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Bioethics: The former director of the National Institutes of Health, once an enthusiast for embryonic stem cells, now says their future has "dimmed." So why is the administration bailing out research into such therapies while troubled states like California have committed billions?Aside from creating or saving a few research jobs, the administration's decision to federally fund embryonic stem cell research is, as we've noted, a bailout of bad science. It throws money at an avenue of research that time and adult stem cell progress have passed by. Applauding the administration's move was Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., who echoed the claims...

LOS ANGELES, March 9 (Xinhua) -- California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday applauded President Barack Obama for lifting funding ban on stem cell research. "President Obama's executive order is a huge win for the millions of people who suffer from spinal cord injuries, diabetes, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Multiple Sclerosis and many other illnesses," Schwarzenegger said in a statement. "Californians were the first in the nation to support and fund embryonic stem cell research and we are big believers in the power of this revolutionary science to not only improve but to save lives." Earlier on Monday, Obama abolished contentious Bush-era restraints...

California's stem-cell agency will stick to its plan of incurring debt by selling bonds to private investors despite an agreement hashed out by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state legislative leaders aimed at plugging a $42 billion shortfall over 17 months in the state's budget, an official for the agency said last week. "It will actually improve, we think, the ease with which we'll be able to do the private placements. It won't eliminate the need for them," California Institute for Regenerative Medicine spokesman Don Gibbons told BioRegion News last week. CIRM announced earlier this month it plans to privately sell...

Charges of an ethics lapse by a stem cell scientist seeking a California research grant have been resolved with a "warning letter" from the state's Fair Political Practices Commission. The controversy arose more than a year ago when Dr. John Reed, chief executive officer of the Burnham Institute for Medical Research in La Jolla (San Diego County), wrote a letter to the chief scientist of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine urging the agency to reverse its rejection of a $630,000 grant to one of the institute's scientists. Reed is a member of the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee, the state-sponsored...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has expressed “deep concern” about the state stem cell institute's plans to set the salaries for the chairman and vice chairman of its board, two positions for which no one has accepted pay in three years. With the state facing a possible $28 billion deficit, Schwarzenegger sent a letter Thursday to the stem cell institute's board urging it “to ensure that compensation for these positions is offered only if and to the extent absolutely necessary to implement its mission.” Setting a salary for the chairman of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine is on the agenda for...

California's stem cell institute has granted nearly $271 million to 12 universities and research centers to build new research laboratories. In 2004, Californians approved Proposition 71, a measure that created the California Institute for Regernerative Medicine, a $3 billion stem cell research agency. The institute says the new labs are needed to house the glut of researchers who flocked to the state to study stem cells. The largest grant announced Wednesday for a single campus will be $43.6 million for Stanford University. Nearly $137 million in funding will be divided between eight University of California campuses, with UC San Francisco...

California Controller John Chiang on Tuesday joined a consumer group in requesting an investigation of a board member of the state's $3 billion stem-cell institute and said he will audit the institute to ensure it is spending its money appropriately. Chiang said he has asked the Fair Political Practices Commission to investigate John Reed, chief executive of the Burnham Institute of La Jolla and a board member with the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. A similar complaint was lodged against Reed last week by the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. "I want a full review," Chiang said during a...

Tuesday's announcement that scientists had found a noncontroversial way to make cells equivalent to human embryonic stem cells did not just change the scientific and ethical landscape. It generated economic and geopolitical tremors through California, New York and about half a dozen other states that have invested -- in some cases heavily -- in embryonic stem cell programs and research centers.

A prominent member of the governing board for California's stem cell agency may have violated state conflict-of-interest rules last summer when he tried to reverse a decision rejecting a grant proposal by a scientist who works for him at the Burnham Institute of Medical Research in La Jolla (San Diego County). The miscue has prompted calls for Burnham Institute chief executive Dr. John Reed to resign from the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee, the board that governs the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. "If indeed Dr. Reed has violated the law, then I think he ought to consider resigning," said Jeff...

