Luddites Lose Another One, Stem Research takes another step

Court backs stem cell funding plan
Research money from Prop. 71 still held up pending appeals

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/04/22/MNGH9IDLVO1.DTL

A Hayward judge ruled Friday that California's $3 billion stem cell initiative does not violate state law, a decision that, if upheld on appeal, would free up funds for the controversial research program that have been on hold for more than a year.

Proposition 71, passed by the state's voters in 2004, was a pioneering attempt to advance stem cell research despite restrictions on federal funding imposed by the Bush administration.

It was stalled by two legal challenges, later consolidated, that claimed the initiative had entrusted billions in taxpayer money to an independent grant-making agency riddled with conflicts of interest and free of meaningful control by elected state officials.

But Alameda County Superior Court Judge Bonnie Sabraw held that the structure of the grant-making agency, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, did not violate state law.


We still have another hurdle, but we have just about dispensed with all the Bullshit and the will of the people of California can begin operation!

Anon