ABSTRACT
Chapter 3, “California Cloning: The Campaign,” offers an in-depth examination of the biotech juggernaut at work, relating how political dynamics surrounding some of the technologies discussed in Chapter 2 affected events centered in California, a roiling epicenter of biotech financing, research, and development. We recount the passage of the 2004 California Stem Cell Research and Cures Act, which created the powerful and highly controversial publicly funded California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). The impetus for CIRM was the prohibition by the U.S. government on generating stem cells from human embryos, which promoters sought to circumvent by the use of funds collected through State taxation. This case study offers an opportunity to examine troubling practices adopted by bioentrepreneurs in an overzealous promotion of the controversial initiative, “Proposition 71.” These practices included redefining terms to avoid public recognition of contentious aspects (e.g., Prop 71’s prioritization of cloning technology, camouflaging controversies behind scientific jargon, hyping the promise and possibilities for patented applications, and bringing legal action to silence critics of the Proposition.
