Editorial: Promises to keep

AT THE HEART OF CALIFORNIA'S multibillion-dollar experiment in public stem cell research are two promises. One is that such research will save lives. The other is that the scientists conducting it, and the agency funding it, will be accountable. The first is as magnificent as it is exaggerated; the second is more practical but as yet unfulfilled.

That's the bad news. The good news is that there's still time for the state agency set up by Proposition 71, which created a $3-billion bond to fund such research, to make good on its promise. All it will take is compromise, common sense _ and maybe a little litigation. The last of these, at least, is starting to have an effect.

Research in the public interest

Any undertaking this big was bound to have early stumbles, but the first year under the stem cell initiative was especially disappointing. To start, the initiative itself has multiple flaws, most of them related to accountability.

The California Institute of Regenerative Medicine was created by Proposition 71, which also freed it from most public oversight and...