Financial analysts' advice on California stem cell research
Citing the Golden State's $14-billion budget shortfall, an editorial in Investor's Business Daily invites Californians to "revisit their decision to borrow $3 billion for a research effort driven more by politics than science" and to "save themselves a good deal of money by winding the program down."
Yes, the financial pundits are talking about Proposition 71, the 2004 stem cell research initiative. They quote Biopolitical Times blogger and CGS stem cell policy expert Jesse Reynolds, who "says he doubts if Proposition 71 would pass if it were on the ballot today." The editorial continues:
The proposition succeeded, Reynolds says, "because of the political shine of embryonic stem cell research . . . It was like a magic bullet aimed at Washington."