Ballot Questions

[Libyan Sibyl]

Vote NO! NJ is in a bad financial situation. Anything that has to do with money, just vote no.

I know they tried to pull heart strings with the stem cell funding, but NJ is home to some great pharmaceutical companies and if there was a simple solution they, and the market in general, would be on top of it.

The NJ legislature needs to take care of spending and the budget - not pledging out more money. VOTE NO!

[stffgpr2003]

Vote NO! NJ is in a bad financial situation. Anything that has to do with money, just vote no.

Personally, I have to agree.

Marc

[admin]

I agree, vote no down the line. New Jersey has too much to do besides open space. Who needs more parks anyway? The state can not take care of what it has now.

New Jersey cannot pay my pension, they really should not be taking out questionable loans for something that is better dealt with in the private sector.

The sales tax question is also lame. They need to cut spending, not play smoke and mirrors with tax collection.

[novillero]

admin said:

I agree, vote no down the line. New Jersey has too much to do besides open space. Who needs more parks anyway? The state can not take care of what it has now.

New Jersey cannot pay my pension, they really should not be taking out questionable loans for something that is better dealt with in the private sector.

The sales tax question is also lame. They need to cut spending, not play smoke and mirrors with tax collection.

I agree with the vote no stance. And any question you don't understand upon the first reading, you should be wary of.

[Libyan Sibyl]

novillero said:

admin said:

I agree, vote no down the line. New Jersey has too much to do besides open space. Who needs more parks anyway? The state can not take care of what it has now.

New Jersey cannot pay my pension, they really should not be taking out questionable loans for something that is better dealt with in the private sector.

The sales tax question is also lame. They need to cut spending, not play smoke and mirrors with tax collection.

I agree with the vote no stance. And any question you don't understand upon the first reading, you should be wary of.

I don't think they were written to be understood.

[Libyan Sibyl]

It was historic that 2 ballot questions were rejected - especially the stem cell as that was put forth as a question of emotion and morals rather than a real ballot question.

So, the people have spoken, and no doubt sent a message about spending in this state. Did they hear it? No, Codey is already planning on getting the stem cell ballot question back on next year or the year after.

[richardkelsey]

libyansybil said:

It was historic that 2 ballot questions were rejected - especially the stem cell as that was put forth as a question of emotion and morals rather than a real ballot question.

So, the people have spoken, and no doubt sent a message about spending in this state. Did they hear it? No, Codey is already planning on getting the stem cell ballot question back on next year or the year after.

It is amazing to me that new Jersey wanted to borrow 450 Million dollars to finance stem cell research. Wow.

My brother and I spoke yesterday and he told me that he went to his job site imploring his younger workers on the construction site to vote and get invloved. One told him he didn't know anythign about the issues. My brother gave him the following tip --- which sums it up succinctly.

"If the question has numbers in it -- its a tax increase." LOL

[Libyan Sibyl]

richardkelsey said:

"If the question has numbers in it -- its a tax increase." LOL

Rich, it would be funny if it wasn't true. A story from NJ.com about the election

Voters tell Trenton to slow down on borrowing
by Matt Reilly
Wednesday November 07, 2007, 4:54 AM
New Jersey voters may have allowed Democrats to retain control of the state Legislature in Tuesday's elections, but they are sending them back to Trenton with a clear message: slow down on the borrowing.

In rejecting a plan to borrow $450 million to fund stem cell research, voters gave Democrats a harsh review of their fiscal stewardship of the state. The vote also signals "asset monetization" - Gov. Jon Corzine's plan to sell or lease state roads to finance other spending - may be in serious trouble even before he unveils the details to the public.

"Jon Corzine campaigned for three things this year," New Jersey Republican State Chairman Tom Wilson said, referring to two defeated candidates for state Senate and the stem cell question. "All three lost. Monetization should be a dead on arrival."

Corzine spokeswoman Lilo Stainton had a more positive take on the results.

"Walk first, then run," she said. "That seems to be the theme of this election. The public understands the state has serious financial problems that must be dealt with first."

Before the new Legislature is sworn in this January, the current membership will have a "lame duck" session of about two months during to address issues. It's uncertain whether the asset monetization plan will come up during the session, but there is enough other unfinished business to keep lawmakers busy.

Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts (D-Camden) said one item of business left over from the special legislative session on property tax relief, which began in the summer of 2006 and spilled into this year, is revising the formula for providing state aid to local school districts. It might get done in the lame duck session.

"School funding needs to be in place by mid-February," Roberts said. "There is a distinct possibility we might take action on that in the post-election session."

The Democrats will retain control of the Legislature despite Tuesday's defeat of freshman Sen. Ellen Karcher (D-Monmouth).

Karcher lost to Republican Assemblywoman Jennifer Beck, but victories in South Jersey will give the Democrats a net gain of one seat in the Senate, meaning they will now have a 23-17 advantage in the upper house.

"It's kind of a mixed message," Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex) said. "That's the message. You've got to get your house in order. The voters said we want Dems, but we want them to solve this fiscal problem."

Although the ballot questions on stem cell research and property tax relief were unrelated, opponents successfully framed them as a referendum on the state's financial health. Two other questions - on open space preservation and removal of offensive language from the state constitution - were approved.

The stem cell question was the most controversial. The money would have paid for research by universities and private entities on stem cells, which can be developed into various tissues. Supporters had argued the research could help cure illnesses like Lou Gehrig's disease and mend spinal cord injuries. Opponents said the research would focus on embryonic stem cells and result in the destruction of human embryos, or in cloning.

"People are saying enough is enough with the borrowing, and that we shouldn't be venturing into highly risky business ventures," said Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan, who campaigned against all four ballot questions.

The state's two top Democrats - Gov. Jon Corzine and Codey - endorsed the $450 million bond issue for stem cell research.

"That's disappointing obviously," Codey said of the stem cell question. "I was starting to feel the opponents were getting a lot of publicity in the press and I spent $100,000 of my own campaign money on radio spots with a victim of a spinal cord injury. It's a loss for the state, and more importantly, a loss for mankind."

Voters did approve a referendum to authorize the borrowing of $200 million for open space preservation and another question that would change the state constitution to remove the words "idiot" and "insane" from a section of the state constitution that deals with voting.

The Karcher-Beck race in the 12th District went down to the wire as both parties sought to get their supporters to the polls.

Karcher won the traditionally Republican district for the Democrats in 2003 by defeating Sen. John O. Bennett, who at the time was the top-ranking Republican in the state. Karcher portrayed herself as a reformer and Bennett as a Statehouse insider who padded his pension and put relatives on his legislative payroll.

"I know that I did my absolute best," Karcher told supporters Tuesday night at the Holiday Inn in Tinton Falls, as she conceded about 10:20 p.m. "It has been my pleasure to serve, I'm honored to have been able to serve. I'm honored to have been a Democrat."At the Southgate Manor in Freehold, Beck thanked jubilant supporters.

"It is my honor to be called your state senator," Beck said. "In the face of enormous odds, when the challenge seemed so great, I still felt from each and every one of you (the) ability to succeed."

For the Democrats, the loss of Karcher's seat was offset by the victories of Assemblyman Jim Whelan (D-Atlantic) over Sen. James Sonny McCullough (R-Atlantic) in the 2nd Legislative District and Assemblyman Jeff Van Drew (D-Cape May), who beat Sen. Nicholas Asselta (R-Cumberland) to become the first Democratic senator from the 1st Legislative District in 70 years.

McCullough was appointed in February after veteran GOP Sen. William Gormley resigned. Whelan becomes the first Democrat to hold the Senate seat since 1982.

Asselta conceded to Van Drew, saying, "The extensive amount of money sent down from Hudson County and Essex County and, of course, Camden County to influence races has hit the 1st District, and unfortunately we were the brunt of that."

This year also saw a third of incumbent senators either retire or resign, creating an unusual opportunity for Assembly members to advance to the upper house.

Republican incumbents Christopher Kip Bateman (R-Somerset), Joe Pennachio (R-Mercer), Sean Kean (R-Monmouth), Bill Baroni (R-Mercer), Kevin OToole (R-Bergen) and Christopher Connors (R-Ocean) all won Senate seats held by Republicans. Connors will assume the seat his father, Sen. Leonard Connors (R-Ocean), held for eight terms.

