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NRL News
Schwarzenegger Vetoes Bill to Contending that state-funded stem cell research should continue to focus on embryo-destructive methods, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill September 27 that would have extended funding to non-embryonic stem cells, which have shown the most promise in recent studies. “This bill would have assured Californians that they could have affordable access to real treatments, and made it easier for the scientific committee to fund the best and most promising research,” David Prentice of the Center for Human Life and Bioethics at the Family Research Council told NRL News. “The veto means California taxpayer money will continue to be spent on the least successful, least promising research.” The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) was created after voters approved Proposition 71 in 2004 pledging $3 billion for embryo-destructive research over the next 10 years. CIRM has already “approved 229 research grants totaling more than $614 million,” according to its web site. The bill vetoed by Schwarzenegger, SB 1565, would have allowed the CIRM funding group to approve non-embryonic stem cell research, such as the promising use of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, by a simple majority vote, according to the San Francisco Business Times. In addition, it would have increased oversight over CIRM’s activities. It was approved overwhelmingly in the legislature, 64–7 in the Assembly August 25 and 37–1 in the Senate August 29. Schwarzenegger, however, stated that the bill would divert too much funding from embryonic stem cell research. “More than seven million voters were very clear when they passed Proposition 71 in 2004. They wanted to fund embryonic stem cell research that the federal government wouldn’t,” Schwarzenegger said in his veto message. “This bill does nothing to advance the will of over seven million voters. For this reason, I am unable to sign this bill.” Supporters of the bill pointed out that medical breakthroughs in recent months have centered around stem cells not obtained by killing human embryos. “Embryonic stem cells and cloning, preferred by Proposition 71, have yielded not a single treatment for any patient nor any return on the huge investment of taxpayer funds,” said Prentice. “By contrast, other scientists have shown that the new iPS cells are much more promising and easier to produce, and that real treatments are already coming from adult stem cells.” Despite Schwarzenegger’s veto, the oversight provisions in the bill may be fulfilled. The independent Commission on California State Government Organization and Economy, referred to as “Little Hoover,” will hold a hearing November 20 to “explore the transparency and accountability of the existing governance structure” of CIRM, according to its web site. Critics of CIRM have sought public disclosure of the board’s potential conflicts of interest, financial records, and procedures. “The commission has been asked to look at governance and transparency,” Little Hoover Commission executive director Stuart Drown told California Stem Cell Report, “but may look at other issues as well, including a discussion on ways to insure the most effective use of bond money.” |