CIRM Denies It Was Prompted to Release Economic Study

The California stem cell agency today said that it was not prompted to release publicly a $50,000 economic impact study concerning CIRM as the result of an inquiry from the California Stem Cell Report.

Don Gibbons, chief communications officer for the agency, said in a one-sentence email to us,

"You have quite the ego, writing not once, but twice, that you prompted us to post the Analysis Group report, which is not true."

Gibbons did not explain why the report, which was originally scheduled to be released last January, was posted on the CIRM website one day after we inquired about its whereabouts. We attempted to email him several times this morning, seeking an explanation. However, our emails are being rejected by the CIRM email system. Our presumption is that there is some sort of technical glitch involving emails that are being sent via a satellite link from Mexico.

So this posting also serves as a request to CIRM for an elaboration on the reasons for the delays in releasing the Analysis Group report.

We have additionally asked the Analysis Group if it has any comments on the two items that were posted on Wednesday concerning its work. If they do, we will carry their comments verbatim.