The competition is heating up.
New York's Governor Eliot Spitzer is challenging Wisconsin's pro-clone Governor Jim Doyle to be the EMBRYONIC stem cell research Grand Poobah.
From The New York Times:
Five years ago, the Bush administration decided to severely limit federal financing for embryonic stem cell research, a move that set off vigorous competition among the states to provide support for a research field that many scientists say could bring about major medical advances.
New Jersey was first out of the gate, pledging millions of dollars for stem cell research in the state. California raised the stakes with a huge $3 billion bond initiative, and other states followed with ballot initiatives or legislation to give scientists grants or to build research centers. Those efforts, supporters promised, would also bring in new jobs and tax revenue.
But New York — home to leading research universities, medical centers and biotechnology companies — has remained absent from the list. Legislative efforts in recent years to direct state money to embryonic stem cell research have stalled, and then fizzled.
...In his first address to the Legislature, Gov. Eliot Spitzer called this month for passage of a $2 billion 10-year bond initiative for research and development, at least half of which would be set aside to pay for stem cell research. And the project is being tailored as an economic development effort in the hopes of attracting support from upstate Republican lawmakers.
Advocates for stem cell research say that if successful, the initiative — by pledging a sizable investment over a sustained period — would catapult New York to the forefront of the field. They also say that bringing the state’s academic and scientific institutions more into the research mix could have significant ripple effects across the country.
...To win support for the initiative from upstate lawmakers, the administration is promoting it as primarily an economic measure. In his speech, [Lt. Gov. David A.] Paterson cited upstate research universities and centers in Albany, Buffalo and Rochester, whose officials have lobbied heavily for more state money for the research.
“The best stem cell researchers in the country are in California, Wisconsin and New York,” said David A. Carmel, a supporter of the research who helped create the Spitzer administration’s proposal. “To have major restrictions on federal funding, and no state funding here — many talented researchers in New York are disgruntled with this state of affairs.”
This has to be making Doyle nervous.
He wants Wisconsin to be the nation's leader in cloning embryos and destroying them. He wants to be the Embryo king.
It's bad enough that California took away Wisconsin's title as America's leading milk producer and is knocking on the door when it comes to producing cheese.
Now Wisconsin may take a back seat to New York and California when it comes to creating life to kill it.
Poor Doyle.
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