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WISCONSIN: State Is At Critical Juncture On UW Stem Cell Support Nov. 18, 2004 Arthur Caplan, the head of the medical ethics department at the University of Pennsylvania, put it bluntly enough in a recent news story: "Wisconsin's leadership ended Nov. 2." He wasn't talking about the state going for Sen. John Kerry, he was talking about a California bond referendum that passed and authorized the state to spend $3 billion over the next decade on stem cell research. Voters in that state aren't all motivated by altruistic reasons like finding cures for Parkinson's disease, spinal cord injuries or Alzheimer's disease - some of the push to pass the referendum, which sailed through with almost 60 percent of the vote, was based on more mercenary motivations like new jobs - thousands of them, scientific development and a boost in state tax revenues. Think Silicon Valley. That's what was on the mind of California voters no doubt. The $3 billion referendum will provide more than $300 million a year for stem cell research and development - which far exceeds the funding that's coming from the federal government, which has stepped gingerly into the arena because of opposition by those who oppose using fertility clinic embryos - even though they would be discarded - and see it as ending a human life. University of Wisconsin-Madison scientist James Thomson was a breakthrough pioneer in stem cell research and the university's patent arm, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, controls five of the 22 U.S.-approved stem cell lines. Those pioneering efforts gave the state a leg up on competitors - not only here in the United States, but in Asia and England as well - but without a strong flow of federal dollars that competitive edge will wither away and Wisconsin may lose out on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to become the heart of a dynamic, forward-looking enterprise that could shape the state of Wisconsin's economic growth for decades to come. It's that important. The California initiative and its potential impact here didn't go unnoticed. Gov. James Doyle reportedly has met with UW-Madison officials and is drawing up plans to put the state's weight behind the university. Those recommendations should come before the month is out. We would urge Gov. Doyle to aim high and think of the long-term benefits that would come from strong state support. For too long Wisconsin has labored in the slow death-bed of the decline of the Rust Belt - now it has the chance to become a hotbed of research and innovation that could benefit all of mankind, buoy the state's economy and create a dazzling focus for state-university- and-private industry collaboration. SOURCE: Journal Times Online, WI WWWeb: http://tinyurl.com/4df7v * * *Murray Charters <[log in to unmask]> Please place this address in your address book Please purge all others Web site: Parkinsons Resources on the WWWeb http://www.geocities.com/murraycharters ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn