Monday, October 24, 2005

"The Right to Be Cured, Quickly"

Reporter Ralph Brave of The Sacramento News and Review examined the performance of the California stem cell agency recently. His piece was heavy on science and short on firm conclusions about whether the agency was fulfilling the promise of the campaign.

Here are a couple of excerpts:

"The tension between the hope for cures embodied in California’s big stem-cell adventure and the scientific challenges in meeting those hopes is almost palpable at every stem-cell meeting and conference. The lectures from most scientists almost always include a proviso that stem-cell therapies or cures are a decade or more away. But there is clearly pressure building to find stem-cell cures rapidly, and there’s at least one proposal to move toward the first human clinical trials next year."

"No matter one’s view on the issues involved, this has to stand as some of the most unusual language in any constitution anywhere in the world: a constitutional right to a particular line of scientific research, directly tied to a prospect for cures that are to come 'as speedily as possible.' In a way, it’s an expression of the ultimate California dream: the right to be cured, quickly."

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