March 31, 2005 The Massachusetts House of Representatives passed legislation authorizing embryonic stem cell research in the state, approving the measure by a very large margin, enough to override the expected veto by Republican Governor Mitt Romney. The Massachusetts bill allows for “therapeutic cloning” or the creation of new human embryos for the purpose of harvesting stem cells. This is an issue that some find problematic. The governor has gone on record saying he considers the procedure unethical. The legislation is a big victory for Harvard, MIT, and Massachusetts biotechnology companies, a concentration of research that had been very fearful of losing its edge to California, given Prop 71, the bill that funds $3 billion of stem cell research in the state. More detail...
