Bill and Melinda Gates, through their philanthropic foundation, are engaged in the large-scale development and promotion of genetically engineered foods without having taken adequate account of the relevant evidence and the significant risks.
They have been convinced that agricultural genetic engineering will enhance the quality of life in Africa and other developing nations by creating crops that can increase yields, improve nutrition, and provide other benefits; and their foundation has funded a major endeavor not only to produce such crops but to convince the world that they’re necessary and safe.
However, although the Gateses are well-intentioned, and although they believe that their initiative is scientifically sound and that genetically engineered foods do not pose abnormal risks, this belief is mistaken — and it persists because they have not performed a sufficiently thorough examination of the facts. Such an examination would have revealed that the safety of GE foods has not been established and that the evidence as a whole indicates they pose abnormal health risks. This is clear from the systematic analyses presented in the books, GMO Myths and Truths and Altered Genes, Twisted Truth.
Further, as the latter book demonstrates, when the process of creating GE foods is examined from the perspective of software engineering, the picture becomes even more troubling; and it’s clear not only that the risks are substantial, but that the level of testing is far too deficient to manage them.
As highly intelligent individuals, and highly skilled software developers, Bill and Melinda Gates would readily understand the need to refrain from further development of GE foods if they studied the full range of relevant facts, especially if they did so from the perspective of computer science as well as that of biological science.