Stem Cell / Cloning Research
nisbetmc | November 11, 2009Earlier this year, in an article at Nature Biotechnology, I joined with several colleagues in warning that the biggest risk to public trust in science is not the usual culprits of religious fundamentalism or "politicization" but rather the increasing tendency towards the stretching of scientific claims and predictions by scientists, university press offices, scientific journals, industry, and journalists. As I detail with Dietram Scheufele in a separate article at the America Journal of Botany,(PDF) each time a scientific prediction or claim goes beyond the available evidence and proves to…
nisbetmc | October 30, 2009Over at the Knight Science Tracker, Charlie Petit has a round-up on news coverage of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine's first significant research grants for stem cell research. Though much of the focus in California and nationally has obviously been on the promise of embryonic stem cell research, only four of the 14 funded projects involve these type of stem cells. The emphasis is on projects that could lead to the most immediate clinical results, a strong if not "tacit acknowledgment that the promise of human embryonic stem cells is still far in the future" writes Andrew…
nisbetmc | May 12, 2009
Several colleagues at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have a new study out that shows not surprisingly that like-minded conversations drive attitude extremity relative to science policy.
Analyzing data from a national panel survey conducted between 2002 and 2005, graduate student Andrew Binder and his collaborators find that after controlling for demographics and news use, like-minded discussion pushed respondents' position on stem cell research to the extreme ends of the distribution, either towards strong support or strong opposition.
The study comes out of the research group at…
nisbetmc | October 8, 2008From the University of Pennsylvania's FactCheck.org, (listen to the ad and read the full analysis):
An Obama-Biden radio ad hammers McCain for being opposed to stem cell research. Not true. Meanwhile two spots from the McCain-Palin campaign, together with the Republican National Committee, describe McCain's support for the research; they're largely accurate.
By saying that "John McCain has stood in the way - he's opposed stem cell research," the Obama ad seriously misstates the view that McCain has held on this issue since 2001, when he began backing embryonic stem cell research, a position…
nisbetmc | September 12, 2008From the Associated Press:
On Friday, a McCain radio ad attempted to present McCain and Palin as a unified force behind stem cell research. In fact, McCain supports relaxing federal restrictions on financing of embryonic stem cell research, a position opposed by abortion opponents. Palin opposes embryonic stem cell research.
The ad, however, does not mention the word embryonic, making it correct on its face. Supporters and critics of using stem cells from embryos do support research using adult stem cells to help conquer some diseases.
This type of advertising sleight of hand works because,…
nisbetmc | August 27, 2008If this National Review report is true, the GOP platform calls for making illegal all forms of embryonic stem cell research, even privately financed research. Definitely a story to watch.
UPDATE: Still can't find the full text of the platform but here is what the Washington Post reports: "In one controversial vote, the platform committee approved a total ban on embryonic stem cell research."
nisbetmc | March 5, 2008The latest issue of Nature Reports Stem Cell Research runs a lengthy news analysis by Meredith Wadman on the political communication effort that ultimately killed the New Jersey stem cell bond initiative. As the analysis details, a number of framing strategies on the part of opponents helped cement defeat last November.
Below I connect details from the news analysis to generalizable themes and principles that shape the communication dynamics of the stem cell debate. I also link to the relevant published studies that I have conducted.
--> Faced with a tight state budget, anti-tax…
nisbetmc | November 21, 2007Conservatives are promoting Bush as the biomedical Atticus Finch. Shown here posing with a "snowflake" baby, adopted and born from left over in vitro clinic embryos.
Some collected thoughts on what the stem cell discovery means for the framing of the debate, trends in news coverage and public opinion:
---->As I wrote yesterday, perhaps the biggest impact on the framing of the stem cell debate is to inject a booster shot of resonance to conservative claims that pursuing embryonic stem cell research is not necessary and that we can gain everything we need from morally unproblematic adult…
nisbetmc | November 20, 2007James Thomson w/ Ian Wilmut (seated)
What happens politically when the two scientists most widely associated with therapeutic cloning and embryonic stem cell research appear to abandon cloning and embryo extraction for a procedure that involves non-controversial sources of pluripotent cells? It signals perhaps the end of a grand Congressional coalition that has put aside partisan differences to work in support of expanded funding for embryonic stem cell research. It also likely marks the end to the hyper-competitive race among states to fund their own research.
