Stem cell conflicts
Friday, December 14, 2012 - 12:30
in Health & Medicine
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine's oversight board needs to heed the recommendations of a blue-ribbon commission.The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the quasi-governmental agency authorized to spend $3 billion in taxpayer money on embryonic stem cell research, deserves praise for commissioning an independent study of its operations by a blue-ribbon committee of the Institute of Medicine, the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences. But the $700,000 spent on the study — funded by donations — will be wasted if the institute's oversight board fails to heed the committee's criticisms, which echo the findings of the Little Hoover Commission and other groups over the years.