Assemblymen Brian Stack (D-Hudson) and Robert Gordon (D-Bergen) won Senate seats in safe Democratic districts.

In the solidly Republican 24th District, Sussex County Freeholder Steven Oroho won the Senate seat held by Robert Littell, whose 40 years in Trenton make him the longest serving lawmaker in state history.

[Libyan Sibyl]

What I didn't know about the stem cell affair, is that our fair legislature had already expected the ballot question to pass and have been planning building facilities in anticipation of an easy pass with the people. THey have broken ground at one already. They just don't get it, adn they vow to keep spending and vow to bring the issue back despite having a huge budget deficit (and a very poor bond rating).

The day voters closed their wallets
Stem cell advocates to look for funds elsewhere Thursday, November 08, 2007
BY KITTA MacPHERSON
Star-Ledger Staff
Those who share a vision of New Jersey as a world-class center of stem cell research were reeling yesterday from voters' rejection of a $450 million bond issue to fund their work, but said they are determined to move forward.

"We must not give up," said Wise Young, a Rutgers University neuroscientist who is trying to cure spinal cord injuries with stem cells derived from umbilical cord blood. "We have our work cut out for us."

Gov. Jon Corzine, a strong supporter of the research for its possibilities for economic development as well as its medical potential, said yesterday he would reach out to the private sector for financial support and consider another ballot measure.

"I suspect, based on at least the numbers I've seen from the broad population across the state of New Jersey, there's still a favorable view about stem cell research," Corzine said at a noon press conference. "I do expect that we will be able to find additional dollars in the private sector and our research institutions associated with this center, so I think we can go forward with that."

The $450 million to have been raised through the sale of bonds would have supported both adult and embryonic stem cell research over 10 years, with $45 million disbursed each year. Individual researchers from throughout the state would have applied in a grant competition mediated by an out-of-state peer review panel.

The funds also would have paid the salaries for a director of the state's centerpiece effort, the Stem Cell Institute of New Jersey in New Brunswick, and research teams focusing on embryonic stem cells. The idea was to build up the state's expertise in that arena.

Officials at Rutgers University and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, which plan to share management of the center, said they will continue recruiting efforts and construction.

"This is certainly going to set us back, and we're hopeful that perhaps some interim support could be obtained that would allow us to continue the interviewing process," said Philip Furmanski, executive vice president of academic affairs at Rutgers.

Officials last month broke ground on the structure, named the Christopher Reeve Pavilion after the late "Superman" actor who was paralyzed in an accident.

State legislators allocated $270 million last year to build the New Brunswick center and four other facilities. The Reeve Pavilion and a stem cell center to be built near Rutgers-Camden have been slotted to receive $150 million and $50 million for construction, respectively.
The remaining $70 million is to go for different purposes: $50 million for a "pilot plant" at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark that will perfect transforming experimental adult stem cells into commercial products; $10 million to Community Blood Services in Paramus for an Allendale facility to process stem cells from umbilical cord blood; and $10 million to the Garden State Cancer Center in Belleville for stem cell treatments.

The NJIT facility on Warren Street is in its early design phases, said Donald Sebastian, the university's senior vice president of research and development. The university will break ground on the project next spring.

"We'll keep doing it," Sebastian said, "it's just going to happen more slowly." And plans are under way to build the South Jersey facility, to be shared by Rutgers, UMDNJ and the Coriell Institute.

Kathleen Scotto, vice president of research at UMDNJ, said her institution would seek "as many opportunities for funding as we can" from foundations and the state.

"I look at this as a temporary disappointment," Scotto said. "The state and its leadership will continue to come through for us."

Steve Lonegan, the Bogota mayor and leader of the conservative group Americans for Prosperity, said he would support Corzine's efforts to seek private funding.

Another activist said she, like Lonegan, opposes new ballot questions on the matter.

"I would think it would be very foolish for the Legislature at this juncture to move forward with their measure again," said Marie Tasy, executive director of New Jersey Right to Life.

At least one legislator had a different view.

"It's not about 'not listening,'" said Assemblyman Neil Cohen (D-Union), who plans to push for another bond issue and will work with other legislative leaders to seek funds in the state budget.

"We're not going to stop. It took Lyndon Johnson 10 years to pass the Civil Rights Act."



