Editorial: Agency in denial - Stem cell board lacks money, not issues [California]

People who suffer a serious medical setback often can't come to grips with it. Paralyzed stroke victims, for instance, sometimes insist they can raise their arms when they can't.
Doctors call this disorder "denial syndrome". California's $3 billion stem cell research institute appears to be afflicted by it.


Lawsuits filed by opponents of embryonic stem cell research have prevented the state from issuing bonds for the Institute for Regenerative Medicine, putting the whole program in limbo. These lawsuits are hugely dispiriting to Californians who support stem cell research, but they are a reality, and they could delay the institute's research grants by one or two years.
Institute leaders need to make the most of this lull by settling issues that will continue to dog the institute over the next decade. Instead, Institute Chairman Robert Klein II continues to toot his horn and cry "full steam ahead!" even as his ship remains tethered to the dock.

The latest exercise in institutional denial came Aug. 3 in San Francisco, where the institute held the first meeting of its grants review committee. The...