Californians were promised wonder cures if they passed Proposition 71 to fund stem-cell research in 2004. Turns out they have bought a $3 billion jug of snake oil, says Investor's Business Daily (IBD).
With the hype over, the scientists involved in the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine now admit they may not find cures over 10 years for even one of the diseases like autism, AIDS, Lou Gehrig's disease, lupus and multiple sclerosis that stem-cell activists had insisted a $3 billion state institute would find cures for.
"Gone are the allusions to healing such afflictions such as spinal cord injuries and Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases that dominated the 2004 campaign for Proposition 71 in 2004," the Los Angeles Times noted.
Not only were California's voters promised cures, they were also promised lower medical bills for their $3 billion "solution," unfortunately, Californians' average medical bills are still rising, coming in 7.7 percent higher in 2006 over 2005, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Additionally:
The medical groups who bucked hardest for the California Stem Cell Research and Cures Act are making plenty of money off it, not just from grants, like the $150 million loan that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger fronted for their favorite research institutions to skirt taxpayer suits, but also for the golden opportunity to buy California bonds to finance it.
The total cost of this state research institute for Californians won't be just $3 billion, but $6 billion, over 10 years, due to interest costs from the bonds issued, according to the California state legislative analyst.
The only people who get nothing out of this $3 billion boondoggle are the California taxpayers who are writing the checks, and the medical patients who have been sold a bill of goods by stem-cell activists about sure-thing medical cures from public, instead of private, funding, says IBD.
Source: Editorial, "Fool's Gold Rush In California," Investor's Business Daily, December 6, 2005.
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