Thread: Seducing Scientists: California and Massachusetts do battle over stem cells

Three weeks ago, Larry Goldstein, a neurobiologist at the University of California, San Diego, had a few choice words for Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who surprised the nation by coming out against a specific kind of stem-cell research. The words were: "Thank you." Goldstein, unlike Romney, supports all stem-cell research. He helped write California's Proposition 71, which raised $3 billion for it (and was backed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger). "We've been trying to recruit the very best people in the world, and a few of them happen to be at Harvard," Goldstein said in the wake of the governor's announcement. He hoped it would "tip the balance" in his university's favor, sending scientists scurrying West.

But last week it was California's turn for a setback—and, as it turns out, Goldstein may have smirked too soon. Stem-cell supporters in the Golden State now face two new lawsuits from conservative groups dead-set on keeping that $3 billion out of scientists' hands; questions from government watchdogs about the money's dispersal, and an upcoming hearing in the state Senate on a moratorium against some types of stem-cell science.

When President George W. Bush limited federal funding for stem-cell research in 2001, he threw the burden onto the states. Now dozens of them are mired in two-steps-forward, one-step-back legal struggles. From an academic standpoint, Massachusetts may have the most to lose if stem-cell research is outlawed or discouraged. "At this moment," says Boston-based state Sen. Cynthia Creem, "there are more scientists doing groundbreaking biological and medical research within 10 miles of my desk than in any other city in the world." Creem introduced a bill last fall to promote stem-cell research, thinking it would be a relatively easy win. The bill failed in the House, but the state Senate approved it "with more than enough votes to override any veto," she says.

Until three weeks ago, Creem & Co. figured Romney might be on their side. The governor, whose wife suffers from multiple sclerosis, a potential target of stem-cell research, had met with a prominent Harvard scientist and backed Creem's original bill. But Romney, a Republican rumored to have national political ambitions, stunned stem-cell supporters with a carefully crafted statement. Yes, he would support some forms of the research. But nuclear transfer performed on embryos created solely for research purposes—the most controversial and one of the most promising techniques—was out of the question.

Even if Massachusetts state legislators, led by Senate President Robert Travaglini, a Democrat, end up overriding Romney, they'll still have to convince their nervous scientists that the Bay State will remain friendly to their work. Meanwhile, in California, it's damn the lawsuits, full speed ahead. The California Institute of Regenerative Medicine, born with money from Prop 71 (which specifically allows for the research Romney objects to), announced on Friday that it hopes to start dispersing grants by May. It's astonishingly fast progress, thanks largely to the efforts of Robert Klein, another coauthor of Prop 71 who's overseeing the institute's creation. Klein knows he needs to move quickly; like Goldstein, he expects that Romney is about to drive Massachusetts scientists into his open arms.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7037226/site/newsweek/