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May 8, 2007 6:40 pm US/Eastern
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Patrick Offers Major Stem Cell Research Plan
BOSTON (AP) ―
Gov. Deval Patrick, backed by key lawmakers and scientists Tuesday, said it's time for Massachusetts to "mix it up" with competitors like California by investing $1 billion in the biotechnology industry, including stem-cell research.
The Democratic governor's 10-year plan -- which drew immediate criticism from opponents of embryonic stem-cell research -- would create a bank of stem-cell lines for public and private research, establish research grants for scientists, and upgrade public college facilities for public and private use.
"We want Massachusetts to provide the global platform for bringing your innovations from the drawing board to the market, from inspiration to commercialization, from ideas to cures," Patrick told supporters at the BIO International Convention in Boston.
The proposal also builds on Nobel Prize-winning scientist Craig Mello's research at the University of Massachusetts medical school in Worcester. Mello discovered a way to silence specific genes, a revolutionary finding that scientists are scrambling to harness for fighting illnesses including cancer and AIDS.
The Worcester campus would be home to the $66 million stem-cell bank and a $33 million center for Mello's research.
Massachusetts must spend the money or risk losing researchers and business to states like California -- which has approved spending $3 billion over 10 years on stem-cell research -- and nations including Ireland, China and Singapore, Patrick said.
"It's about competing," he said. "We have, in some ways, an elite position in the world because of a combination of resources and concentration of strengths. Sometimes elites act as if competition is tawdry, that it soils our hands a little bit to mix it up with other states and other countries.
"While we rest on our laurels, if we do," he continued, "this whole hall is full of people who would be glad to take away what we have right now."
The stem-cell bank would be the world's largest catalog of stem cell lines, with UMass, Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and hospitals including Massachusetts General Hospital contributing their lines, the governor said.
The Massachusetts Citizens for Life, an organization that opposes abortion, was among the immediate critics of the governor's plan.
"The problem with embryonic stem-cell research is that it is destructive to human life," Marie Sturgis, the group's executive director, said in a statement. "Taxpayers should not be given a mandate to fund this unethical form of research."
The research aims to use stem cells, which are created in the first days after conception and can give rise to all the organs and tissues in the body, to replace diseased tissue in hopes of treating a variety of diseases, from Alzheimer's to diabetes.
But many social conservatives, including President Bush, oppose the work because embryos are destroyed in the process. The microscopic embryos are usually donated by fertility clinics.
The Bush administration has limited federal funding to about $25 million annually on research into adult stem cells, though many scientists say they lack the promise of embryonic stem cells.
Patrick said his timeline would have the bulk of the investment begin in July 2008.
That would require legislative approval. House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi and Senate President Therese Murray, who helped craft a 2005 law encouraging stem cell research, attended Patrick's announcement and were supportive.
"We're here to help," DiMasi told the convention crowd. "It is our future. It is for the benefit of mankind and society."
Murray said the Senate Ways and Means Committee budget proposal to be unveiled next week would include a "companion piece" to the governor's proposal. Patrick said half of the funding would come from bonding and half through the state's general fund.
California voters in 2004 approved the nation's most ambitious stem cell research center. The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine is authorized to dole out $3 billion in research grants over 10 years.
California's stem cell agency has withstood legal challenges to its constitutionality. In February a state appeals court rejected claims by abortion foes and anti-tax advocates that the agency's managers had conflicts of interest.
Patrick said he's prepared for any similar challenge, but hopes to avoid them.
"There are lessons to be learned from the experience of California and other states that we will internalize to make our programs as successful as they can (be)," he said.
James Rinehart, who was at the Boston convention as part of TeamCalifornia, said he's not worried about Massachusetts luring away business because of Patrick's plan.
"We don't see it as competition in that way," he said. "People tend to look to California as the harbinger of the future, and we in fact are the bellwether, so not a threat. In fact, they're just following in our footsteps."
A spokesman for California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger did not respond to a request for comment.
Four other states also have skirted federal restrictions with stem cell research funding schemes of their own: Connecticut has a 10-year, $100 million initiative; Illinois spent $10 million last year; Maryland has approved a $15 million budget; and New Jersey has spent about $25 million in two years.
Patrick has pushed to reverse stem cell research restrictions imposed by his predecessor, Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney.
(© 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)