Today, the journals Science…
nisbetmc | August 5, 2007
The NY Times has the dish on perhaps the final tragedy in the fall of Korean stem cell researcher Hwang Woo Suk. Apparently Hwang's lab was the first to derive stem cells from parthenogenesis, or virgin birth, meaning they were derived from an unfertilized egg. "It could have been a seminal finding if they hadn't had their blinders on," one expert told the NY Times. Knight Science Tracker has the full run down on how other news agencies covered this latest twist in the cloning drama.
nisbetmc | August 4, 2007
Back in November, when Missouri passed a constitutional amendment protecting the ability of scientists to conduct embryonic stem cell research in the state, it was heralded as one more political victory for science, and a sign that even in the Midwest, proponents had turned the corner on conservative opposition.
Yet the LA Times reports that the Amendment campaign has only served to catalyze opposition within the state legislature and among activists, threatening the state's ability to move forward with research:
The amendment passed by fewer than 51,000 votes, or about two percentage…
nisbetmc | June 28, 2007In 2004, when California voters approved a $3 billion dollar funding program for embryonic stem cell research, all eyes turned to the Golden State as the new national center for research. Yet according to a new StateLine.org report, other states including Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York may have moved quietly into the lead when it comes to funding.
As we detail in the Nisbet & Mooney Speaking Science 2.0 presentation [slides & audio], though Proposition 71 is a great example of how public support was gained by narrowly framing the issue in terms of social progress and…
nisbetmc | June 19, 2007
First John McCain was against embryonic stem cell research, now he's for it.
First Mitt Romney was for embryonic stem cell research, now he's against it.
If either of these GOP candidates win the nomination, given their track record on stem cell research and a host of other issues, it will be difficult for them to push the traditional "flip flopper" attacks on the Democratic nominee.
Over at the NY Times' "The Caucus" blog, Michael Luo details a memo released by the McCain campaign describing Romney's flip-flopping statements on stem cell research over the years. It's a great read. The…
nisbetmc | June 12, 2007Yesterday, stem cell researcher John Gearhart, Washington Post reporter Rick Weiss, and physician William Hurlburt appeared on NPR's Diane Rehm Show to discuss the latest in the stem cell debate. I recommend listening to the archived audio as the program provides a great deal of context in understanding last week's events and the debate in general. Of interest to my post yesterday, both Gearhart and Weiss say that they think the timing of the skin stem cell studies were nothing more than coincidence.
(In other speculation, over at the Sandwalk blog, one commentator reports that the timing…
nisbetmc | June 11, 2007Consider the following events, their political timing, and their impact on the framing of the stem cell debate:
1) Last week, as the House was preparing to vote on legislation that would overturn Bush's limits on funding for embryonic stem cell research, studies published at the journals Nature and Cell Stem Cell reported that mouse skin stem cells could be turned into a pluripotent stem cell with all the characteristics of an embryonic stem cell. Coverage of the studies appeared on the front page of the Washington Post and other newspapers across the country.
Though the research teams…
nisbetmc | May 17, 2007UWisc-Madison is joining Harvard and Scotland's University of Edinburgh by investing in a new stem cell research facility that promote cross-disciplinary collaborations. Tonight, in conjunction with a speech by Edinburgh scientist Ian Wilmut, the university will announce the new virtual center with $750,000 in initial funding. Here's how the initiative was described in the Wisconsin State Journal:
"Just about every university now has a stem-cell center," said Clive Svendsen, a co-director of the center. "This is a response to national competition in this area. We want to keep UW-Madison a…
nisbetmc | May 4, 2007
Posted from La Guardia airport in transit to a talk at Cornell University. Will have more comments this weekend.
nisbetmc | March 30, 2007Before leaving the Massachusetts' Governor's office, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney added regulatory language to a legislative bill that was originally intended to only prohibit the creation of embryos for research purposes within the state. Romney's additional language appeared to also prevent Massachusetts scientists from accepting out-of-state stem cell lines created from research embryos.
Today, however, the Boston Globe headlines its edition with the news that newly elected Governor Deval Patrick will announce at a life sciences conference that he wants the Department of…
nisbetmc | February 25, 2007 Last week marked the ten year anniversary of the announcement of the cloned sheep Dolly. While the U.S. press largely passed on the moment, the Canadian and British media paid much heavier attention. In an op-ed at Canada's Globe & Mail, my friend Tim Caulfied, a professor of law and research director at the University of Alberta's Health Law Institute, wondered whether all the knee-jerk policy activity sparked by the event was really worth the fuss.
For example, the UN spent three years negotiating an international ban on human cloning, only to settle on an ambiguous non-binding…
nisbetmc | January 20, 2007Want to keep up with the details of stem cell funding and politics in California? The California Stem Cell Report is the place for you. And while you are there, check out this reaction to my recent Skeptical Inquirer Online column on political communication strategy in the Congressional debate.