When proponents of Proposition 71 shouted CURES! CURES! CURES in 2004, perhaps the people of California could be forgiven for believing them–what with all the hype going on at the time–and borrowing $3 billion to pay for research grants (which will be at least $6 billion when interest is included). But now it is years later, ESCR has definitely not proved to be the “only hope” as it was then claimed. Indeed, the CIRM is so hungry for successes that even though it was set up to fund ESCR and human cloning research–the first then restricted in funding the second not funded by the Feds–it is now funding adult stem cell research to be able to show a few treatment notches on its obese spending belt.
Not only that, but California’s economy is beyond being merely in the toilet: It is in a fiscal septic tank. Roads are being allowed to remain potholed. Schools are impacted. Health care for children is impacted. Services for the elderly and people with disabilities are being cut. State workers face furloughs–and we still have another $20 billion of red ink–meaning the once Golden State has become Greece without the Acropolis.
Then there has been the terrible mismanagement, conflicts of interest, broken campaign promises, and other assorted acts of hubris by leaders of the CIRM, so often recorded here. Someday, perhaps I’ll write a checklist of the CIRM follies that we’ve discussed here at SHS over the years.
So who cares about fiscal sanity? Who cares that ESCR is now funded without the Bush restrictions? Who cares that human cloning hasn’t worked out? Who cares that California is falling into the ocean fiscally? Who cares that our taxpayers are groaning under high taxes and an astonishing level of bond debt? Not the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine. Like the man eating plant in Little Shop of Horrors, its appetite is insatiable. It wants more! From the LA Times story:
When millionaire Silicon Valley real estate developer Bob Klein launched his ballot drive to create a $3-billion state fund for stem-cell research in 2004, he pitched it as a way of taking politics out of science and focusing on cures. One particularly heartbreaking campaign ad showed former big screen Superman Christopher Reeve paralyzed in a wheelchair, struggling for breath and imploring California voters to “stand up for those who can’t.”
Next month, Klein’s six-year term as chairman of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine expires. Under his stewardship, the agency has funded research leading to hundreds of scientific papers, but scientists say marketable therapies for maladies such as cancer, Alzheimer’s and spinal cord damage promised during the campaign remain years, if not decades, away. In a recent interview with The Times, Klein said he plans to ask voters to approve another $3 billion in a bond measure on the 2014 ballot to keep the stem cell program going.
If California votes yes on that proposal–which, like last time, will be mounted by the best PR firms, political consultants, and lawyers money can buy–it will prove P.T. Barnum’s assertion that there is a sucker born every minute. In California’s case, it will mean tens of millions of them. I just wish there were early voting on this turkey so I could vote no!
November 22nd, 2010 | 8:12 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Vince Humphreys, Wesley J. Smith. Wesley J. Smith said: CIRM to Try and Sucker Californians Into Letting It Borrow Even More Money » Secondhand Smoke | A .. http://bit.ly/hT7SrR [...]
November 23rd, 2010 | 3:33 am
You don’t have a child in a wheelchair waiting for stem cell to give them a chance at normal life how dare you feel so GODLIKE.
Wesley J. Smith Reply:
November 23rd, 2010 at 10:19 am
Cheryl: Your child’s best chances for treatments are not with ESCR. But would you take sustenance away from others due to state bankruptcy? Would you see your child’s services cut to fund what may be pie in the sky?
November 23rd, 2010 | 11:40 am
My guess will be that he won’t even be able to collect the signatures necessary to get it on the ballot.
Wesley J. Smith Reply:
November 23rd, 2010 at 12:02 pm
Ken: Professional signature gatherers never fail if they have enough money.
November 23rd, 2010 | 5:56 pm
[...] on the CA Institute of Regenerative Medicine and their plans to ask CA for more stem cell money. Wesley Smith [...]
December 4th, 2010 | 3:25 am
Wesley,
Some of your various posts seem inherently contradictory. For example – you are clearly in favor of health insurance companies being required to spend ~$25,000 on Avastin that extends the life of a metastatic colon cancer patient by ~8 months, but are adamantly opposed to any CIRM funded research for POTENTIAL treatments for numerous disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injuries, and – yes – even cancer.
Do you have any idea how much it will cost for any human embryonic (or induced pluripotent) stem cell treatment for any disease IF (and that is a BIG IF) and when any treatment is developed that has any demonstrated therapeutic benefit? I can’t say because NO human embryonic (or induced pluripotent) stem cell treatment with clearly demonstrated efficacy has been developed to date. But I do know that adult bone marrow stem cell transplants cost about $150,000 per patient and these do NOT require first culturing and then producing precisely the right type of cells in a dish prior to transplant into the patient.
