California Debates Whether to Become Stem Cell Heavyweight

Gretchen Vogel
Science
September 10, 2004

President George W. Bush may end up doing California stem cell researchers a huge favor. Spurred by the Bush Administration's restrictions on funding for human embryonic stem (ES) cells, patient advocates, venture capitalists, and research leaders have launched a campaign to persuade California voters to pass an unprecedented ballot proposal, called Proposition 71, that would allocate $3 billion for the field over the next 10 years.

If the measure passes in November--and early polls say it's still too close to call (Science, 27 August, p. 1225)--California would spend nearly $300 million a year on human ES cell research, almost 50% more than the $214 million the National Institutes of Health (NIH) spent on all human stem cell research--both embryonic and nonembryonic--in 2003. "It will change the landscape of where this work is done," says Douglas Melton of Harvard University, who because of the White House's restrictions has had to set up a privately funded lab to derive new human ES cell lines. "California will become a...