Bio-tech Watch: California makes stem-cell end-run
by Doug Millison for SiliconValleyWatcher.com
Bush voters may have embraced his anti-stem-cell politics elsewhere in the US, but Californians soundly rejected them, paving the way for Silicon Valley to take a bio-tech lead.
Andrew Pollack, writing in today's New York Times, explores the ramifications of the "vote by Californians to spend $3 billion on human embryonic stem cell research could speed progress on the promising but controversial field and make the state the epicenter of such research."
The measure will establish a "California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, which will become the largest single backer of research in stem cells - a field that scientists hope might eventually be used to create new brain cells for patients with Parkinson's disease, or insulin-producing cells for diabetics, or treatments for numerous other diseases."
The San Francisco Bay Area already boasts a heavy concentration of genetic engineering and other bio-tech firms. Pollack's article notes that some companies have already announced plans for new stem-cell research facilities in the state.
Links:
Measure Passed, California Weighs Its Future as a Stem Cell Epicenter by Andrew Pollack, New York Times, 4 November 2004
Affiliate link:
OnlineJournalist.org, edited by Doug Millison: "on a need to know basis"
