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Best Measure is Marketplace

Fritz Groszkruger

Des Moines Register

February 7, 2006

[Note: This material is copyright by the Des Moines Register, and is reproduced here as a matter of "fair use" for non-commercial, educational purposes only. Any other use may require the prior approval of the Des Moines Register.]

Science and Sangamo BioSciences Inc. are not to blame in the failure of Phytodyne Inc. ("Biotech Struggles in Market Despite Its Promise in Lab," Jan. 15). Public funding is not necessary for success in starting a business unless there is not enough money available from sources willing to risk their own money. The fact Phytodyne required public funding indicated a market prediction of failure.

The market will always promote better decisions than bureaucrats fighting the profit motive. The victims are not only taxpayers, who might have had something else to spend money on, but also the workers whose hopes were dashed by the fraud of government promises.

Multiply this calamity by the thousands of other mistakes made in the name of economic development and you find funds misdirected from ventures the market could have made successful.

Fritz Groszkruger
Dumont