Schwarzenegger: "I am a Catholic and a very dedicated Catholic, but" I support Research on Human Embryos TORONTO, June 1, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Speaking at a press conference at the MaRS Discovery District research centre in Toronto yesterday, actor-turned California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger defended his support for embryonic stem cell research seen as controversial in light of his self-professed Catholic faith. "I always said that you should not have your religion interfere with government policies or with the policies of the people," said Schwarzenegger. "I am a Catholic and a very dedicated Catholic, but that does not interfere with my...

California's stem cell agency announced Friday that it will hand out about $75 million in research grants to a dozen universities and nonprofit laboratories, only a month after doling out $45 million for studies. The grants far exceed the federal government's annual outlay. "As of today, California is the largest and most stable source of funding for human embryonic stem cell research in the world," said Robert N. Klein, chairman of the oversight committee that governs the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. Some of the money will go to researchers looking for ways to fight Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Lou Gehrig's...

State auditors Tuesday criticized California's $3 billion stem-cell institute for lax travel and entertainment rules that let its officials sometimes get chauffeured rental cars, pricey meals and first-class air fare. The report by California State Auditor Elaine Howle also faulted the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine for using questionable data in justifying its salaries, which in some cases seemed excessive to the auditors. In addition, the report said, the institute offered vague reasoning for its policies governing how much revenue and other benefits the state should receive from those who develop products from the institute's stem-cell grants. Moreover, the report...

A state appeals court upheld California's $3 billion stem cell agency Monday against attacks by anti-abortion and tax advocates who claimed the agency's managers had conflicts of interest. The 1st District Court of Appeal upheld a decision by a lower court judge who last year ruled in favor of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, which was created when Proposition 71 was passed by 59 percent of the electorate in 2004. The California Family Bioethics Council argued that the stem cell agency is rife with conflicts of interest, saying officials from three university systems who sit on the board overseeing...

A University of California Berkeley economics professor has done an analysis of the financial returns likely to come to California from stem cell research--and he said they will likely be a small fraction of what proponents of state-funded stem-cell research have estimated. Dr. Richard Gilbert originally published his report--titled "Dollars for Genes: Revenue Generation by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine"--in the Berkeley Technology Law Journal in June. It finds that the state will likely make only minimal financial returns on any stem cell research it funds via the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). "The study finds that stem...

SAN DIEGO – The First District Court of Appeals in San Francisco announced Thursday that it would hear oral arguments Feb. 14 in the case challenging the constitutionality of the California Stem Cell Research and Cures Act, known as Proposition 71. Under the California Constitution, the Appeals Court must render a decision in the case within 90 days of the hearing, absent additional briefings required by the court. The plaintiffs in the case – People's Advocate and the National Tax Limitation Foundation (represented by the Life Legal Defense Foundation), and the California Family Bioethics Council – are appealing an April...

IRVINE -- The president of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine resigned his post today, citing "almost entirely personal reasons" for leaving the controversial $3-billion stem-cell research venture created in 2004 by the passage of Proposition 71. Zach W. Hall, at a meeting at UC-Irvine of the agency's governing board, noted that he had recently turned 69. "I find myself looking ahead," he said. Hall and his wife, a recently retired musician, own a home in Wyoming. "We're looking forward to reinventing ourselves," he said. Hall said the institute was in good shape, and that it has $181 million in...

The meeting was almost over when Roman Reed steered his wheelchair to the microphone. On the table before him sat a 149-page book of budget charts and timetables, the first concrete outline of what California's voter-approved stem cell institute plans to accomplish in its 10-year lifespan. "I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart," Reed said to the institute's staff and 29-member oversight board in October. "I promised my son that one day I would be able to walk, stand next to him and go hold my wife's hand. And seeing this road map to cures, I...

