80th Legislature: The Cancer Initiative

Yesterday, Governor Perry and some legislators unveiled plans to establish a heavily funded cancer research institute and sell general revenue bonds to generate funding for grants to help institutions and individuals develop cancer treatments.

As someone who has lost a loved one to cancer, I’d love to see the Lone Star State find the “cure” for cancer.

However, I’m between a rock and a hard place on this one. Or, more accurately, between a cure and potentially bad public policy.

Check this out:

Under Senate Bill 1292 and Senate Joint Resolution 43 by Lewisville Republican Sen. Jane Nelson, Texas voters would be asked to authorize the state to sell bonds that would be distributed in the forms of grants to institutions and individuals to develop innovative new treatments for the disease that claims the lives of 35,000 Texans each year.

Two things come rushing to the forefront of my thoughts as I read this: stem cells and the Texas Enterprise Fund.

“[G]rants to institutions and individuals.” Hum. Who is going to administrate these grants? How much of a role will the political process and political contributins play in the distribution of the funds?
Remember the Texas Enterprise Fund? Who is in charge of that? Governor Perry! What influences the Fund? Politics and political contributions.

Then, what about stem cell research? The right wing Republicans in the Legislature won’t approve it without amending it to death with a bunch of anti-stem cell garbage.

Personally, I’d prefer a hybrid of the bond idea combined with Perry original idea for a state cancer institute. Let the bonds fund a cancer institute. Otherwise, we’ll just be giving grant money to Merck and a dozen other pharma companies.

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