Privacy

Burnham chief faces conflict probe

December 11, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">The San Diego Union-Tribune</p> <p>The commission has sent letters to the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights in Santa Monica and state Controller John Chiang to inform them that their requests for the investigation have been accepted, commission spokesman Roman Porter said.</p>

Stem cell agency rejects 10 grant applications

December 8, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">The Sacramento Bee</p> <p>John Simpson, spokesman for the watchdog group Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, said the rules should have been obvious to board members. "It's simple: Stem cell board members cannot take part in any way in grants to their institutions," he said. </p>

Bids for stem-cell grants in jeopardy;

December 7, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>4 universities may have broken rules on conflict of interest</h3><p class="source">The San Francisco Chronicle</p> <p>Reed has since said that it was an unintentional error on his part, but it has led a consumer group and some fellow board members to call for him to step down. Jeff Sheehy, a UCSF spokesman who serves on the stem cell board as an advocate for HIV patients, said last month that Reed should consider resigning, and has asked that the issue be brought up at the board meeting in Los Angeles next week.</p>

California Plans for a $750 Million Biotech Bank

December 6, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Wired Magazine</p> <p>John M. Simpson, stem cell project director for the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumers Rights in Santa Monica, helped develop the affordability rules for grants. A similar policy, he said, should be required for loans including reasonable pricing, access for the uninsured and price breaks for public agencies. The loan program "could make sense," Simpson said. "I wonder, though, how often the loans will be paid back. If the company is such a good credit risk, wouldn't it get the money from traditional lenders?"</p>

California Stem Cell Agency to Fund Non-Embryonic Alternatives

November 30, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Wired Magazine</p> <p>The plan to fund businesses drew a cautionary note from CIRM watchdog John Simpson of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights in Santa Monica. He noted the current controversy over conflicts of interest at the institute, which has prompted the California state controller to order an audit of the entire agency. "We've already seen an example of an improper attempt by a stem cell board member to influence an award to his nonprofit research institution," he said in a news release late Friday. "The possibility of abuse is even greater when the biotech industry goes after the money."</p>

Lobbying probe urged;

November 22, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Consumer group calls for investigation of stem-cell board member</h3><p class="source">The San Jose Mercury News (California)</p> <p>The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights said John Reed, CEO of San Diego-based Burnham Institute, wrote the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine in August saying it had erred in refusing a $638,000 grant to a Burnham researcher. </p>

Top Burnham official accused of conflict of interest

November 22, 2007  ·  John M. Simpson

<p class="source">The San Diego Union-Tribune</p> <p>John M. Simpson of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights in Santa Monica said that John Reed, the Burnham's president, violated the state conflict-of-interest law when he sent a 6½-page letter to the institute detailing why its decision to withhold a grant from the Burnham would set a "dangerous precedent." Simpson mailed a formal complaint yesterday to the state's Fair Political Practices Commission. If the commission finds wrongdoing, it could levy a fine of up to $5,000 against Reed or stem cell institute Chairman Robert Klein.</p>

State stem cell board member asked to quit over apparent conflict

November 22, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">The San Francisco Chronicle</p> <p>"I think it would be the best thing to have a clean slate. They both should go," said John Simpson of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, a Santa Monica group that has become a public watchdog over the state program. Simpson has also filed a complaint with the California Fair Political Practices Commission, which is charged with enforcing rules regarding conflict of interest among state board members. "Every time you flout the law, you can't just say, 'Aw shucks,' " he said.</p>

Taxpayer group alleges conflict

November 22, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Sacramento Bee (California)</p> <p>Agency staff stood by their decision; the award was formally rescinded last month. But John Simpson, spokesman for the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights in Santa Monica, said documents reveal ethical lapses by Reed and Klein. He called for Reed to resign from the 29-member board.</p>

UW seeks patent on breakthrough;

November 21, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Stem cell method clears ethical barrier</h3><p class="source">Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Wisconsin)</p> <p>"This is an important development in the biology of human cells, but like all scientific progress, it is built on earlier work," said John Simpson, stem cell project director at the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. Simpson said his views about the validity of WARFs three patents haven't changed because of the new work.</p>

Blue Cross gave chairman $16.4 million in retirement pay;

November 16, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Van Faasen still on salary at insurer</h3><p class="source">The Boston Globe</p> <p>"When you're spending down the coffers by paying $19 million to reward a CEO for changing jobs, premiums are going to have to increase," said Jerry Flanagan, healthcare policy director for the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, a nonprofit, nonpartisan consumer group in Los Angeles. "Double-digit premium increases that are fueled by insurance company excesses like this are uninsuring the insured."</p>

A patent challenge for human embryonic stem cell research;

November 8, 2007  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>A scientist describes how she decided that a legal fight would advance science</h3><p class="source">Nature Magazine</p> <p>On 17 July, 2006, three of us -- Dan and I, and John Simpson of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights in Santa Monica, California -- requested that three "Primate Embryonic Stem Cell" patents be re-examined on the grounds that the claims were obvious. We cited several publications from the 1980s that described the precise recipe for ES cell derivation that Thomson used, and I wrote a declaration explaining that I thought that using the published methods for mouse ES cell derivation was an obvious approach for primate ES cells. </p>