Legal cloud lifts from California stem-cell effort
The California Supreme Court swept away the last legal impediment to the state’s $3 billion stem-cell research program Wednesday when it declined to review two lawsuits that challenged its constitutionality.
Ideological foes of the state’s stem-cell effort, which voters approved by a large margin in a 2004 ballot initiative, have waged a two-year battle in the courts to shut it down. The opponents — a coalition of anti-tax and limited-government conservatives and anti-abortion activists — argued… Continue Reading
Massachusetts jumps on the stem-cell bandwagon
(UPDATE: Minor editing.)
Massachusetts may soon be the next state to offer direct support for stem-cell research and related biotechnology developments. Gov. Deval Patrick yesterday proposed a $1 billion, 10 year life-sciences initiative that would provide a variety of direct grants and subsidies aimed at promoting both academic research and commercial development of new medical therapies.
Although Patrick’s plan is similar in some respects to California’s enormous $3 billion stem-cell effort and New York’s proposed $1 billion investment… Continue Reading