from: RGJ.com
Sept 12, 2008
Advocates worry McCain’s embryonic stem cell support may waver

By NICOLE GAUDIANO
Gannett News Service WASHINGTON — Despite Sen. John McCain’s recent votes in favor of embryonic stem cell research, some advocates are worried he wouldn’t be as supportive in the Oval Office as he was in the Senate chamber.
The Republican presidential nominee has twice supported legislation vetoed by President Bush that would have lifted limits on federal grants for such research. 
But advocates fear the 2008 Republican Party platform’s outright ban on the research, his running mate Sarah Palin’s opposition and recent statements from McCain signal his support could waver. 
This week, campaign spokesman Ben Porritt cited McCain’s Senate voting record but would not specify whether a McCain-Palin administration would support federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. He said only that they would “support stem cell research,” which could refer to amniotic or reprogrammed adult stem cells. 
A radio advertisement his campaign released Friday called “Stem Cell” says McCain would lead his congressional allies to improve America’s health with medical breakthroughs but doesn’t mention the word “embryonic.” 
“We’ve always been a little concerned that Senator McCain may have voted for this, but would he be there in the long term when he is the president of the United States versus just a senator?” said Rep. Mike Castle, R-Del., who supports McCain but advocates the research. 
“It’s sort of been a nagging concern all along and it’s just been heightened a little bit by both the platform and Governor Palin’s involvement,” Castle said. 
Those who oppose the research are also uncertain. 
“He seems to be moving away from that position but we currently have not heard he’s changed that position,” said Colleen Parro, executive director of the Republican National Coalition for Life. She said his choice of Palin, Alaska’s governor, is “an indication that he’s moving in the right direction.” 
The issue could be tricky for McCain as he tries to appeal to conservatives while reaching out to independents. Embryonic stem cell research played an important role in the 2006 elections, with 58 percent of the races between an opponent and supporter of stem cell research going to the supporter, according to the Center for American Progress. 
Polls show mÿst Americans support research using embryonic stem cells, which can grow into any cell in the body and could potentially be used to help treat people with cancer, Parkinson’s and other diseases. Scientists wish to explore different forms of stem cells to see what works best, but some religious groups oppose embryonic research because it destroys the days-old human embryo. 
In a July 18, 2006, statement for the Congressional Record, McCain supported embryonic stem cell legislation proposed by Castle, saying it would attract scientists to perform highly regulated research that would take place in an unregulated environment elsewhere. He touted the bill’s “carefully drawn rules,” limiting the research to embryos that would otherwise be discarded as waste by fertility clinics. 
More recently, McCain said during the Aug. 16 candidates forum at Saddleback Church in California that he was optimistic that improvements in skin cell research would make the debate an academic one. 
McCain’s presidential campaign Web site states that he would “strongly support” funding for amniotic fluid and adult stem cell research and other scientific studies “that do not involve the use of human embryos.” 
Porritt did not respond when asked Palin’s view, but a Nov. 5, 2006, story in the Anchorage Daily News said she was opposed to embryonic stem cell research. 
Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., considers it “good news” that McCain has previously supported legislation she and Castle have promoted. But she worries about his position now as she and Castle prepare to introduce new legislation that would lift current funding restrictions and set up an ethics review process. 
“I’ll be honest, when Mike Castle tells me he’s concerned, and he’s active in the McCain campaign, then that makes me concerned,” DeGette said. 
The issue surfaced on the campaign trail Tuesday when Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden questioned why Republicans who say they care about children with disabilities don’t support stem cell research. Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama supports embryonic stem cell research. 
Porritt called the statement “a new low” and accused Biden of “launching an offensive debate over who cares more about special needs children.” Some McCain supporters called Biden’s statement an unfair attack on Palin, the mother of a baby with Down syndrome who pledged to be an advocate for parents of children with special needs. 
But an Obama spokesman called it a “substantive difference” and pointed to the Republican Party platform taking “an even more extreme position” on stem cell research than Bush. His 2001 executive order limited federal funding for research on human embryos to a few dozen lines of cells already being studied. The Republican platform bans “the creation of or experimentation on human embryos for research purposes.” 
To Castle’s understanding, that platform would even ban private research. He doesn’t believe it will control anyone’s vote, that it was written for or by McCain’s staff or that it dictates where McCain is headed. 
But the platform demonstrates that those who are in control of the party are “far to the right” of McCain, said Jonathan Moreno, a bioethics professor at the University of Pennsylvania and embryonic stem cell research advocate. 
“Anybody who’s been paying attention to that platform is concerned,” he said. “It raises an interesting question about who would be in control of that policy if he wins.” 
Parro said she sought language in the platform opposing “the killing of human embryos.” 
“The platform is a standard to which we hold Republican officials accountable,” Parro said. “It would be our hope if John McCain becomes president that he will seek to protect all innocent human life from conception until natural death.”
http://news.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080912/NEWS19/80912033/1232
NOTE: Palin stated during tonight's interview with Charles Gibson that she does oppose embryonic stem cell research.
linda

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