Stem-cell research to prosper in near future

Researchers anticipate a major recruiting effort and construction boom as California's new stem-cell experiment gets under way, creating what amounts to an independent West Coast version of the National Institutes of Health.

"This will be just like the NIH -- it will be like a mini-NIH," said Dr. Evan Snyder, a stem-cell researcher and Prop. 71 backer at the Burnham Institute in San Diego.

Known as the "California Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative," the ballot measure, which provides $3 billion in state financing for stem-cell research, won by a comfortable 59 to 41 percent in Tuesday's statewide balloting, informs San Francisco Chronicle.

According to Indian Express, research involving &to=http://english.pravda.ru/main/18/90/364/10920_clone.html?2' target=_blank>stem cells taken from human embryos has won support across political and ideological lines, and a measure to spend $3 billion on the new science passed in a California ballot measure on Tuesday.

Supporters also say they have enough votes in both the House of Representatives and the Senate to pass legislation to encourage the research on a federal level, despite clear opposition from Bush, who has severely restricted the use of federal funds for such work.