CGS-authored
Conflict-of-interest allegations already are flying against the committee overseeing California's $3 billion stem cell initiative even though the group isn't close to giving out a dime.
The Center for Genetics and Society, an advocacy group, said yesterday that seven of the committee's 29 members have "significant business connections with companies connected with stem cell research."
The center said committee members should be free of ties to the biotechnology industry to erase the specter of possible conflict. Leaders of the stem cell effort said that would be overkill.
"The center wants to remove any possibility for the occasion of conflict and not just the conflict itself, which is unreasonable," said the committee's vice chairman, Dr. Edward Penhoet, a former biotech executive. "It could disqualify people who are competent to make wise decisions about how this is all done."
To meet the center's proposed requirements, Penhoet and other committee members would have to divest themselves of stock acquired over long careers and appointments to the companies' boards.
In addition to Penhoet, the members who allegedly have conflicts include the chief executive of...
The Center for Genetics and Society, an advocacy group, said yesterday that seven of the committee's 29 members have "significant business connections with companies connected with stem cell research."
The center said committee members should be free of ties to the biotechnology industry to erase the specter of possible conflict. Leaders of the stem cell effort said that would be overkill.
"The center wants to remove any possibility for the occasion of conflict and not just the conflict itself, which is unreasonable," said the committee's vice chairman, Dr. Edward Penhoet, a former biotech executive. "It could disqualify people who are competent to make wise decisions about how this is all done."
To meet the center's proposed requirements, Penhoet and other committee members would have to divest themselves of stock acquired over long careers and appointments to the companies' boards.
In addition to Penhoet, the members who allegedly have conflicts include the chief executive of...