Staff writer Deborah Howlett contributed to this report. Kitta MacPherson may be reached at [phone] or [e-mail].

[Libyan Sibyl]

What is very interesting is that the stem cell facility groundbreaking was last week - at Rutgers. More interesting, the one study (and the only study I have read about), which states that stem cell research will be a major financial boon for the state, was conducted by none other than Rutgers University. So, take it with a grain of salt on their projected figures.

Rallying Around Funds For Stem Cell Research A conference of advocates of the science calls this week’s ballot a crucial test
Thomas Gaudio
Health Care/Life Sciences/Manufacturing/Technology
11/5/2007

NEW BRUNSWICK
Stem cell science in New Jersey would be crippled if the $450 million bond act to fund research in the emerging industry is defeated by voters in this week’s election.

So say proponents who met last week at the Hyatt in New Brunswick for a conference on human stem-cell research. About 300 people attended the symposium sponsored by the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology (NJCST).

State Senate President Richard Codey, a stem-cell research advocate, says it would be a “death knell” for the science in the Garden State if the bond act fails. New Jersey residents support the research but “not by a big majority,” he says.

Opponents of the measure include anti-abortion groups who object to harvesting stem cells from human embryos on the grounds that the procedure destroys the embryos. Such embryos are usually taken from fertility clinics that would otherwise discard the biological material, according to the NJCST. Other opponents say that debt-ridden New Jersey cannot afford the bond issue.

A New Jersey appeals court two weeks ago rejected a complaint from anti-abortion groups that sought to have the bond measure removed from the ballot.

Wise Young, director of the W.M. Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience at Rutgers University, says it would be “catastrophic” to stem-cell research in the state if the bond issue is voted down. But, at the same time, Young says New Jersey is “very committed” to the science and the state would eventually fund the research through taxes or other means if the bonds are not authorized.

He adds that the bond issue needs to pass by a wide margin to keep opponents from claiming a “moral victory.”

StemCyte Inc., an Arcadia, Calif.-based company that harvests and sells stem cells from umbilical cord blood, will be watching the vote closely, says David Carmel, StemCyte’s vice president for business development. The company is thinking of moving its headquarters to New Jersey and the vote’s results will play a factor in its decision, Carmel says. “We’re looking at the amount the state will invest in research and development to attract top talent,” he adds.

If approved by voters, New Jersey would sell $45 million worth of bonds annually for 10 years to provide grants for stem-cell research. Stem cells can grow into mature cells such as muscle, blood and bone during early development in humans and animals. Research has shown that stem cells can be scientifically coaxed into different cell types for use in repairing and regenerating damaged tissue.

New Jersey last year authorized $270 million for stem-cell research facilities in New Brunswick, Newark and Camden. Last month saw a ground-breaking ceremony in New Brunswick for the flagship Stem Cell Institute of New Jersey, a collaboration between Rutgers University and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

The combined $720 million of public outlays would yield nearly $2.2 billion of economic benefits for the state, including $1.6 billion in new private investment and more than $500 million of increased Gross Domestic Product, according to a report from the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University that Codey unveiled two weeks ago. “On a sustained basis, these kinds of [public] investments can make a significant difference in the attraction of private industry,” says Rutgers economist Joseph Seneca, the report’s author.

The bond issue would draw “more intellectual talent” to New Jersey and create more jobs here, says Richard Hariri, who heads Summit-based Celgene’s efforts to develop drugs through the use of human stem cells. It would be “somewhat tragic if the biopharmaceutical heartland of America” isn’t where the most promising stem-cell research is being done, says Hariri.

Human stem cells are found in umbilical cord blood, embryos, aborted fetuses and bone marrow.

Many scientists say research on embryonic stem cells has the greatest potential to develop treatments for conditions that include diabetes and spinal-cord injuries.

States are mostly on their own when it comes to stem-cell research involving human embryos. Federal money is limited to studies that use cultures created before August 2001.


www.njbiz.com/enews_article.asp?lID=90&sID=85&m1=70&m2=&cID=4&aID=636889602.4205744.940576.5758435.8897603.633&aID2=72343

[Libyan Sibyl]

THE NEVER ENDING STORY. They just won't give up. Voter opinion means nothing.

