When I worked at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle I was struck by the chemicals researchers routinely tossed away\u2014often down the drain. It seemed paradoxical that the attempt to understand cancer involved the manufacture of some nasty carcinogens.<\/p>\n
Of course, in the big scheme of things the amount of chemicals used in cancer research is small. And almost any positive endeavor has its shades of grey.<\/p>\n
Take the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Its role in public health has been extraordinary\u2014but as a report in the Los Angeles Times <\/em>reveals, the financial arm of the foundation invests in companies that spew some pretty toxic stuff, and may otherwise undermine the mission of the foundation.<\/p>\n These investments include oil companies that pollute regions of Africa where the foundation operates and a health care company embroiled in lawsuits for allegedly unnecessary surgeries. The Times claims that at least 41% of the foundation\u2019s assets, or $8.7 billion, are in companies that \u201ccountered the foundation\u2019s charitable goals or socially concerned philosophy.<\/p>\n Unlike some other philanthropies, such as the Ford Foundation, the Gates Foundation has apparently set up a firewall between its investment and granting arms\u2014to try to keep the fund as flush as possible.<\/p>\n It may be easy to quibble with some of the standards used by the LA Times <\/em>to criticize the Gates Foundation. Nonetheless, with an endowment boosted by Warren Buffett to more than $60 billion, it seems that the foundation could wield its substantial investment power in ways more in keeping with its public health mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When I worked at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle I was struck by the chemicals researchers routinely tossed away\u2014often down the drain. It seemed paradoxical that the attempt to understand cancer involved the manufacture of some nasty carcinogens. Read more<\/a> Continue reading