In addition to the big election for President and the myriad of other offices that were up for grabs last Tuesday, many ballot initiatives in the states made big news. Californians passed Proposition 71, which will put $3BN ($300MN for each of the next 10 years) toward stem cell research and, it is hoped, make California one of the world leaders in the industry.
The stock prices of various companies such as Geron and StemCells, Inc. had been moving around quite a bit in the weeks before the election as shareholders tried to figure out what the future of those companies might hold, depending on who won the election. As Kerry favored stem cell research, as Kerry's rating rose in the polls, so did the stock prices (and conversely, they fell as Bush's ratings rose).
Despite the boon such research could be to the economy, there is no reason to think that the Bush administration will lift its ban on federal funding for stem cell research. This move by California is a rather courageous step forward to encourage the research, which may eventually lead to treatments or cures for various diseases and keep the U.S. in the foreground of the industry.
Then again, there may be very little of this research conducted if the UN decides to follow Costa Rica's proposal to ban all "therapeutic cloning." The debate among the countries in the hearings in October showed opinions running the gamut from an absolute ban on embryonic cells in research or other scientific pursuits to banning reproductive cloning but allowing each member State to decide for itself how to handle therapeutic cloning.
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