Gates Foundation announces grants, including for pharma tomatoes
Blithe tomato: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has announced its second round of grants for global health research. Among the 81 projects is a $100,000 grant for creating a tomato to deliver antiviral drugs. (Because really, why wouldn't you want to develop something like that in a food crop?) Meanwhile, in a speech at a water conference in Nebraska, CEO Jeff Raikes said the foundation will spend $73 million over the next five years to help small farmers in impoverished countries. Let's hope it's for things like improving soil fertility so as to be able to feed their own areas, not growing expensive, patented, potentially dangerous seeds. (Seattle Times Newspaper)
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Comments
By Mark on May 4th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
But just imagine, tomatoes that got the "blue screen of death" when they went bad! Brilliant! And very odd, eh?
By Walter Jeffries on May 4th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
Wait a minute... Isn't this the infamous Bill Gates who is responsible for the spread of another type of world wide virus through open Windows?
By Carl on May 5th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
Gates! ... he chews the wrong thing.