Connecticut and a handful of other states are funding human embryonic stem cell research on their own, in reaction to the federal stalemate. Unfortunately, there are signs that Connecticut's $100 million program is rushing forward in a reckless and haphazard way, risking not just millions of taxpayer dollars but the reputation of a line of research that could alleviate suffering.

Although last summer's law creating the program has some admirable points, its key flaw is the composition of the grant-awarding committee. The law's requirements mean that two-thirds of the committee members are involved in stem cell research and likely to be interested in grants themselves.

For example, the board includes Xiangzhong "Jerry" Yang, the state's premier stem cell researcher. Last year, he threatened to move his work to China if the state did not pass the funding bill. Once he was on the committee, he made it clear that he'd be seeking big bucks. He's now applied for $5 million - from his own committee.

Moreover, because Connecticut has only two research universities, conflicts of interest are built in: Committee members will consider grants to their own institutions. The Office of State Ethics pointed out a problem with the original committee of nine members. If members had abstained from voting on grants for their own institutions, the committee could not have reached a quorum.

A logical response would have been to replace some committee members with experts from out of state, or to change its composition to include biologists who don't conduct stem cell research. Instead, in January, the General Assembly simply doubled the size of the committee - and exempted it from conflict-of-interest laws.

Many of the members - like most academic researchers in the biosciences - are likely to have sizable investments in companies that conduct stem cell research or could otherwise benefit from the decisions of the committee. In fact, four members of the committee must have "background and experience in private-sector stem cell research and development."

But the public will be in the dark about the members' financial interests. Although the state considers them to be public officials who will be spending taxpayer dollars, they will not be required to disclose their financial interests.

The program is moving forward with awarding grants without adequate policies in place, leaving key questions unanswered: Who will own the patents of any discoveries made with state money? Will medical treatments discovered with taxpayer dollars be available to Connecticut residents at favorable prices? How can women be responsibly recruited to provide eggs for cloning-based stem cell research? There are rough sketches of some of the answers, but the details will be hammered out after the funding decisions are made.

The universities are also dropping the ball. The newly formed ethics oversight committees at Yale and the University of Connecticut have yet to determine their standards. It seems unlikely that these university-affiliated ethics committees will craft guidelines that will prevent the schools from getting funds that are already in the pipeline.

This lack of clarity in ethical standards likely suits Professor Yang. You may remember him from 1999 as one of the animal biologists who created the first cloned cow. He now wants to create cloned human embryos, not to create cloned children, but for stem cell research. This technique may lead to relevant discoveries, but it is an ethical minefield. Just this month, a top Australian stem cell researcher said that "the ethical problem is not the embryo, it is the human egg donor ... It's a surgical technique which has had side effects in the past."

If scientists want to go ahead with cloning for stem cell research, real effective oversight needs to be in place before grants are awarded.

Unfortunately, a pattern of rushing ahead instead of moving forward responsibly is emerging in stem cell research. In Korea, Hwang Woo Suk - another animal scientist - was able to get away with coercing the women who provided eggs, fabricating results and embezzlement because of irrational exuberance for the potential of stem cell research. A similar climate has led to a web of conflicts of interest and mismanagement in California's $3 billion stem cell research program.

It's too bad. Research with potential like this deserves better.

Jesse Reynolds is an advocate for biotech accountability at the Center for Genetics and Society, a public interest group in Oakland, Calif.