Here's another log for the still-not-yet-set Hutchison-for-Governor fire: KBH calls for stem cell research in Texas universities.
"There are embryos in place today that are going to be thrown out," she said. "I don't want to see something in place be destroyed that could be used for a useful purpose."Hutchison noted that California voters recently approved a $3 billion bond package to fund stem-cell research.
Gov. Rick Perry's spokesman Robert Black said the governor supports the position of President Bush, whose policy bans federal funding of research on human embryos destroyed after Aug. 9, 2001.
Black said Perry has other ideas for bolstering Texas universities' research.
"The governor is going to unveil an aggressive technology-research initiative that will put the state in a favorable position," Black said without elaborating.
Hutchison said that there should be ethical restrictions on research but that the governor and Legislature should talk about permitting this type of research in Texas.
She discussed it in the context of boosting the research and status of Texas' universities and medical schools. She noted that Texas is already far behind California, where some campuses have more Nobel laureates than all Texas schools.
"California, quite frankly, they are a leader," she said. "That's the model I've been trying to use."
Texas has 236 members in the prestigious national academies of science, engineering and medicine, far fewer than California. Hutchison praised an initiative to get Texas' scientists, engineers and doctors to work together.