CGS-authored
California voters strongly embraced the promise of stem cells Tuesday night as Proposition 71, which authorizes $3 billion in state bonds for the controversial research, rolled toward an easy victory.
The state ballot measure was running about 59 percent in favor to 41 percent opposed with 40 percent of precincts counted.
The initiative creates a California Institute for Regenerative Medicine" to evaluate research projects and dole out an average $295 million a year for 10 years from state bond proceeds.
A restrictive federal policy on embryonic stem-cell research seems likely to continue if President Bush is elected to a second term in office. But Prop. 71 effectively makes California a well-financed safe haven for stem cell researchers.
Backers said this could make the state a world leader in one of the most promising, though controversial, fields of biology, perhaps touching off a new biomedical Gold Rush.
"It will draw people who want to work in California on stem-cell research," said Dr. Stephen Forman, director of stem-cell transplantation at the City of Hope Cancer Center in Southern California. "This will make...