CIRM Study Says Stem Cell Grants Helping To Boost State’s Economy
On Thursday, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine is scheduled to release a report predicting that the research it has funded will help generate hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue and create thousands of jobs in California, the Sacramento Bee reports.
CIRM was created in 2004 after voters approved Proposition 71, which set aside $3 billion for stem cell research at universities and other research institutions in California. CIRM officials said the funds likely would be exhausted by the end of 2014.
Report Findings
CIRM commissioned the study to evaluate the economic effects of the $1.1 billion in stem cell research grants it has distributed since 2006. The report predicts that the funds will generate about 25,000 jobs and about $200 million in tax revenue through 2014.
The report also notes that:
- Grant recipients have raised nearly $844 million in matching funds from their donors and institutions; and
- Nearly 13,000 of the jobs expected to be created will be related to building construction (Smith, Sacramento Bee, 1/27).
Outside Experts Respond
Daniel Callahan -- president emeritus of the Hastings Center, a bioethical research institute -- said job creation does not necessarily mean the program has been successful because "the point of the program was to advance the research" (Darcé, San Diego Union-Tribune, 1/26).
Hank Greely -- director of Stanford University's Center for Law and the Biosciences -- said that it might be too early to fully determine the economic effect of CIRM's stem cell research grants (Sacramento Bee, 1/27).
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