Bill Gates sparks controversy, calls India a 'kind of laboratory to try things'

PTC News Desk: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has sparked a controversy after his remarks citing India as “a kind of laboratory to try things” during a podcast with LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman. A clip from podcast has gone viral where Gates can be seen discussing India's challenges and projects in collaboration with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. 

Gates' remarks have revived the controversy revolved around 2009 clinical trial -- funded by Gates' foundation. The trials claimed the lives of seven tribal schoolgirls and left many others severely ill. 

“India is an example of a country where there’s plenty of things that are difficult there — the health, education, nutrition is improving, and they are stable enough and generating their own government revenue enough that it’s very likely that 20 years from now people will be dramatically better off. And it’s kind of a laboratory to try things that then when you prove them out in India, you can take to other places," Bill Gates said.

He added, “Our biggest non-US office for the Foundation is in India, and the most number of pilot roll-out things we’re doing anywhere in the world are with partners in India."

In 2009, PATH partnered with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to carry out clinical trials of a cervical cancer vaccine on 14,000 tribal schoolgirls in Khammam district, Telangana, and Vadodara, Gujarat. Months into the trials, numerous participants experienced severe side effects, and seven deaths were reported, though these fatalities were later determined to be from unrelated causes.

An investigation into the trials revealed significant ethical violations, according to the dermatologist. The trials were presented as a public health initiative, masking their experimental nature. Consent forms were reportedly signed by hostel wardens rather than the girls' parents, leaving the families unaware of the associated risks.