is probably the world’s leading funder
of GM research in the global south. In an interview
with the Guardian’s John Vidal in 2012, the BMGF’s
head of agriculture, Sam Dryden, said that “only”
5 per cent of Gates’ agricultural money is directed
at transgenic research and development. But as
Vidal noted, that may be around $100 million since
2007 – more than any other government or world
body is known to have handed out. 191 The NGO,
GM Freeze, suggests that the figure is even higher,
calculating that the BMGF allocated at least
$162 million to projects generating GM seeds
between 2005 and 2011. 192 Dryden told the
Guardian: “The more we can drive the option
[of GM] into a national programme, the better...
We work usually [via] the national research
agencies. It gives them the option”. 193
Misleading on GM
The BMGF does not suggest that it is
big on pushing GM. In the introduction
to its work on agriculture, GM is not
mentioned. 194 Neither is support for GM
specifically mentioned in the project
information on the BMGF’s grants
database. This is disingenuous given the
scale of the BMGF’s GM funding. It is
also particularly misleading given that
the BMGF’s senior officer responsible for
“improving crop yields” in Africa – Rob
Horsch, who was hired from Monsanto
– has said that he was specifically
recruited by the foundation to promote
“biotechnology”. In a 2006 article,
Horsch wrote that he was called up by
the foundation and informed of his brief:
“My mission: improve crop yields via the
best and most appropriate science and
technology, including biotechnology,
for problems in regions including sub-
Saharan Africa”. 195
Major recipients of the BMGF’s GM-linked grants
include the African Agricultural Technology
Foundation, to which the BMGF has given over
$100 million 196 , and the International Centre for
Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, based
in Trieste, which has received nine grants worth
over $13 million 197 . The Queensland University of
Technology, which also works on GM, has received
six agriculture grants worth $14 million. 198
The Foundation is also pushing GM research in the
UK. In 2012, a team of British plant scientists at the
John Innes Centre in Norwich won a $10 million
grant to develop GM cereal crops; this was one
of the largest single investments in GM in the UK. 199
The Swindon-based Biotechnology and Biological
Sciences Research Council, which also promotes
GM research, received an $8 million grant in 2010 to
“support high quality research on sustainable crop
production in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia”. 200
30 I Gated Development: Is the Gates Foundation always a force for good?