State Funding And Stem Cell Research
A rather wonkish piece from Chemical & Engineering News looks at likely prospects for the future of public funding of stem cell research in the US. As is true of most such articles, private funding - the majority of medical research funding over the long term - is not discussed. "The genesis of this complex picture is a federal policy that only allows federal funding of research on [human embryonic stem cell] lines derived before Aug. 9, 2001. Of the initial 78 lines covered by this policy, only 22 lines are currently viable. This number is a sharp contrast to the more than 150 lines that have been derived since the policy was announced and are prohibited from study with federal funds." In fact, none of those 22 lines are viable for research - all are contaminated.
Link: http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/83/i12/8312stemcells.html