Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Stem Cell Advocate Apologizes

California stem cell advocate Don C. Reed has apologized for his Web column criticizing a member of the Oversight Committee of the California stem cell agency for a poor performance before unfriendly legislators.

We wrote last week about Reed's column. He offered an eyewitness view of the proceedings, which were not covered by any media.

Reed used the pseudonym "Sam" when he referred to the Oversight Committee member, who is Jeff Sheehy. In his apology, Reed said he was frustrated by the legislative action on the bill to tighten controls on the stem cell agency.

Reed is a plain-spoken fellow. His columns are forthright – no verbal sleight-of-hand, no sophistry. But he provides interesting observations and insights on the stem cell scene.

Speaking of observations, our item last week on Reed's column probably confused some readers. We described him as a "competent reporter," leading some to think he performed the same sort of tasks as reporters for the Los Angeles Times or Sacramento Bee. He does not. He is unabashed activist. A better choice of words would have been "competent observer."

And his latest column observes quite accurately that nothing he or Sheehy could say would have changed the outcome on SB401 last week.

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