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Stem Cell Bond Issue on California Ballot

A bond proposition that would provide $3 billion for stem cell research and is expected to boost the state's biotechnology industry if passed, has officially qualified for the November ballot.

Initiative supporters submitted one million signatures in April and California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley certified the proposition late Wednesday.

If passed, the measure would make $295 million available to researchers annually for 10 years, far exceeding the $60 million awarded in the field by the federal government in 2002.
Human embryonic stem cells appear in the first days after conception and go on to create all the tissues, organs and everything else that makes a human body. Many scientists hope to turn stem cells into cures and treatments for a variety of ailments, from diabetes to paralysis.

The proposition also would fund laboratory cloning projects intended to create stem cells for regenerative and therapeutic medicine while specifically banning the funding of cloning programs aimed at creating babies.

Because days-old embryos are destroyed during research, many social conservatives such as the Catholic Church, oppose the work and proposition, though a formal opposition campaign has yet to file with Shelley.

Proposition supporters, which include patient advocacy groups, wealthy parents of sick children and Silicon Valley venture capitalists, have raised about $5.3 million to date and vow to raise a total of $20 million by the elections.

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