Long Road Ahead for Stem Cell Initiative
Proposal to Finance Research Qualifies for State Ballot
By Carl T. Hall,
San Francisco Chronicle
| 06. 04. 2004
A $3 billion state proposition to promote controversial stem cell
research in California qualified Thursday for the November ballot,
opening what promises to be a bruising campaign that pits moral critics
of the research against family members of people with incurable
diseases.
The ballot initiative represents an
ambitious attempt to circumvent President Bush's stem cell policy,
which severely restricts research in the field. Even so, some promoters
of the research say state funding would set a dangerous precedent in
departing from the system of federally financed biomedical research.
Supporters
of the "California Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative" said they
turned in about 1.1 million signatures to California Secretary of State
Kevin Shelley, almost twice the minimum needed to put the measure
before state voters in the presidential election on Nov. 2.
The
measure, which requires a simple majority to pass, would authorize an
average $295 million a year in state-backed bonds to be issued over 10
years. Although the bonds would be guaranteed by tax revenue, no
payments would be due for the first five years.
The
ballot measure...
Related Articles
By Editors, Nature | 08.18.2026
Shinya Yamanaka doesn’t see himself as a celebrity. But people do recognize the stem-cell researcher when he’s out for a run, often while training for a marathon, on the streets of Kyoto, Japan.
Many of them call out words of...
By Jessica Hamzelou, MIT Technology Review | 07.30.2026
As of this week in Montana, any biotech company with an experimental drug has a clear path to selling it to consumers. Companies whose drugs have been through preliminary testing—sometimes in as few as 10 healthy people—can pay $12,500 to...
By Carl Zimmer and Marco Hernandez , The New York Times | 07.01.2026
Scientists have long dreamed of discovering the alchemy by which chemicals can be turned into life. On Wednesday, a team at the University of Minnesota announced that it had taken a major step toward that vision.
Blending together dozens of...
By Marisa Flook , BioNews | 06.29.2026
An anti-ageing gene therapy not approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is set to be offered by an American company at overseas clinics outside of US jurisdiction.
The treatment, developed by Minicircle from Austin, Texas, uses a...
