ABSTRACT
Once the California Stem Cell Research and Cures Act was passed and the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) was in place, promises made during the Prop 71 campaign were set aside. CIRM was not marked by successes but rather by cronyism, commercial prerogatives and conflicts of interests. For example, Chapter Four, “California Cloning: The Aftermath,” recounts the maneuvers to reverse one of the only protections set in place by Prop. 71, a prohibition on paying women for their eggs. The need for large numbers of eggs was dictated by the raison d’être of CIRM, obtaining stem cells from human embryos, an aspect downplayed by the advocates of Prop 71, but anticipated by its critics. In the space of a few years, despite troubling questions around the health consequences of ovarian stimulation for egg production, attempts were made to legalize paying women for their eggs, and “donors” were being solicited by centers associated with CIRM-funding. In addition, an alternative non-embryonic source of stem cells became available, i.e., induced pluripotent cells. The field generally adopted the alternative quickly, including most CIRM grant applicants. As such, the rationale for the institute as a funder of non-federally supportable research gradually dwindled. Assurances during the Prop 71 campaign that CIRM research goals would not include genetic modification of human embryos for full-term gestation were also forgotten as new genetic alteration techniques with enhanced accuracy, particularly using the CRISPR/Cas9 methodology, came into wide use.