SAN FRANCISCO California voters, wooed by an aggressive, multimillion dollar campaign that promised cures to myriad diseases, overwhelmingly approved the nation's most ambitious stem cell research center two years ago. Now, $181 million is set to flow to cash-starved scientists struggling in a field financially and politically hamstrung by Bush administration opposition and lawsuits filed by conservative organizations against the center. The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine managed to push out $14 million in "training grants" for young researchers last year, but much of the money it doles out in 2007 will finally go to senior scientists eager to push...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California officials approved on Monday a $150 million loan offered by the state to fund its stem-cell research institute in San Francisco. In addition to the loan, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine has sold $31 million worth of bond anticipation notes to raise money for research into medical applications of stem-cell technology. Many scientists believe stem cells, either adult cells or ones from embryos, may be used to find treatments and cures for serious diseases such as cancer and diabetes. Voters approved the creation of the institute by passing a statewide measure in 2004 that...

A highly publicized $150 million state loan that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger promised California's cash-strapped stem cell agency in July has yet to materialize, a delay apparently caused by red tape and election year politics. Schwarzenegger's announcement on July 21 that "they need the money now" came the day after President Bush vetoed legislation that would have expanded federal funding of stem cell research, which many political conservatives oppose because days-old embryos are destroyed. At an emotional August meeting of the committee that manages the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, members praised Schwarzenegger for his political courage and were told by...

To the dismay of some advocates for the disabled and sick, a draft report issued today by California's $3 billion stem-cell institute says the agency is unlikely to develop cures for diseases or other ailments any time soon. The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine's proposed strategic plan, written by a group that included two Nobel scientists, methodically sets out a detailed blueprint for eventually turning stem cells into treatments for a variety of health problems. But the plan -- which must be approved by the institute's board -- cautions that stem cell science remains in its infancy and that much...

Supposed New Embryonic Stem Cell Research Technique Killed All Embryos by Steven Ertelt LifeNews.com Editor Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A supposedly new method of obtaining embryonic stem cells for research without destroying any human embryos appeared to be untrue. Upon further examination of the research paper making the claims, it appears all of the 16 human embryos Advanced Cell Technology used to come up with the process died during the procedure. The biotech firm made amazing claims that produced a media sensation around the world when it said it had developed a morally ethical method of obtaining the cells. Pro-life...

Biotech company executives in the Bay Area met Tuesday to begin working with California's sputtering stem-cell research institute, which was jump-started last week by the $150 million boost it got from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. ``I feel we are at a very important point in history here,'' said Michael West, chairman and chief scientific officer of Advanced Cell Technology of Alameda. He added that it was essential ``do do everything we possibly can to see that money is well spent.'' Still, the executives who met in San Francisco with officials at the stem-cell institute, created in 2004 when California voters passed...

President Bush's veto of a bill to ease restrictions on federally funded embryonic stem-cell research will hinder California's $3 billion voter-approved effort to turn stem cells into cures, backers of the state-funded research effort said Wednesday. Bush's rejection of the legislation -- his first-ever veto in his 5 1/2 years in office -- shows his continued support for those who oppose, on moral grounds, destroying human embryos to create stem cells in research intended to develop new treatments for grave conditions such as Parkinson's, diabetes and spinal cord injuries. --snip-- The veto was a crushing blow for advocates who hoped...

SACRAMENTO A day after President Bush vetoed a measure that would have expanded federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday authorized a $150 million loan to fund the state's moribund stem cell institute, which has been stalled by lawsuits. The move has distinct political benefits for the governor who is seeking to put as much distance as possible between himself and the deeply unpopular president as he seeks re-election this year. Schwarzenegger said the state cannot afford to wait to fund the critical science associated with stem cells. "I remain committed to advancing stem...

SAN FRANCISCO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Wednesday his movie-star celebrity and his boundless enthusiasm for all things California make him a great international salesman for the state's products and services. Speaking to the Commonwealth Club of California at the Herbst Theater, the governor said he will go anywhere to tout California's wares, "to go out there and tell our story" to buyers in any nation. "They want our products, they need our environmental know-how ... and our state-of-the-art technology." Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides' campaign Wednesday issued a pre-emptive memo outlining Schwarzenegger's foreign-trade failures: fewer exports now than in...

