____

As President, John McCain would reverse President Bush's moratorium on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. The Republican presidential nominee answered a lengthy science questionnaire from a group called Science Debate 2008. The group released the candidate's answers Monday.

Photo: Associated Press/John Raoux

John McCain reaffirmed his support for federal funding of embryonic stem cell research on Monday – in direct opposition to his party's agreed-upon official policy on the matter.

"While I support federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, I believe clear lines should be drawn that reflect a refusal to sacrifice moral values and ethical principles for the sake of scientific progress," McCain wrote in a response to a questionnaire released Monday by Science Debate 2008, a broad coalition of scientists and engineers.

The Republican party platform, adopted during its convention earlier this month, opposes embryonic stem cell research, preferring scientists to work with stem cells derived from other sources.

"We call for a major expansion of support for the stem cell research that now shows amazing promise and offers the greatest hope for scores of diseases — with adult stem cells, umbilical cord blood and cells reprogrammed into pluripotent stem cells — without the destruction of embryonic human life," reads the policy statement within the published Republican party platform. "We call for a ban on human cloning and a ban on the creation of or experimentation on human embryos for research purposes."

McCain's position also stands in stark contrast to his vice presidential pick Sarah Palin's personal opinion.

She said as recently as Friday during her interview with ABC News' anchor Charlie

Gibson that she's personally opposed to embryonic stem cell research – even as the McCain-Palin campaign aired radio spots touting the campaign's support for stem cell research as a promising avenue to help find cures for common ailments.

The ad did not specify what kind of stem cell research that the politicians support. Nor did the campaign specify where the ad ran.

McCain's answer on stem cells was one of 14 in a thorough 11-page primer on science policy that covered 'innovation,' climate change, energy, education, national security, pandemics and biosecurity, genetics research, water, the health of the oceans, scientific integrity, health and space exploration.

President Bush in 2001 banned federal funding for starting new lines of embryonic stem cells for research purposes.

"(McCain's) always said he supports funding for embryonic stem cell research, but he's historically also sponsored anti-science legislation that would have banned certain scientific techniques," said Sean Tipton, director of public affairs for the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.

Tipton pointed specifically to legislation that McCain has sponsored with Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kansas. (It never made it out of Congress.)

"The approach McCain took was to ban moving a nucleus from one cell to another, a technique that obviously has many, many other applications, other than cloning," Tipton said.

Current research still relies on stem cells derived from fertilized eggs for very specific purposes for which no other kinds will do, he added.

McCain did stress his hope that recent breakthroughs in this area of science would render the political debate over the issue "academic."

"I also support funding for other research programs, including amniotic fluid and adult stem cell research which hold much scientific promise and do not involve the use of embryos," reads his response to the coalition's questions.

While McCain's responses often weren't as detailed as his

Democratic counterpart's, which were released last week by the group, they offered a few more details on his world view in the world of science.

For example, McCain did not promise to double federal funding for basic research in the next 10 years as Barack Obama did. But he did promise to restore "credibility" and "the role of the Office of Science and

Technology Policy within the White House structure."

President Bush's administration has repeatedly come under fire in the past eight years for stifling the results of scientific research that clashed with the administration's policies.

"I will work to fill early in my administration both the position of science adviser and at least four assistant directors within the

OSTP," McCain said.

McCain also used the opportunity to justify positions that weren't likely to be popular with the scientific community.

For example, while he touts the benefits of alternative energy, he's voted against tax credits to encourage investment in the sector.

About $500 million worth of tax credits for investment and production in alternative energy sources such as solar and wind power are scheduled to expire at the end of December if Congress doesn't act to extend them.

McCain tells the Science Debate 2008 organizers that he's for renewable energy as well as nuclear power, but nevertheless, "I've voted against the current patchwork of tax credits for renewable power because they were temporary, and often the result of who had the best lobbyist instead of who had the best ideas."

Instead, he says he wants to reform the effort "so that it is fair, rational and permanent, letting the market decide which ideas can move us toward clean and renewable energy."

McCain also defended his desire to continue to send humans into space. He says that he is committed to making sure that the

United States remains a world leader in the field of space exploration.

"Although the general view in the research community is that human exploration is not an efficient way to increase scientific discoveries given the expense and logistical limitations, the role of manned space flight goes well beyond the issue of scientific discovery and is a reflection of national power and pride," he writes.

*__Update: __Rick Weiss, a senior fellow at the left-leaning think-tank Center for American Progress, writes in to note that "It is too glib to say McCain is supportive and is bucking his party."

He and University of Pennsylvania bioethics professor Jonathan Moreno ask in this Boston Globe op-edpiece: "[W]ho's in charge of Republican policy on this important question, and what exactly would the policy on stem cell research be in a McCain presidency?"

It's a thought-provoking read.

This article has been modified to clarify that President Bush did not issue an executive order in 2001, but simply made a policy announcement.

See Also: