CGS-authored
IT'S FAIR to ask -- as state Sen. Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento, did this week -- just what California will get out of its $3 billion investment in embryonic stem-cell research.
When voters approved Proposition 71, it's likely that only a few of them actually read the fine print. Many were no doubt enticed to support the initiative by the promise of huge economic benefits to the state, such as revenues totaling some $14 billion from royalties and reduced health costs.
But, remarkably, the initiative makes no provision for the state to share directly in the wealth that might be generated by the project. The initiative only states that the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee, the 29-member board appointed to oversee implementation of the initiative, must balance the state's financial interest against ''the need to assure that essential medical research is not unreasonably hindered by intellectual property agreements.''
Clearly the most important benefit to Californians will be potential cures for afflictions such as Alzheimer's disease, diabetes and heart disease.
But beyond the benefit to society as a whole, revenues from patents and...
When voters approved Proposition 71, it's likely that only a few of them actually read the fine print. Many were no doubt enticed to support the initiative by the promise of huge economic benefits to the state, such as revenues totaling some $14 billion from royalties and reduced health costs.
But, remarkably, the initiative makes no provision for the state to share directly in the wealth that might be generated by the project. The initiative only states that the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee, the 29-member board appointed to oversee implementation of the initiative, must balance the state's financial interest against ''the need to assure that essential medical research is not unreasonably hindered by intellectual property agreements.''
Clearly the most important benefit to Californians will be potential cures for afflictions such as Alzheimer's disease, diabetes and heart disease.
But beyond the benefit to society as a whole, revenues from patents and...