Californians voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to become the first American state to fund controversial embryonic stem-cell research that was effectively banned by President George Bush, United States media reported.
The emotionally and politically charged Proposition 71, which allows nearly $3-billion to be put aside for stem-cell research over 10 years, passed by 64% against 36% opposition, CNN reported, citing early poll results.
Supporters of the measure say the decision could help find cures to diseases including cancer, Aids, spinal-cord injuries, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease more quickly than had been expected.
They also claim that the measure will make California, already the US’s leading hub for biotech industries, a world hub of stem-cell research too.
Bush in 2001 effectively banned further federal funding for the science, citing the killing of human embryos that occurs in the process.
The California measure is seen as a way of circumventing federal blocks to embryonic stem-cell research and was backed by scientists, parents and Hollywood stars including Brad Pitt, the late Christopher Reeve and Michael J Fox.
The state’s movie-star Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, broke ranks with his Republican Party and backed the proposition on the issue on which Bush and Democratic presidential opponent John Kerry have been diametrically opposed.
In addition to the destruction of embryos, opponents of the law, including some top bioethicists, said Proposition 71 is a waste of money that cash-strapped California cannot afford to fritter away on scientific hopes that are, as yet, totally unproven.
”This is an amazing triumph,” Stanford University Medical Centre Professor Paul Berg said.
”This is assured funding for at least 10 years that will reassure scientists that this research is really moving forward in the US.
”It will make and enormous difference to science and there is an enormous amount we hope to be able to learn using human embryonic stem-cell cells,” he said. — Sapa-AFP