Buying BMWs and Grant Oversight

Revocation of three grants by the California stem cell agency has sparked a modest exchange of comments on TheScientist.com Web site.

Jef Akst wrote, on Nov. 16, about CIRM's grant oversight in an article headlined, “When does oversight overstep?”

Here is a sample from two comments.

Terry Iorns:

“I agree with others in the areas of be able to pursue serendipity and whether proper terms of oversight were apparent to the researcher, but I don't think getting the grant is a blank check to do any kind of research.

“I see no difference in using the funds to pursue unrelated research and using the funds to buy a BMW.”

Anand Rajan KD:

“'Taxpayer money' is just an euphemism for people to poke their nose into what is not their business in the first place. If at all - like the previous poster noted - there can be financial administrative oversight. You can look out for any scientist buying a BMW with his grant money, but if he is doing experiments with the money you gave him, where is the problem?”