CA Groups Challenge $3 Billion Tax for Stem Cell Research
Groups in California are challenging that state’s $3 billion program to dole out dollars for stem cell research.
HAYWARD, Calif. - The financial future of California’s $3 billion human embryonic stem cell research institute went on trial Monday as taxpayer groups tried to block the state-funded research.
Two lawsuits seek to invalidate the law that created the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine, which is authorized to hand out an average of $300 million in research grants annually. The lawsuits claim the agency violates a constitutional mandate that the state control spending of taxpayer dollars.
Robert Taylor, who represents the People’s Advocate and National Tax Limitation Foundation, told a judge that the 29 members who oversee the institute and the people they appoint to research committees don’t report directly to the state.
[…]
When voters approved Proposition 71 in November 2004, creating the institute, stem cell scientists anticipated new traction to a field hamstrung by federal limitations on funding.
The Bush administration caps the federal funding at about $25 million annually and has imposed strict research guidelines that scientists say limit advances.
Proposition 71 authorized the institute to dole out an average of $300 million in research grants each year over the next 10 years. But 15 months later, the agency has yet to hand out a dime because of its legal troubles.
The lack of funding has prompted the schools to scale back their immediate plans to expand stem cell research and has hampered recruiting. The sought-after research team of Neal Copeland and Nancy Jenkins turned down an offer from Stanford University and accepted positions at a government-supported lab in Singapore.[boldface added]
I do find it very troubling that “scientists” seem to think that they have a right to force others to support their research and are so willing to work for governments that raise research money with guns.
There is no scientific evidence that such a right exists except in the minds of those who make it up. So why do scientists believe in it?
I guess for the same reason that religious people believe in God.
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