John M. Simpson, stem cell project director for the FTCR, said today that it has received the cash from the Nathan Cummings Foundation for 2007. The money will go to FTCR's Stem Cell Oversight and Accountability Project, which was also funded by Cummings this year.
Simpson told the California Stem Cell Report:
"We've tried to be constructive critics of the California Institute For Regenerative Medicine as this important groundbreaking state agency got off the ground, holding its staff members and overseers to the highest level of transparency and accountability. With $6 billion of taxpayers' money at stake and with the agency's built-in, but legal conflicts of interest, we're gratified to be able to continue our work in behalf of all Californians to ensure they benefit from the research they are funding."The Cummings Foundation has a $500 million endowment that originated with Nathan Cummings, the late founder of the Sara Lee Corp. It has a wide range of activities including "humane health care."
Interestingly, the foundation's website quotes Nathan Cummings as saying:
"Nothing will ever be accomplished if all possible objections must first be overcome."Sounds like a motto for the stem cell agency as well.
I wonder if there is a way to get rid of the bureaucracy that seems to prevent research from moving along. I believe that Mr Cummings has a good point when he said, "Nothing will ever be accomplished if all possible objections must first be overcome." Don't get me wrong, I am completely behind regulations. Controls and policies must be put in place, but it should stop the research, rather keep it moving in the right direction.
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