$3b sought in Calif. for stem cell research

SACRAMENTO -- Frustrated by the government's reluctance to expand controversial research involving embryonic stem cells, a coalition of scientists and wealthy benefactors has launched an initiative seeking voter approval for $3 billion in public financing that they hope will hasten the discovery of cures for a myriad of human diseases.

Backers hope the money will reinvigorate a field that has been hampered by the lack of public funding and the often-rancorous debate over human embryonic cloning, a procedure that is at the heart of an effort to better understand how stem cells can help medicine conquer diseases.

In recent months, US scientists have increasingly played catch-up with their counterparts abroad. Last month, South Korean scientists announced that, for the first time, stem cells were successfully harvested from cloned human embryos -- a startling development that has spurred excitement but also reignited concerns over human cloning.

"Stem cell research is probably the best hope for curing many of the diseases that are still left uncured," said Thomas Coleman, whose daughter, 27, was diagnosed two decades ago with juvenile-onset diabetes, a potentially debilitating illness that is still without a cure.

Coleman, a Santa Barbara developer, is helping bankroll the effort to collect the 600,000 signatures needed to place the initiative before voters in November. Coleman has given $600,000 toward the effort, and with $2.5 million raised, it is almost certain the measure will make the ballot.

If approved, a state agency would be created to distribute nearly $300 million in annual grants, for 10 years, to California universities and other research organizations. The measure specifically prohibits funding for human reproductive cloning.

"It will make California the leader in the country, if not the world, in the arena of stem cell research," said Chad Griffin, the campaign director for Californians for Stem Cell Research and Cures.

Even if voters approve the initiative, California may not be the first state to earmark public funds for stem cell research. The Globe reported yesterday that Harvard University plans to raise $100 million to build a center to grow and study human embryonic stem cells, and will formally announce the project next month.

Last week, Governor James E. McGreevey of New Jersey included $6.5 million in next year's budget plan for stem cell research, the first of a five-year, $50 million funding program.

Stem cell research, particularly embryonic cloning, remains controversial because of fears that rogue scientists will use the technology for reproductive human cloning. While federal law does not ban embryonic stem cell research, a congressional effort to outlaw all forms of human cloning has been stalled in the Senate after winning passage in the House last year.

In August 2001, President Bush said he would allow federal funds to be used for stem cell research, but limited that funding to work using the 60 existing stem cell lines that were derived from human embryos.

"The plan we have under President Bush will never work. We have no hopes under his plan," said Don Reed, whose son suffered major spinal cord injuries while playing college football a decade ago. "Doctors used to tell us he'd never walk again. But I recently held in my hand a mouse that was paralyzed and could walk again."

Stem cells are of particular interest to medical researchers who believe the cells can help generate cures or therapies for chronic and life-threatening diseases -- such as diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer's, and heart disease -- that the National Institutes of Health says afflict 128 million Americans.

Embryonic stem cells, or so-called pluripotent cells, are harvested for research from the inner mass of week-old embryos. These cells are called pluripotent because they have the potential for developing into any of the highly specialized cells that eventually become the human body and its organs. They become the beating tissue of the heart, the flowing platelets of blood, the strands of muscle, or the mysterious gray matter of the brain.

Last year, California established ethical and legal guidelines for stem cell research.

"I think there will be a political fight," said Irv Weissman, a professor at Stanford Medical School and chairman of the National Academy of Sciences' panel on human reproductive cloning. "Who knows how it will play out, but I'd rather spend my time on something else."

Weissman says the United States is still a leader in stem cell research, but could fall behind without adequate governmental support. Private funding is not enough, he said. Without an infusion of public money, many talented researchers will abandon the field or look for work elsewhere, he said.

The initiative campaign is just beginning to register with groups opposed to human embryonic stem cell research, which they say is the first step toward full-fledged human cloning.

"We are all in favor of stem cell research, as long as it does not involve human embryos," said Gene Tarne, spokesman for Do No Harm, a Washington-based group opposed to human cloning. "You're creating new life for the sole purpose of destroying that new life."

But it is not merely an ethical concern, said Wesley Smith, an Oakland lawyer and writer who is also a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute, a Seattle think tank. "I find this to be an audacious money grab. The biotech industry and academic researchers want the state of California to borrow $3 billion to pay for their controversial research," he said. "The state isn't doing that for AIDS or cancer research."

But the initiative's backers argue that a surge in stem cell research will help generate jobs and boost the economy. Potential medical advances derived from the research could also help the state save money on medical costs, which stand at $112 billion annually, according to an analysis commissioned by initiative backers.