Illinois joins states funding stem cell research

defending the First Amendment against the Christian right ...

... because if Jews don't speak out, they'll think we don't mind

Web JewsOnFirst

Optional Member Code

Please email us
(click here)
catcher@JewsOnFirst.org

And "bookmark" us at
JewsOnFirst.org

Jews on First
P.O. Box 33821
Washington DC 20033

310-553-1146

Illinois joins states funding stem cell research

By Philip Ewing, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 24, 2006

Illinois became the first Midwestern state to use taxpayer dollars for stem cell research Monday when Gov. Rod Blagojevich awarded $10 million in grants to a group of Chicago scientists. Their work will include embryonic stem cell research.

A few other states, including California, Connecticut and New Jersey, have spent taxpayer dollars on the research since President George W. Bush in 2001 forbade the use of federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. Supporters say the science could produce near-miraculous cures for the worst diseases, but opponents respond that it is morally wrong to try to derive medical treatments from some human cells.

Blagojevich, a booster of such research, praised the potential good that Illinois' grants could do.

"The promise of stem cell research is unlimited. We need to do everything we can to help our scientists and researchers make the most of it," Blagojevich said in a written statement.

The move comes at a time when state officials across the country are trying to attract lucrative bio-science research projects. In Missouri, which already is home to a multibillion-dollar life science research community, state legislators have considered a funding plan even bigger than Illinois', but it was derailed. Nonetheless, researchers in St. Louis and Kansas City are in the forefront of their field, said Donn Rubin, chairman of the Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures.

In Illinois, Blagojevich's opponent in this year's gubernatorial campaign, Republican Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka, generally supports stem cell research, but she criticized what she called the political subterfuge that went into creating Illinois' grants. Blagojevich included a generic provision for funding scientific research in last year's state budget, but later changed it to specifically authorize stem cell research.

"I think he needed to have built a consensus with the Legislature, so it's just not a unilateral 'we're going to do this because I say we're going to do this,'" Topinka said. "If you're never in Springfield and you try to sneak it through - and that's the way it was done, it was snuck - then you cast aspersions on the whole topic which didn't need to be there."

This session, Blagojevich has asked upfront for an additional $15 million in stem cell funding, but it's unclear whether that request will survive the governor's budget negotiations with legislative leaders. The governor eventually wants to spend $100 million on biotech research over the next several years.

All 27 of the state Senate Republicans have signed a letter to Blagojevich saying they oppose further funding of embryonic stem cell research.

The controversy is different in Missouri: Lawmakers in Jefferson City wanted to devote about $37 million of the state's tobacco settlement money to funding life science research, but that proposal has all but died because Rubin's organization has been working on putting a constitutional amendment before voters on the November ballot.

Rubin's initiative would block state officials from interfering with any federally permitted research in the state. But legislative Republicans, along with Gov. Matt Blunt, feared that meant the state might pay for embryonic stem cell research, so they dropped the funding proposal.

Fair Use Statement: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.