Sacramento Bee (California)
A state stem cell agency board member accused of violating conflict-of-interest laws has removed himself from all board activities until the state Fair Political Practices Commission rules on his case.
John Reed, president and chief executive of the Burnham Institute for Medical Research, a cancer research center in La Jolla, announced his decision late Tuesday on the eve of today’s board meeting in Los Angeles of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.
“I welcome the opportunity to have the FPPC resolve the conflict of interest issue,” Reed wrote. “In the interim, I will recuse myself from all (board) activities. This will allow the board to continue with its important mission without distraction.”
On Monday, the FPPC said it would investigate claims Reed pressured the stem cell agency’s staff to reconsider a decision not to fund a Burnham researcher. The FPPC did not announce when it expects to rule.
John Simpson, stem cell project director for the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, targeted Reed in a Nov. 21 complaint on the basis of documents first obtained by David Jensen, a blogger who follows the stem cell agency closely.
On Aug. 2, Reed sent a seven-page letter to the agency’s scientific staff urging them to revisit a decision to toss out a research grant application from a scientist affiliated with Reed’s institute.
Agency staff stood by their ruling and the researcher did not receive the grant. Simpson said at the time that the letter represented an ethical lapse that should lead to Reed’s resignation from the 29-member board.
Reed said later via e-mail that he didn’t realize he was breaking rules when he wrote the letter.
A stem cell agency spokeswoman had no comment Tuesday on Reed’s announcement. Simpson could not be reached.
The state stem cell agency was created to issue grants authorized by the passage of Proposition 71 in November 2004. The bond measure called for the creation of the board, and authorized it to spend $3 billion over roughly 10 years to fund stem cell research, train young scientists and build new laboratories.