Stem-cell study foes to Corzine: Back off

Call for a halt to $270M plan
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 11/13/07
BY GREGORY J. VOLPE
GANNETT STATE BUREAU

NEW BRUNSWICK — Opponents of publicly funded embryonic stem-cell research called on Gov. Corzine to stop borrowing money to build research facilities after voters last week rejected a referendum to fund the science to be conducted there.

After a plan to borrow $450 million over 10 years for stem-cell research was defeated at the polls, Corzine and legislative leaders said they were going ahead with a separate, previously approved measure to borrow $270 million to build five stem-cell research facilities throughout the state.

Saying the defeat could be attributed to low voter turnout and a call to get the state's finances in order — not moral objections to stem-cell research — Corzine said last week that research could be funded in the budget, through private sources or by placing another borrowing question before the voters.

Leaders of New Jersey Right to Life and Americans for Prosperity, which campaigned against the $450 million ballot question, lambasted Corzine's decision Monday at a news conference held next to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, where the state is building the $150 million Stem Cell Institute of New Jersey.

"It's kind of silly to say we're going to build buildings and hope later that the voters will approve the spending to put people in the buildings," said Steve Lonegan, executive director of the anti-tax group Americans for Prosperity. "In fact, it's an outright insult to the taxpayers of this state. If we build it, they will come. Well they tried to build it and guess what? They're not coming."

Lonegan said his acti-vists are planning on calling the offices of Corzine and the state's legislative leaders today to urge them to stop construction, as well as mutual fund and portfolio managers to tell them not to invest in state bonds.

Corzine spokeswoman Lilo Stainton said Corzine and other state leaders remain committed to the research that offers promise for disease treatment and cure breakthroughs and opportunity to grow the state's economy.

"It's not a situation where people are going to turn their backs on this and walk away," Stainton said. "There's still a commitment to the cause."


www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071113/NEWS/711130319/1004/

[fiberisgoodforyou]

HELP ME UNDERSTAND?

NJ is the global headquarters, as well as being the US hub for most of the worlds largest Pharmaceutical Manufacturers. So why do the taxpayers need to be pinged on the Stem Cell research investment, rather than having the state issue incentives to Johnson $ Johnson, Pfizer, Schering Plough, Hoffman LaRoch, Bayer, etc.... for these Billion Dollar giants to STAY in NJ and invest in both Stem Cell and Nano Technology Research, in partnership with Princeton and Rutgers and Robert Wood Johnson Med Center?

What is this Governor thinking? Lets build on the fact that NJ has the Biggest and the Best Pharmaceutical global leaders all over the state, and we can attract the the Best and the Brightest to our universities.

And how about the unused LUCENT campus in Homdel as a hub for research, why does the state need to invest in a new building?

So instead of this socialist Governor becoming focused on affordable housing, how about this Governor invest in our people, and our education so that we all can elevate our incomes to afford the existing housing. Rather than turning the state of NJ into the cheap laborer state, how about The Garden State where PEOPLE GROW INTO SUCCESSES! IMO

Just a thought!

[fiberisgoodforyou]

Friday, March 09, 2007

The Pennsylvania-based general contractor on that huge expansion of union-leader Carla Katz's country house in Hunterdon County Corzine bought her is not using union labor. The contractor says Katz didn't ask for union labor on the 3,200-foot, $550,000 expansion that includes a swimming pool and spa. Katz denied that to the Star-Ledger but would not provide a copy of the contract to back up her denial. Perhaps Katz thought she could save money. Corzine said he forgave the loan on the farm house because she couldn't pay the mortgage but then she came up with $1.1 million to buy a condo in Corzine's building in Hoboken while the renovation with non-union labor was under way. Corzine hinted earlier he may have prepaid $22,000 a year to send Katz's kids to private school in Pennsylvania. Then yesterday when asked directly he said no. Did he realize how bad it looked for him to finance out-of-state private education for Katz's kids while opposing vouchers for regular folks to send their kids to school where they want? If he has no connection to the kids' schooling why would he even hypothesize about it?

bobingle.blogspot.com/

[richardkelsey]

libyansybil said:

What I didn't know about the stem cell affair, is that our fair legislature had already expected the ballot question to pass and have been planning building facilities in anticipation of an easy pass with the people. THey have broken ground at one already. They just don't get it, adn they vow to keep spending and vow to bring the issue back despite having a huge budget deficit (and a very poor bond rating).

