Human Cloning Foundation Hails New Jersey Initiatives to Support Stem Cell Research

The Human Cloning Foundation noted significant initiatives that the state of New Jersey is taking in the area of stem cell research, including a $380 million fund for further study into this medical technology that state officials say carries "the possibility of ending human suffering."
"New Jersey has made a careful study of the economic and, more importantly, the medical contributions that stem cell research can accrue for the state," said HCF spokesman David Madrigal, "and the results are very encouraging."
The proposed stem cell research initiative, proposed by acting Governor Richard J. Codey two years ago, includes $150 million in unused bond capacity to build a stem cell institute, and depends on the Legislature approving a $230 million bond referendum next year to fund research grants.
Rutgers University economist Joseph J. Seneca, who prepared a study for Governor Codey, said the initiative would provide New Jersey with nearly $72 million in tax and royalty revenues from intellectual property, 20,000 new jobs in the biotechnology industry and $1.4 billion in "new economic activity" over 20 years and "has the potential to become the 21st century version" of what Bell Laboratories meant to New Jersey in the past century
Governor Codey told NorthJersey.com that the initiative is "at the top of my agenda," and offers "the opportunity, very simply, to save lives."
Madrigal said that in response to a second Senate bill introduced by Senator Orrin Hatch to permit federal taxpayer financing of therapeutic cloning studies, a handful of states, most notably California, are taking steps towards funding embryonic stem cell research.
All recent polls show that a large majority of Americans favor using their federal tax funds to support expansion of embryonic stem cell research, said Madrigal.
Contact: David Madrigal, Human Cloning Foundation
www.HumanCloning.org
HumanCloning.David@gmail.com