It wasn't clear what McCain is for and against in stem cell land. I heard something about it on NPR this morning, trying to clarify... but I didn't understand the intricacies. Does anyone else know his official stance? - JoEllen

The official Republican platform is for stem cell research, just not stem cells that originate from fetuses. - FFing Enigma

Okay thanks, just hasn't been cleared up in my mind. I fear though that Palin and McCain won't embrace science and research. It's not the "Christian" thing to do. - orionstarr

McCain's repeated talking-point that Palin is uniquely qualified to speak for families with disabled children makes me cringe every time. I've worked with severe to profoundly retarded kids and she doesn't share any of the qualities of the parents that were most knowledgeable and involved. - Marko Bon

The problem is that that limitation effectively prevents researchers from creating new lines of stem cells. At least until they work out an alternate way of obtaining totipotent stem cells. So far, no dice. - Victor Ganata

Unfortunately, no NIH funding means no experiment in a lot of cases. Biotech companies don't make any money funding basic research. They're probably not very interested in hESC experiments right now. - Victor Ganata

I was just talking about this last night as well. It doesn't make sense. - ::Kristen::

Most advances in biotech work that way: the NIH through the universities fund the basic science, then the biotech companies try to figure out how to deploy the knowledge gained and come up with a product. This is how many breakthroughs in cancer treatment have been made. Without the basic science, no one would've even thought to try and come up with a product. - Victor Ganata