The day voters closed their wallets
Stem cell advocates to look for funds elsewhere Thursday, November 08, 2007
BY KITTA MacPHERSON
Star-Ledger Staff
Those who share a vision of New Jersey as a world-class center of stem cell research were reeling yesterday from voters' rejection of a $450 million bond issue to fund their work, but said they are determined to move forward.

"We must not give up," said Wise Young, a Rutgers University neuroscientist who is trying to cure spinal cord injuries with stem cells derived from umbilical cord blood. "We have our work cut out for us."

Gov. Jon Corzine, a strong supporter of the research for its possibilities for economic development as well as its medical potential, said yesterday he would reach out to the private sector for financial support and consider another ballot measure.

"I suspect, based on at least the numbers I've seen from the broad population across the state of New Jersey, there's still a favorable view about stem cell research," Corzine said at a noon press conference. "I do expect that we will be able to find additional dollars in the private sector and our research institutions associated with this center, so I think we can go forward with that."

The $450 million to have been raised through the sale of bonds would have supported both adult and embryonic stem cell research over 10 years, with $45 million disbursed each year. Individual researchers from throughout the state would have applied in a grant competition mediated by an out-of-state peer review panel.

The funds also would have paid the salaries for a director of the state's centerpiece effort, the Stem Cell Institute of New Jersey in New Brunswick, and research teams focusing on embryonic stem cells. The idea was to build up the state's expertise in that arena.

Officials at Rutgers University and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, which plan to share management of the center, said they will continue recruiting efforts and construction.

"This is certainly going to set us back, and we're hopeful that perhaps some interim support could be obtained that would allow us to continue the interviewing process," said Philip Furmanski, executive vice president of academic affairs at Rutgers.

Officials last month broke ground on the structure, named the Christopher Reeve Pavilion after the late "Superman" actor who was paralyzed in an accident.

State legislators allocated $270 million last year to build the New Brunswick center and four other facilities. The Reeve Pavilion and a stem cell center to be built near Rutgers-Camden have been slotted to receive $150 million and $50 million for construction, respectively.
The remaining $70 million is to go for different purposes: $50 million for a "pilot plant" at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark that will perfect transforming experimental adult stem cells into commercial products; $10 million to Community Blood Services in Paramus for an Allendale facility to process stem cells from umbilical cord blood; and $10 million to the Garden State Cancer Center in Belleville for stem cell treatments.

The NJIT facility on Warren Street is in its early design phases, said Donald Sebastian, the university's senior vice president of research and development. The university will break ground on the project next spring.

"We'll keep doing it," Sebastian said, "it's just going to happen more slowly." And plans are under way to build the South Jersey facility, to be shared by Rutgers, UMDNJ and the Coriell Institute.

Kathleen Scotto, vice president of research at UMDNJ, said her institution would seek "as many opportunities for funding as we can" from foundations and the state.

"I look at this as a temporary disappointment," Scotto said. "The state and its leadership will continue to come through for us."

Steve Lonegan, the Bogota mayor and leader of the conservative group Americans for Prosperity, said he would support Corzine's efforts to seek private funding.

Another activist said she, like Lonegan, opposes new ballot questions on the matter.

"I would think it would be very foolish for the Legislature at this juncture to move forward with their measure again," said Marie Tasy, executive director of New Jersey Right to Life.

At least one legislator had a different view.

"It's not about 'not listening,'" said Assemblyman Neil Cohen (D-Union), who plans to push for another bond issue and will work with other legislative leaders to seek funds in the state budget.

"We're not going to stop. It took Lyndon Johnson 10 years to pass the Civil Rights Act."



Staff writer Deborah Howlett contributed to this report. Kitta MacPherson may be reached at [phone] or [e-mail].

apnews.myway.com/article/20071120/D8T1GFGG0.html




Stem Cell Breakthrough Uses No Embryos


Email this Story

Nov 20, 11:11 AM (ET)

By MALCOLM RITTER

NEW YORK (AP) - Scientists have made ordinary human skin cells take on the chameleon-like powers of embryonic stem cells, a startling breakthrough that might someday deliver the medical payoffs of embryo cloning without the controversy.

