More Scientists Leave USA To Do Stem Cell Research — Human Cloning Foundation

The Human Cloning Foundation today lamented the fact that many of the USA's top scientists are moving to other countries because of restrictive policies governing stem cell research in America.

"The lack of federal funding and a dearth of legislation supporting stem cell research have been major roadblocks preventing the development of stem cell research here," said HCF spokesman David Madrigal. "As a result, many of our best scientific minds in the field have decided to pursue their research in other countries."

Madrigal cited the case of Neal Copeland and Nancy Jenkins, two government biologists recruited by Stanford University, who decided to work instead in Singapore because, the Associated Press notes, "they will face fewer restrictions on stem cell research overseas."

Copeland and Jenkins, a married couple who work as geneticists for the National Cancer Institute in Maryland, gained fame in their field for discovering a way to accelerate the identification of cancer-causing genes in mice.

The Associated Press reported that the couple's discoveries would first be patented and used in Singapore.

The couple told the Associated Press that they "are concerned about delays in the allocation of $3 billion set aside by a California ballot measure approved in 2004."

"It is a loss for Stanford and a loss for America," Irving Weissman, director of Stanford's Institute for Cancer and Stem Cell Biology and Medicine told the Associated Press. "Without a doubt, they are the best people I know to find out which genes are altered to cause cancer."