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The chairman asks for 'patience' as the committee gears up.

LOS ANGELES - Likening the creation of California's stem cell program to the birth of a baby, the oversight panel's chairman vowed Thursday to deliver a process that will please even the critics.
At the committee's second meeting, Chairman Robert Klein II promised critics a more open process for the panel's future meetings and stepped down from a nonprofit committee's chairmanship that had drawn fire.

"This institute is in the act of being created," Klein said. "It is in the birth process, and we appreciate your understanding and patience in this process."

He said the panel, created by voter approval of the stem cell research initiative Nov. 2, could be more responsive to the public once it hires staff.

But Marcy Darnovsky, associate executive director of the Center for Genetics and Society, said the panel ignored advice given at its first meeting to provide background information in advance of its second meeting.

"Now, you are saying again you are going to hold yourself to these high standards," she said. "I...