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To Don C. Reed on getting the facts straight about CIRM

By Lawrence B. Ebert, Esq.

Don C. Reed made a comment to the IPBiz post A response of sorts to Don C. Reed about covering both sides of CIRM, which comment included the text:
My feeling is that the issues involved in stem cell research are so important that everyone's viewpoints are to be encouraged, which might suggest that the issue is about differing opinions (viewpoints).

Viewpoints are one thing. Getting the facts straight is something else. While it may be true that "we need everyone's viewpoint," we MUST HAVE ACCURATE REPORTING to generate a viewpoint.

The IPBiz post responding to Reed included the text:

Within a 31 Jan 08 post on californiastemcellreport titled 'California Has Changed Everything', one finds californiastemcellreport quoting Christine Vestal at Stateline.org in the following way:

"Now that grant money is flowing, the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) reports it has wooed more than two dozen of the world?s top stem-cell scientists, including Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka, who lead the most recent skin-cell discoveries at the University of Kyoto. Yamanaka accepted a state grant in August 2007 and began working part-time in San Francisco to avoid stem-cell restrictions in Japan."

(...)

Further, in a post on 1 Sept 07 , IPBiz noted explicitly that Gladstone was not getting Yamanaka involved in CIRM funding:

Deepak Srivastava, GICD's director, said in a press release that
?Gladstone will provide Shinya with the resources and facilities to
apply his research to human cells.? Yamanaka's work will not be funded by grants from Proposition 71 -- at least not inititally, according to Gladstone spokesperson Valerie Tucker -- allowing it to move forward without concern of whatever revenue-sharing agreement is finally reached.

Mr. Reed: either Professor Yamanaka got a grant from CIRM in August 2007, or he didn't. They both can't be true. If Gladstone is not using CIRM funds BECAUSE OF issues with CIRM's intellectual property policy, that is important news that should be reported. Especially by you folks in California.

In passing, note also the IPBiz post

Using a citation to provide plausible deniability

Full post as published by IPBiz on February 03, 2008 (boomark / email).