With the Bush Administration keeping the federal government on the sidelines, other groups are jumping into the breach to set policies on the use of embryonic stem cells in research. On 27 February, a trial in Alameda County Superior Court was scheduled to address whether the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) violates the state constitution. CIRM is expected to prevail, but the inevitable appeals are likely to take at least a year, delaying the sale of bonds to raise the $3 billion specified in the state initiative passed in November 2004.
Meanwhile, on 10 February, CIRM's governing board adopted policies regulating egg acquisition and intellectual property that will eventually become state law. "We are becoming a surrogate for the U.S. in stem cell research," says institute president Zach Hall. Likewise, the National Academies has announced that it will form a permanent panel to offer up-to-date guidance to stem cell researchers. Funding from private sources will help it apply guidelines proposed in an April 2005 report.
