Wisconsin Gives Money to Stem Cell Company

Wisconsin Gives Money to Stem Cell Company

In an Associated Press wire service story of September 26 reprinted in various news sources, among them Greater Milwaukee Today, it was reported that the state of Wisconsin has give a $1 million loan and $1 grant to a start-up company, Cellular Dynamics International. The money came from Department of Commerce funds for entrepenuers. One of the founders of the company is Jamie Thomson, a University of Wisconsin scientist who first derived stem cells. State Senator Scott Fitzgerald, an opponents of the grant/loan package and co-author of a bill to ban human cloning, was quoted as saying, “This 2 million bucks that they are throwing out there today is another example of the state's citizens being asked to pay for something that we have zero knowledge of.”

The story reported that the cloning debate was going on yesterday, but I checked the Wisconsin Legislature Website and did not find it on the calendar. I'll post results as I hear them.