TimesUnion.com (Times Union, Albany), July 8, 2005, Friday

TimesUnion.com

Stem cell support less here, poll finds
Survey of New Yorkers suggests other states may be more favorable to publicly funded research
http://timesunion.com/AspStories/storyprint.asp?StoryID=377410

By WILLIAM KATES, Associated Press First published: Friday, July 8, 2005
ITHACA -- Nearly half of the New Yorkers polled by Cornell University researchers said they would support stem-cell research and would approve establishment of a state-funded institute dedicated to that purpose.
But the figure is far below the national average reported in other polls, and it suggests New York -- typically regarded as one of the nation's more progressive states and a leader in scientific and medical research -- will lag behind in any future development of stem-cell research, said Lou Jean Fleron, director of Economic Development Initiatives for Cornell's School of Industrial and Labor Relations.
"It is curious, and unfortunate," Fleron said. "It means New York will be in the back of the pack as this technology -- and the jobs that will go with it -- flourish elsewhere."
In a statewide poll of 800 people, Cornell's Survey Research Institute found 45 percent would support a ballot measure to create a stem-cell research institute in New York similar to the $3 billion initiative overwhelmingly approved last fall in California.
However, 26 percent of the respondents said it was unlikely they would support such a proposition. The remaining 27 percent said they were undecided or needed more information.
The poll had a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.
Nationally, other polls have shown between two-thirds and three-quarters of Americans support embryonic stem-cell research, and a majority say they would like to see fewer restrictions on taxpayer funding for those studies.
The survey findings surprised Karin Duncker, executive director of the New York Biotechnology Association, a not-for-profit trade group. "The only reason I can think of is that stem-cell research isn't yet at the top level of New Yorkers' priorities, and there hasn't really been a big push for it yet," Duncker said.
Medical researchers say stem cells hold the promise of serving as replacements to cells damaged by diseases like Alzheimer's or in traumatic injuries. More than 100 million Americans suffer from cancer, Alzheimer's, diabetes, Parkinson's disease, heart disease, Lou Gehrig's disease and other conditions that some scientists think could be alleviated by advances in stem-cell research.
In New York, the state Assembly has twice passed legislation to fund stem-cell research only to have it die in the Republican-controlled Senate.