Laboratory teams on two continents report success in a pair of landmark papers released Tuesday. It's a neck-and-neck finish to a race that made headlines five months ago, when scientists announced that the feat had been accomplished in mice.

The "direct reprogramming" technique avoids the swarm of ethical, political and practical obstacles that have stymied attempts to produce human stem cells by cloning embryos.

Scientists familiar with the work said scientific questions remain and that it's still important to pursue the cloning strategy, but that the new work is a major coup.

"This work represents a tremendous scientific milestone - the biological equivalent of the Wright Brothers' first airplane," said Dr. Robert Lanza, chief science officer of Advanced Cell Technology, which has been trying to extract stem cells from cloned human embryos.

"It's a bit like learning how to turn lead into gold," said Lanza, while cautioning that the work is far from providing medical payoffs.

"It's a huge deal," agreed Rudolf Jaenisch, a prominent stem cell scientist at the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, Mass. "You have the proof of principle that you can do it."

There is a catch. At this point, the technique requires disrupting the DNA of the skin cells, which creates the potential for developing cancer. So it would be unacceptable for the most touted use of embryonic cells: creating transplant tissue that in theory could be used to treat diseases like diabetes, Parkinson's, and spinal cord injury.

But the DNA disruption is just a byproduct of the technique, and experts said they believe it can be avoided.

The new work is being published online by two journals, Cell and Science. The Cell paper is from a team led by Dr. Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University; the Science paper is from a team led by Junying Yu, working in the lab of in stem-cell pioneer James Thomson of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Both reported creating cells that behaved like stem cells in a series of lab tests.

Thomson, 48, made headlines in 1998 when he announced that his team had isolated human embryonic stem cells.

Yamanaka gained scientific notice in 2006 by reporting that direct reprogramming in mice had produced cells resembling embryonic stem cells, although with significant differences. In June, his group and two others announced they'd created mouse cells that were virtually indistinguishable from stem cells.

For the new work, the two men chose different cell types from a tissue supplier. Yamanaka reprogrammed skin cells from the face of an unidentified 36-year-old woman, and Thomson's team worked with foreskin cells from a newborn. Thomson, who was working his way from embryonic to fetal to adult cells, said he's still analyzing his results with adult cells.

Both labs did basically the same thing. Each used viruses to ferry four genes into the skin cells. These particular genes were known to turn other genes on and off, but just how they produced cells that mimic embryonic stem cells is a mystery.

"People didn't know it would be this easy," Thomson said. "Thousands of labs in the United States can do this, basically tomorrow."

The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, which holds three patents for Thomson's work, is applying for patents involving his new research, a spokeswoman said. Two of the four genes he used were different from Yamanaka's recipe.

Scientists prize embryonic stem cells because they can turn into virtually any kind of cell in the body. The cloning approach - which has worked so far only in mice and monkeys - should be able to produce stem cells that genetically match the person who donates body cells for cloning.

That means tissue made from the cells should be transplantable into that person without fear of rejection. Scientists emphasize that any such payoff would be well in the future, and that the more immediate medical benefits would come from basic research in the lab.

In fact, many scientists say the cloning technique has proven too expensive and cumbersome in its current form to produce stem cells routinely for transplants.

The new work shows that the direct reprogramming technique can also produce versatile cells that are genetically matched to a person. But it avoids several problems that have bedeviled the cloning approach.

For one thing, it doesn't require a supply of unfertilized human eggs, which are hard to obtain for research and subjects the women donating them to a surgical procedure. Using eggs also raises the ethical questions of whether women should be paid for them.

In cloning, those eggs are used to make embryos from which stem cells are harvested. But that destroys the embryos, which has led to political opposition from President Bush, the Roman Catholic church and others.

Those were "show-stopping ethical problems," said Laurie Zoloth, director of Northwestern University's Center for Bioethics, Science and Society.

The new work, she said, "redefines the ethical terrain."

Richard Doerflinger, deputy director of pro-life activities for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, called the new work "a very significant breakthrough in finding morally unproblematic alternatives to cloning. ... I think this is something that would be readily acceptable to Catholics."

