Friday, February 02, 2007

Promoting California's Stem Cell Giveaway

Stem cell advocate Don Reed is beating the publicity drum for the Big Event this month, and it is not the Super Bowl.

Reed, who has a keen sense of PR, is pitching Feb. 16 as an "unbreakable date" in San Francisco. On Jan. 31, he wrote on his blog, stemcellbattles.com:
"There will be lots of reporters… If our friends are not there, who will they talk to?

Hint: the opposition will definitely be there…"
The date is when the CIRM Oversight Committee is expected to conclude its decisions on the first wave of more than $100 million in research grants to be dished out this year.

Reed is well-connected in the patient advocate community. He knows that TV cameras cannot resist sympathetic interviews with persons afflicted diseases or other problems that could be treated with future stem cell therapies. And the TV audience is likely to be much more sympathetic to their concerns than those opposed to ESC research on theological grounds.

Perhaps state Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, is also considering being on the scene, which could be an excellent venue to promote her legislation concerning the stem cell agency. TV rarely covers the agency, and it is not likely to become excited about a legislative story unless it becomes truly extraordinary.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Search This Blog