Newsday has the most thorough analysis of the biggest stem cell story since Proposition 71 in California: New York is pushing toward a $100 million a year stem cell research program.
When you add that to the huge amount of scientific resource already available in New York, the state’s proximity to virtually every pharmaceutical company – and to Europe, the sheer amount of talent in biomedicine in New York, and the amount of money in New York (Wall Street, anyone?), the math is clear: New York is taking on California in the stem cell race. The debate in Albany figures to be among the most intense political battles in the state in many years. Among the bigger issues will be the budget – perhaps even more fierce than the ethics issue – as New Yorkers decide how to spend very scarce resources. But the lobbyists for stem cell research all around the east coast are converging on the legislature right now.