As a human embryonic (and induced pluripotent) stem cell researcher I am absolutely certain that any EVENTUAL embryonic (or induced pluripotent) stem cell treatment will cost far more than $25,000. I am guessing it may cost a minimum of TEN times more and only after all the details have been worked out as a result of decades of extensive (and expensive) research.
What if a human embryonic (or induced pluripotent) stem cell treatment is developed that extends life span by 8 months but costs ~$250,000 per patient? Would you be in favor or opposed to a requirement that health insurance companies pay for this human embryonic stem cell based therapy? And how will you deal with the uninsured? Would you be in favor or opposed to a requirement that the state (i.e. the taxpayers) pay $250,000 to provide this embryonic stem cell based treatment to any indigent and uninsured patient?
At this point you (or some of your readers) may be assuming that – as a stem cell researcher – I am all in favor of CIRM supported stem cell research as well as mandates that health insurance companies and the state pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for stem cell based treatments (IF developed), but you would be completely wrong. I think it is all a complete waste of money!
All NIH restrictions on human embryonic stem cell research have been lifted (and will remain lifted barring some new and unexpected court ruling). NIH has always been able to support adult stem cell research. Thus, any and all CIRM funded projects are eligible for NIH funding. If the projects were any good, then they would have received NIH funding. And many of the good projects already have NIH funding, which means that CIRM is just providing more money to those who already have plenty of funding (such as Irv Weismann) or CIRM is funding worthless projects (or both).
Can someone explain why CIRM is spending a lot of taxpayer’s dollars on research into stem cell based treatments for Type I diabetes in spite of the fact that INSULIN is a very effective and relatively inexpensive treatment for Type I diabetes? And please don’t tell me it is because Bob Klein’s kid suffers from Type I diabetes. Also – why does Medicare spend a bundle of taxpayer’s dollars treating elderly patients with Type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease, circulatory problems and knee and hip replacement surgeries that are result of the fact that these patients are almost ALL GROSSLY OVERWEIGHT? As a taxpayer, why should I be compelled to pay for any of this? For the amount of money we are now spending as a nation, we could easily provide free insulin for all Type I diabetics and lap band surgery for all the fat people with Type II diabetes.
You (or others) may now be assuming that I would be thinking very differently if I (or one of my loved ones) suffered from some debilitating, life threatening disease for which there is no effective treatment (let alone a cure). You would be completely wrong again. I have cancer. I have a type of terminal cancer for which there is no effective treatment or cure. Some patients with the same type of terminal cancer as I have clamored for (and received) Avastin (and/or other drugs) at a cost of ~$25,000 (or more) per year. I said NO to ALL DRUGS because – as a cancer stem cell researcher – I know for certain these drugs DO NOT WORK and they have terrible (and life threatening) side effects!
Maybe the drugs don’t work, but perhaps some CIRM funded stem cell therapy will CURE my terminal cancer? After all, CIRM has committed to spending ~$40,000,000 of CA state taxpayer’s money (double that if one counts the interest on the bond debt) to develop a stem cell treatment for my kind terminal cancer. Is it going to work? OF COURSE NOT! It doesn’t even work in mouse models! But these CIRM funded ‘researchers’ manipulated their experimental protocols in such a way to create the ILLUSION that their stem cell treatment works in mice. One might ask – how did they do that? Well … they give the mice only about 10,000 ‘cancer cells’ of which only a few will survive and eventually form a tumor in the mice but only if one waits a month or two, but they don’t wait two months for the tumor to actually develop in the mice – they wait only a FEW DAYS before ‘treating’ the mice with about 100,000 ‘therapeutic’ stem cells. In other words – they ‘CURED’ the mice of cancer by NEVER ALLOWING THE CANCER TO DEVELOP IN THE MICE IN THE FIRST PLACE! This is a BULLSHIT experiment (which means it is definitely worthy of CIRM funding)!
If Bob Klein comes back in a couple of years asking for $3 billion (actually $6 billion when one adds the interest) MORE in taxpayer funding for CIRM and IF I am still alive (and that is also a BIG IF), then he is going to have ME to contend with. And since I don’t know if I will be alive in a few years, I decided I had to get this information out now (so please disseminate).
If one really wants to spend limited money wisely on health care, then the money should be spent on prevention and early detection. Remember – an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, bad things happen even to good people, and everyone dies of something eventually.
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