As California moves quickly toward setting up a $3-billion embryonic stem cell research agency, other states are scrambling to prevent their top researchers from being raided.
The lure is clear: $300 million a year for embryonic stem cell research in California for the next decade, more than 10 times the yearly federal funding available and free of the Bush administration's tight restrictions on what research can be conducted with federal money.
"Everyone I talk to wants to move to California," said Kevin Wilson, director of public policy for the American Society of Cell Biologists. Wilson, only half jokingly, suggested "staking out the airports" to get a preview of which top researchers outside the state are thinking of relocating.
A few states have announced or plan soon to announce new funding for stem cell research, and others are considering legislation that endorses the research, moves influenced at least in part by the California initiative.
Embryonic stem cells can become cells of any type, so many scientists believe they have great promise for treating diseases. But the research requires destroying human embryos to obtain the stem cells. Opponents of the research believe the destruction of embryos makes it immoral, regardless of the potential for curing disease.
Under restrictions Bush imposed early in his first term, federal grants can be used only for work with a small selection of embryonic stem cells that existed before August 2001. Because of those limits, states have taken the lead in basic scientific research in the field, usurping the role traditionally played by the Washington-based National Institutes of Health.
Officials in the few states where such research thrives have paid close attention to policies elsewhere, particularly to California's voter-approved Proposition 71.
Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, for example, said in a telephone interview that he had tracked the Proposition 71 campaign with an eye toward its effect on his state. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison were the first to discover how to isolate and grow human embryonic stem cells. Doyle said he strongly supports the California effort and believes the more research done in the field, "the better it is for everyone." Still, biotech companies clustered around Madison, the state capital and home of the university, make up one of his state's fastest growing industries, and Doyle said he wanted to act quickly to protect it.
