Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has landed in hot water after referring to India as “a kind of laboratory to try things” during a podcast with LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman. His remarks, while intended to highlight India’s progress and its collaboration with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, have revived a controversial 2009 clinical trial — funded by Gates’ foundation — which killed seven tribal schoolgirls and left many others severely ill.
Mr Gates said in the recent podcast, “India is an example of a country where there’s plenty of things that are difficult there—the health, nutrition, education is improving, and they are stable enough and generating their government revenue enough that it’s very likely that 20 years from now people will be dramatically better off. It’s kind of a laboratory to try things that then when you prove them out in India, you can take to other places.”
His choice of words struck a nerve among the Indian audience. Among the critics was a Scotland-based doctor, known as “The Skin Doctor” on X, who brought up a 2009 clinical trial conducted by PATH (Programme for Appropriate Technology in Health), an NGO funded by the Gates Foundation.
In 2009, PATH collaborated with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to conduct clinical trials of a cervical cancer vaccine on 14,000 tribal schoolgirls in Khammam district, Telangana, and Vadodara, Gujarat. Months after the trials began, several participants reported severe side effects and seven deaths were recorded, although the deaths were later attributed to unrelated causes.
An investigation into the trials uncovered serious ethical lapses, revealed the skin doctor. The trials were presented as a public health initiative, concealing their experimental nature. Consent forms were allegedly signed by hostel wardens instead of the girls’ parents, leaving families unaware of potential risks.
The trials specifically targeted tribal communities with limited healthcare access and awareness. Severe side effects were reported, fuelling allegations that the trials exploited vulnerable populations under the guise of aid.
PATH denied any wrongdoing, attributing the deaths to infections and suicides.
Critics argue the 2009 vaccine trials are just one example of how India and other developing nations have been used as testing grounds by organisations with foreign funding.
“Who knows how many Gates-funded NGOs are conducting similar trials in India and Africa? It’s disturbing how easily they access our governance and policies, while openly treating us as guinea pigs,” the skin doctor concluded.
