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Monday, January 17, 2005
Law/Econ. Dev. - More on "debate brewing in Indiana over human cloning"
Last Friday (you will find it if you scroll down) the ILB quoted from a front-page story in the Indianapolis Star about Pat Miller's (that is state senator Pat Miller, not Gov. Daniel's new commerce secretary Pat Miller) bill to prevent "human cloning" in Indiana. The Star story noted:
California's stem cell cash bonanza has set the stage for what some are likening to a new gold rush. Some worry that leading scientists might follow the money. And some states are considering whether to follow California's lead, for fear they might suffer a brain drain.More on that point from a story today in the NY Times:
While the federal government has sharply limited research on embryonic stem cells, casting it as a moral issue, governors around the country are moving aggressively to push the research forward, spending millions, seeking to lure top scientists to their states and planning state-of-the-art research facilities. * * *"We have to act aggressively," [NJ's acting governor] said, "because other states like Wisconsin and Illinois are right behind us." * * *
At the very least, competing states are trying to keep their own researchers from joining a migration to the West Coast. At the most, they are cultivating their own biotech valleys, already thriving in ZIP codes around Boston, San Francisco and the Research Triangle in North Carolina, to name a few. * * *
What every state covets, of course, are the clusters of private companies that grow up around medical centers and the investment they bring. It is hard to forecast investment in private stem cell ventures, however, said G. Steven Burrill, the chief executive officer of Burrill & Company, a biotechnology investment firm in San Francisco. * * * The trend to public research by the states, while fostering innovation, may also cause duplication and splintering in research, Mr. Perry said.
"It's going to create a crazy-quilt pattern across the U.S.," he said. In some states, stem cell research will flourish, he said. Other states, he added, "are going to criminalize the same research, where you could get thrown in jail for moving a cell nucleus to the wrong place."
Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 17, 2005 02:34 PM
Posted to Biotech | Indiana Law | Indiana economic development