Today my copy of Fortune magazine comes in the mail, and an interesting article is entitled "The Stem Cell War", all about California's struggle with the $3B Proposition 71, passed only last November. Now a non-profit foundation, there was a huge amount of politics involved in even locating the Center for Regenerative Research. I know a biotech CEO (involved on the pharma side of biotechnology, not the life science tools side) from San Diego who told me that San Diego's offer was the strongest offer 'by far', and that the level of cooperation and financial support offered from San Diego biotechnology firms was far ahead anything the Bay Area had to offer.
Well it ended up being located in the Bay Area, offers of assistance notwithstanding.
Now the irony is that an initiative designed to accelerate stem-cell research just might simply galvanize the political efforts to stymie it - the Fortune article states just that. To quote: "...opening a Pandora's box by calling into question even scientific methods that are widely used..." "What has happened in California shows how unpredictably complex and thorny this issue can be. Despite all the momentum, Prop. 71 has stalled and landed in the courts."
So the funding has been stopped, the lawyers are getting busy, the activists are getting fired up, and families that are seeking cures for juvenile diabetes like the Altmans showcased in the article have to demonstrate the patience of Job in order to see advances for a disease that has debilitated their family for generations.
The article mentions the 20th century being the century of Physics, while the 21st century is the century of Biology, and they may well be correct. I was a high-school teacher in a prior lifetime, and even then in the mid-1980's it was obvious that a revolution was occuring in Biology, and that Biology would become a burgeoning and powerful force for good in society as a whole. With $39B in US sales in 2003 and a market capitalization in the US of no less than $311B in April 2005, this century of Biology is getting off to a strong start. But politics becomes a bit concerning, as in Europe with the current backlash against GMO foodstuffs.
It is not widely known that since 1998 (according to this Nobel-winning source) the world has produced more food than required, and the existence of starvation exists because of political, economic and distribution issues, not due to the lack of food. The scientist, Norman Borlaug of Texas A&M University, is considered the father of the Green Revolution, which started in 1944 in Mexico, resulting in self-sufficiency in Mexico by 1956, to then becoming an exporter of wheat by 1964. He credits technology and looks to biotechnology to solve many of the problems we as a people face today.
The danger is that opportunities for real improvement in lives will be missed, due to religious, philosophical, and political debates that currently are swirling around stem-cell research.
Comments