The San Francisco Examiner reports on lawsuits launched in opposition to embryonic stem cell research and the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). "Though the objections are related to fiscal oversight, the groups are represented by the Life Legal Defense Fund, which morally objects to embryonic stem cell research because days-old human embryos must be destroyed to collect the cells. State officials have insisted that the two suits have no merit but admit that they cannot borrow any funding while they are pending. ... if there is no way to approve bonds with the suits pending, the state [should] consider asking nonprofits to advance as much as $100 million." A "days-old human embryo" being an undifferentiated spherical clump of a hundred cells, of course, essentially the same as skin flakes shed every day.
Link: http://www.sfexaminer.com/articles/2005/05/09/news/20050509_ne01_stemcell.txt