Singer and actress Julie Andrews will be in San Francisco Monday along with composer Marvin Hamlisch for a fundraiser for stem cell research. Andrews and Hamlisch will bring along a supporting cast of Broadway performers for "Reach for Tomorrow, Research Today, which will raise money for the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. The event begins with a black-tie dinner at San Francisco's City Hall. Tickets range from $1,500 to $10,000. Andrews, 70, is best known for her roles in "The Sound of Music" and "Mary Poppins." She's appeared in recent years on the big screen in "The Princess Diaries." Andrews'...

SAN FRANCISCO - California's $3 billion stem cell research institute won an important victory with a court ruling rejecting challenges to its constitutionality, but the agency's finances remain in limbo while the expected appeals block much of its funding. A state judge ruled Friday that the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine is a legitimate state agency and that two lawsuits challenging it have no merit. The ruling came a month after a four-day trial in which lawyers with connections to anti-abortion groups claimed the country's most ambitious stem cell research agency violated California law because it wasn't a true state...

San Francisco -- California's novel, $3 billion stem cell research institute is a legitimate state agency and two lawsuits challenging its constitutionality have no merit, a state judge ruled Friday. The ruling came a month after a four-day trial in which lawyers with connections to anti-abortion groups claimed the country's most ambitious stem cell research agency violated California law because it wasn't a true state agency and its managers had a host of conflicts of interest. But Alameda County Superior Court Judge Bonnie Lewman Sabraw handed the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine an unambiguous victory, writing that the lawsuits failed...

How to spend $3 billion for stem cell research is proving to be a monumental and sometimes divisive task for California's Institute for Regenerative Medicine. What's the low hanging fruit in stem cell research that could move the science forward? Should funding priority be given to research that could help the largest number of people, or should it be directed to orphan diseases that affect a small segment of society and aren't of interest to big pharmaceutical companies? How much money should be spent inventing tools that could help scientists involved in stem cell research? As the stem cell institute...

The fate of the nation's most ambitious stem cell research agency will soon rest in the hands of a California judge as the weeklong trial challenging the institute's legality neared conclusion Wednesday. Three taxpayer groups have alleged in two lawsuits that the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine lacks the proper state government oversight to dole out $3 billion in stem cell grants over the next 10 years. They also accused the board that oversees the agency as being rife with conflict of interests and wrongly exempting itself from the state's open-meeting law. The trial was expected to end Thursday after...

Actor-director Rob Reiner is taking a lot of well-deserved media and political heat - from politicians in both parties, for a change - over a lavish promotional program for preschool education financed by tobacco tax money that is controlled by a commission he heads. Although Reiner and the First 5 California Children and Families Commission insist that he didn't play a direct role, it's perfectly clear that the commission was using public money to boost a Reiner initiative to tax the wealthy for preschool programs. Reiner temporarily stepped down from the chairmanship last week as political and media criticism mounted,...

HAYWARD — On the second day of the trial challenging the constitutionality of California's $3 billion stem cell institute, attorneys for the state defended the agency's track record through a key witness. Robert Klein, chairman of the board overseeing the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, took the stand for most of the day, answering questions from both sides about the structure and content of the agency. Klein was the chief architect of Proposition 71, the ballot initiative approved by 59 percent of voters in November 2004 establishing the stem cell agency and authorizing the state to issue $300 million in...

Actor-director Rob Reiner is taking a lot of well deserved media and political heat--from politicians in both parties, for a change--over a lavish promotional program for preschool education financed by tobacco tax money controlled by a commission he heads. Although Reiner and the First 5 California Children and Families Commission insist that he didn't play a direct role, it's perfectly clear that the commission was using public money to boost a Reiner initiative to tax the wealthy for preschool programs. (snip) The bigger issue is the emerging syndrome of wealthy Californians pursuing their pet causes through the initiative process, spending...

