The Sacramento Bee says conflict of
interest problems continue to trouble the California stem cell agency
despite its assertions that it has “turned a page” on the issues.
In an editorial Saturday, The Bee said
that CIRM Chairman Jonathan Thomas “has vowed to be aggressive in
avoiding conflicts in dispersing millions of public dollars for stem
cell research. Yet serious conflicts continue to be
revealed involving CIRM.”
The Bee cited articles on the
California Stem Cell Report earlier this month about a $21,630 gift
by its former chairman, Robert Klein, and the employment by Klein of
Vice Chairman Art Torres. The Bee said the situation “throws
into question a $20 million grant awarded last year to StemCells
Inc., a company that wants to transplant neural stem
cells to treat Alzheimer's
disease.” (See here, here and here)
The Bee also cited the case of Lee
Hood, an internationally renown scientist who violated the agency's conflict of interest policy. Hood failed to disclose to CIRM a
conflict involving an application that he was reviewing on behalf of
the agency. The Bee said the agency's failure to detect the conflict
was “serious oversight."
Eight readers commented on the
editorial and agency, generally unfavorably about CIRM.
But reader “bchild” said,
“It took a couple years for them to start funding projects and it may take years to see results. Wall Street got 1.5 trillion and the promise of 10x that if they get into trouble again, the scientists (and their business buds) just want a couple billion...In the end who do you trust more with public money? At least there is the appearance of public benefit here..."The Bee concluded,
“None of this helps CIRM's reputation in being fair and impartial in spending $3 billion in public funds. It surely won't help the institute's standing with the Legislature and the public, should it need help staying in operation when its funding is exhausted in a few years.”The editorial was also carried by at least one other paper in the McClatchy chain.
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