Another advantage of direct reprogramming is that it would qualify for federal research funding, unlike projects that seek to extract stem cells from human embryos, noted Doug Melton, co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute.

Still, scientific questions remain about the cells produced by direct reprogramming, called "iPS" cells. One is how the cells compare to embryonic stem cells in their behavior and potential. Yamanaka said his work detected differences in gene activity.

If they're different, iPS cells might prove better for some scientific uses and cloned stem cells preferable for other uses. Scientists want to study the roots of genetic disease and screen potential drug treatments in their laboratories, for example.

Scottish researcher Ian Wilmut, famous for his role in cloning Dolly the sheep a decade ago, told London's Daily Telegraph that he is giving up the cloning approach to produce stem cells and plans to pursue direct reprogramming instead.

Other scientists said it's too early for the field to follow Wilmut's lead. Cloning embryos to produce stem cells remains too valuable as a research tool, Jaenisch said.

Dr. George Daley of the Harvard institute, who said his own lab has also achieved direct reprogramming of human cells, said it's not clear how long it will take to get around the cancer risk problem. Nor is it clear just how direct reprogramming works, or whether that approach mimics what happens in cloning, he noted.

So the cloning approach still has much to offer, he said.

Daley, who's president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, said his lab is pursuing both strategies.

"We'll see, ultimately, which one works and which one is more practical."

[novillero]

I saw a similar story on this too. There is also adult stem cells which gets little press, and of course, I am sure something in the rain forest would cure all those diseases too...

[Libyan Sibyl]

Rutgers, where the stem cell research is being built and who did the study saying that stem cell research will make the state money, coincidentally also makes money from research technologies...

Not that I am against Rutgers making money, but I am against them using more state funds to try to do it (remember that if the results on stem cell research were guaranteed, every major pharmaceutical company would not need government funds - they'd simply do it now hopefully before every other company did it).

www.njbiz.com/enews_article.asp?lID=92&sID=85&m1=108&m2=&cID=3&aID=97693598.1750559.943839.2179164.4969888.874&aID2=72594

[adefonzo]

Stem cell research is something that I admittedly know little about...but from what I have heard and read, it is something that I have a rather solid opinion on...

It seems to me that if we, as the human race, can explore ways to cure illnesses, help those with physical disabilities, or whatever else stem cell research can produce...then we should continue to explore those avenues. I do not back the idea of harvesting these stem cells or using some of the more questionable techniques in order to obtain them (that's a whole topic for another thread), but there are certainly situations and methods that can be used (from my limited research) to do minimal damage in order to obtain them, and so we should continue to do the research.

I know there are those who say that these illnesses or defects that stem cell research may someday help to deal with, they are meant to be. Perhaps you feel it's some sort of message from God, or whatever you want to believe...but if it were me, and I was given the choice between dying of some horrible, debilitating disease, or accepting a cure and continuing to live my life...I choose life - after all, isn't that supposed to be one of God's greatest gifts to us?

Now...having said all this...there is no way that I think the government of the United States, or any facet thereof should be getting involved with funding this research. The Medical field is probably the richest professional field there is. The Medical field receives billions of dollars in donations year after year after year. There is no way that the medical field could not support the research of stem cells on their own.

Just as a brief example...I work in construction...and I know that there are a number of medical research facilities and hospitals in the city that own several apartment buildings, which they then rent the apartments out to the researchers and doctors for little to no money at all. How do they pay for this? Donations!!

The medical field does not need taxpayer money to fund stem cell research...they want it because it takes less out of their pockets.

[fiberisgoodforyou]

again...
Aventis
Johnson&Johnson
Merck
Novartis
Pharmacia
Schering-Plough
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company
GlaxoSmithKline
Hoffmann-La Roche
Janssen Pharmaceutica
Schein Pharmaceutical, Inc.,
Wyeth

AGAIN...With sooo many pharmaceuticals in NJ, why are the Tax Payers asked to finance this research? New Jersey is not the Soviet Union, give these companies a tax incentive to perform R&D and for keeping development and manufacturing here in NJ. Give the "market" incentive to develop and grow,and do not burden citizen taxpayers and homeowners with even more unfounded un-needed government spending, especially when the there is no money to begin with!