In "Research Funding via Direct Democracy: Is It Good for Science?" (Issues, Summer 2008), Donna Gerardi Riordan provides a timely, cogent case study of the "be careful what you wish for" brand of risk-taking that comes with merging science funding with populist politics. The California Stem Cell Research and Cures Bond Act of 2004 (Proposition 71) is probably not, in toto, good for science. The ends (more funding) can not justify the means (hype masquerading as hope). No good comes when science sacrifices honesty for expediency. Beyond doubt, the language usedrnto sell Proposition 71 promises more than science can hope to deliver. What is hard to understand is what made many of the parties involved say some of the things that were said. One can understand the anguish motivating those who have or whose loved ones have untreatable illnesses to bet on the promises of embryonic stem cell research, particularly when federal funds are limited. This new area of biology deserves to be explored, even if the ultimate aims of such research remain unproven and unpredictable at this time. Indeed, the United States has a rich history of private dollars, dispersed by individuals, charities, and voluntary health organizations, funding controversial and unpopular research that the federal government cannot or will not support. Economic development and higher-education infrastructure are traditional investments for state coffers. But Proposition 71 seems a horse of a different color. Riordan's analysis of it rightly focuses our attention on an important question: Is it a good thing that a deliberate decision was made to circumvent the usual processes by which sciences gets funded and states decide investment priorities?
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