Court Clears Way for Stem Cell Grants
Published: 5/16/07, 10:05 PM EDT
By JASON DEAREN
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The California Supreme Court cleared the way for the state's stem cell research agency to distribute billions of dollars in grants when it turned back a last-ditch legal challenge Wednesday.
The state's high court declined to review a lower court ruling that upheld the constitutionality of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. The litigation had prevented the agency from doling out $3 billion in research grants.
"Today's action by the California Supreme Court is a victory for our state because potentially life-saving science can continue without a shadow of legal doubt," said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The resolution of the suit means the agency can now borrow money from Wall Street bond dealers. State Treasurer Bill Lockyer "intends to move as quickly as possible" in managing the sale of billions of dollars in bonds to fund research grants, said spokesman Tom Dresslar.
Robert Klein, who wrote the ballot initative that created the agency in 2004, said the court decision provides California with more resources for stem cell research than any other nation in the world.
The state high court had been asked by stem cell opponents to overturn the decision of a lower court, which had ruled in favor of the stem cell agency.
The plaintiff, the California Family Bioethics Council, had argued that the stem cell agency is corrupted by conflicts of interest. The council complained that university officials whose schools were applying for millions in research grants from the stem cell agency should not be on its oversight board.
As written, Proposition 71 dictates that those officials must recuse themselves when the board is considering an application from their schools.
Dana Cody, an attorney for the anti-abortion group Life Legal Foundation, another plaintiff, said she was not surprised by the ruling.
"I'm really sad that California taxpayers are going to be funding experimental research when there's been great strides made in adult stem cell research," she said.
Scientists hope human embryonic stem cells can someday be used to replace diseased tissue.
