Thursday, June 02, 2005

SCA13 Delayed, SB18 Advances to Assembly

Legislation requiring a performance audit of the California stem cell agency and creating protection for egg donors swept through the Senate on a 37-0 vote. However, a vote has been delayed at least until sometime next week on SCA13, the measure to tighten oversight of the agency.

The audit measure, SB18 by Sens. Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento, and George Runner, R-Antelope Valley, would require the State Auditor to conduct a performance audit of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine and the Independent Citizen’s Oversight Committee. The first audit report would be due to the Legislature by June 30, 2006.

The bill also would restore patient protections for egg and embryo donors by: requiring physicians to provide donors with a written summary of health impacts associated with human oocyte production, requiring donors to give written consent before donating oocytes for purposes of research, placing limits on the sale or transfer of human oocytes or embryos and limiting compensation to women to encourage them to produce human oocytes for the purposes of medical research.

The bill encourages the ICOC to commission and undertake research into the health impacts of ovarian stimulation drugs used in assisted oocyte production, according to Ortiz' office.

It now goes to the Assembly for further consideration.

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