HAYWARD — California's $3 billion, voter-approved stem cell institute went on trial Monday as opponents sought to invalidate the program on grounds that it operates outside state control. The institute violates conflict of interest rules governing state agencies and its officials are not acting in the best interest of taxpayers, attorneys representing taxpayer groups said in opening statements in Alameda County Superior Court. "This agency as it is currently created is not responsive to the people," said David Llewellyn, attorney for the California Family Bioethics Council, one of the groups bringing the suit. Voters in November 2004 approved Proposition 71,...

SAN FRANCISCO - The future of embryonic stem cell research could be shaped in a suburban courtroom where two taxpayer groups are challenging the legality of California's new agency dedicated to the controversial field. Opening statements were scheduled for Monday in a pair of lawsuits seeking to invalidate the law that created the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine, which is authorized to hand out $3 billion in research grants. The lawsuits allege — among other things — that it violates a state constitutional mandate that the spending of taxpayer dollars be under state control. "The act delegates the disbursal of...

SEOUL, South Korea - Disgraced cloning scientist Hwang Woo-suk was questioned Friday by South Korean government authorities for the first time since the scandal erupted over his falsified stem cell research. The Board of Audit and Inspection questioned Hwang about his possible misappropriation of state funds, spokesman Park Jin-kyu said. Hwang received $42.2 million in government funds for his research as well as $4.35 million from private foundations, according to the board. Hwang already has been questioned by a Seoul National University panel, which has accused the professor of veterinarian medicine of fabricating results published in landmark 2004 and 2005...

California's Proposition 71 program was intended to create a $3 billion West Coast counterpart to the National Institutes of Health empowered to go where the NIH could not: full steam into the new field of biomedical research centered on human embryonic stem cells. Instead, the program has gotten stuck in a seemingly endless legal morass. Although state officials say they are optimistic about their chances in court, it's expected that the program will take at least 15 more months to slog through appeals and start issuing the first major grants. Meanwhile, revelations of faked cloning research in South Korea have...

Disgraced scientist Hwang Woo-suk defended himself insisting he has the technology to produce patient-specific stem cells and that he had been the victim of a "long-planned" conspiracy. An investigation panel at Seoul National University has concluded Hwang did not produce any embryonic stem cells individually tailored to patients as claimed in a paper published in the journal Science last year. Hwang stood by his work in an interview with a local Buddhist newspaper Saturday. "I definitely have the source technology to produce tailored embryonic stem cells," Hwang was quoted as saying in Beopbo. "I can replicate the process any time."...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The stunning fall of South Korea's stem cell hero Hwang Woo-Suk set the stage for a ferocious new battle in the highly politicised debate over cloning in the United States. Hwang's disgrace shocked stem cell research advocates and the anti-cloning lobby alike, and some observers say his tailspin could at least slow the race for breakthroughs in the lucrative bio-technology industry. Investigators at Seoul National University said Thursday there was no evidence to prove Hwang's claim to have cloned human embryos and extracted stem cells from them that genetically match patients. His supposed breakthrough was so important...

SEOUL, South Korea - An already disgraced scientist lied about all of the stem cell lines he claimed were matched to different patients through cloning, investigating researchers said in a new jolt to the shattered reputation of Hwang Woo-suk. Thursday's announcement all but ends the fraud investigation into one of three major cloning breakthroughs claimed by the one-time scientific superstar and national hero. Probes of Hwang's two other groundbreaking experiments are still under way at Seoul National University where he worked before resigning in disgrace last week. The latest news was one more disappointment to the scientific world, which had...

The unwelcome but indisputable revelation that some of the most exciting biomedical claims of the past few years were the product of scientific fraud settled like a cloud over the American scientific community yesterday. Stem cell researchers said they were depressed and discouraged to learn that an investigatory panel at Seoul National University had found that most of the precious human embryonic stem cell colonies that its scientists had touted were fakes. The star scientist at the heart of that deception -- Hwang Woo Suk -- resigned yesterday from his university post, his meteoric rise to fame coming to a...

