9931
0
Posted on Feb 15, 2005, 10 a.m.
By Bill Freeman
The campaign committee that spent $35 million last year backing California's novel $3 billion stem cell initiative plans to use its fund-raising prowess to fight a federal bill seeking to ban all forms of human cloning. Robert Klein II, the wealthy Palo Alto housing developer who chaired the campaign, said the organization intends to raise $1 million to fight Sen.
The campaign committee that spent $35 million last year backing California's novel $3 billion stem cell initiative plans to use its fund-raising prowess to fight a federal bill seeking to ban all forms of human cloning. Robert Klein II, the wealthy Palo Alto housing developer who chaired the campaign, said the organization intends to raise $1 million to fight Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kansas, and his anti-cloning allies in the Senate. A Brownback spokesman declined comment. Brownback is sponsoring legislation that would ban the cloning of human embryos for any reason, including medical research. Such a law would directly threaten the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, which intends to use some of the $3 billion in voter-approved bond money to dole out grants for so-called therapeutic cloning projects.
