New Jersey Plans $10.5M In Stem Cell Research Funding
Related News: Stem Cells and GovernmentActing New Jersey Gov. Richard J. Codey, announced that the state will spend $10.5 million for stem-cell research. He went further saying that the funding will help attract top scientists to New Jersey to heal the afflicted.
"We are providing hope to people who suffer," said Codey, gesturing toward the patients at the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in his hometown.
Codey stated that the $10.5 million already exists in this year's state budget, with $5.5 million earmarked for the Stem Cell Institute of New Jersey in New Brunswick. The goal is the funding is to help recruit and support scientists and $5 million going to pay for competitive research grants.
"We are pursuing an opportunity to save lives. I can think of no better investment than that," said Codey. "Grants will be awarded based on science and not politics."
A number of the programs seeking grants have come under some criticism for seeming to favor municipalities and agencies in Democratic districts.
Marie Tasy, executive director of New Jersey Right to Life, noted the Stem Cell Institute is administered partly by the University of Medicine and Dentistry, or UMDNJ, which is under investigation for awarding contracts to the politically connected.
"It's unconscionable that the acting governor is using taxpayer money to provide for unethical research, and to an institute currently under investigation by the FBI for financial mismanagement," Tasy said.
Tasy and other opponents of the research say taking cells from embryos kills human life.
Posted on August 5, 2005 06:06 PM