Launched in 2004 as a response to the Bush Administration’s unwillingness to fully support embryonic stem cell research on moral grounds, the CIRM funneled $75.7.million in California state taxpayer funds to embryonic stem cell research projects in its first year. But that funding pattern has now decisively changed. The CLI report argues that CIRM’s growing preference to fund ethical stem cell projects is evidence of the scientific community’s acceptance that the best hope for progress lies in the funding and pursuit of morally unproblematic alternatives like adult stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells.
“A decade ago researchers, media, and Hollywood alike dismissed moral and ethical concerns to hail stem cell research using, and destroying, human embryos, as the ‘only hope’ for developing efficacious therapies,” saidChuck Donovan, president of the Charlotte Lozier Institute. “But despite the millions of dollars spent on this research, cures brought about by embryonic stem cells have continued to prove elusive, while adult stem cell research applications have exploded. As the leading funder of stem cell research, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine has made grant decisions that show where the industry sees promise. In the past six years, where that promise lies has become increasingly clear: ethical adult stem cell research.”
The full report can be read online here.