As a South Korean scientist defends against mounting accusations that he falsified evidence in a breakthrough stem cell study, researchers in California said the controversy has caused significant damage to a promising and fledgling field. Doubts about Hwang Woo-suk's claims that he cloned human cells to create embryonic stem cells have made scientists wonder whether the prospect might remain elusive for years. Researchers and doctors hope to use this process to genetically tailor stem cells for patients suffering from such diseases as Parkinson's, diabetes and multiple sclerosis. "It's a black eye on the whole world of science," Richard Murphy, president...

NEW YORK - New allegations of fraud in stem-cell research by a prominent South Korean researcher emerged Thursday, and scientists said his other high-profile claims could face investigation as well. Among them: the first cloned human embryos and the first cloned dog. The reputation of Hwang Woo-suk of Seoul National University has been battered by allegations of fabrication in a blockbuster paper published in May. He and co-authors claimed that by cloning human embryos, they'd created 11 stem cell lines that genetically matched certain patients. Scientists hope to use such "therapeutic cloning" someday to create tissue for transplant into people...

Now comes word that the famed South Korean stem-cell researcher Hwang Wu-suk, who attracted so much attention earlier this year, faked his results. His close collaborator Roh Sung-Il says that the stem cells that Hwang claims to have cloned probably do not exist. He also said that leading authors of the paper have notified the journal Science that they were withdrawing the paper. Science said it had not yet heard from Hwang. Professor Hwang's work, originally published by Science in June, was hailed as a breakthrough -- a "tremendous advance," according to Stanford University Nobelist Paul Berg. It was also...

Mark Twain said it best when he commented: "There are lies, damn lies and ballot initiatives." --snip-- One of these deceptions involves Proposition 71, the measure that created California's $3 billion stem cell research agency in 2004. In marketing this initiative, proponents said the state would receive not only miracle cures and reduced medical costs, but also up to $1.1 billion in royalties from new stem cell innovations. Now we are learning that this promise, at best, was misleading. At worst, it was a cynical ruse. As was entirely predictable, biotech leaders and many university leaders - key supporters of...

SAN FRANCISCO — Despite promises that California taxpayers could reap up to a billion dollars in royalties by supporting a state-funded stem cell research program, it is now unclear whether the public will reap any financial reward from the initiative passed overwhelmingly by voters a year ago under Proposition 71. What's more, taxpayers could end up paying more than the expected $3 billion in bonds over the next 10 years to fund stem cell research because of restrictions on the types of bonds that can be issued, experts and stake holders told lawmakers at a hearing Monday. State Sen. Deborah...

The billion dollars in royalties that voters were told could flow to the state if they passed California's $3 billion stem cell research funding initiative in 2004 may turn into an empty promise. Researchers and business groups are raising a host of reasons the state should claim no portion of the revenue from inventions produced under the stem cell program created by Proposition 71. For one thing, they say, requiring that the state get a share would hinder work toward disease cures by removing some of the incentive for private investors. But perhaps their strongest argument is that the state...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has vetoed a bill that would have added an audit requirement and egg-donor protections to the California stem cell program created by Proposition 71 in November's election. The measure, SB18, was sponsored by Sens. Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento, and George Runner, R-Lancaster (Los Angeles County). It was approved 28-0 in the Senate and 72-2 in the Assembly. In a veto message, the governor said he supported the main provisions of the bill but found it to be "in direct conflict" with a provision in Prop. 71 barring amendments until 2008. The measure drew most attention for proposed rules...

Paraplegic breakthrough using adult stem cells Apparent major breakthrough with patient paralyzed 19 years Posted: September 28, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com In an apparent major breakthrough, scientists in Korea report using umbilical cord blood stem cells to restore feeling and mobility to a spinal-cord injury patient. The research, published in the peer-reviewed journal Cythotherapy, centered on a woman who had been a paraplegic 19 years due to an accident. After an infusion of umbilical cord blood stem cells, stunning results were recorded: "The patient could move her hips and feel her hip skin on day 15 after...