William Neaves could be forgiven for feeling popular last month. Within little over a week, the president and CEO of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City, Missouri, received two fawning letters from two governors.
"We encourage you to explore the possibility of moving to Illinois and leveraging our great research institutions, where many of your colleagues have found the freedom to explore the promise of stem cell research and its potential application for many of society's most debilitating diseases," Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich and Comptroller Daniel Hynes wrote him on September 1. After all, the officials reminded Neaves, Missouri scientists are living in a state where legislators are considering a ban on somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), and "have been forced to halt their recruiting and funding efforts for a second facility at the Stowers Institute as the issue is debated."
Neaves' own governor, Matt Blunt, fired ...
