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Legislation that would permit women in California to be paid for their eggs for scientific research yesterday cleared a key state Senate committee and is likely headed for the governor's desk.

The measure by Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla, D-Concord, was approved on a 6-1 vote by the Senate Health Committee and now goes to the Senate floor. Earlier, it passed the Assembly on a 54-20 vote.

Some stem cell researchers and other scientists have chafed under state restrictions that bar compensation for eggs while that the same time fertility clinics are paying an average of $9,000 a session for eggs, with some prices going as high as $50,000.

However, the legislation will not affect researchers using grants from the $3 billion California stem cell agency. The agency's regulations bar compensation for eggs in the research that it funds. That means that at least a two-tiered research system would exist in California not to mention another tier created by federal regulations that differ from both those of the stem cell agency and those set by the legislation.

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