Posted on 10/26/2005 8:01:12 PM PDT by Aussie Dasher
RICHMOND, Virginia, October 26, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A new poll conducted by Virginia Commonwealth University has revealed that support for stem cell research favors sources other than embryonic cells.
When asked what they felt would yield the most promising results, 37% said stem cells derived from sources other than human embryos, whereas only 14% said human embryonic sources held the most promise for new medical treatments – a considerably different view than is reflected by most mainstream media coverage.
From the report, it can be seen that public understanding of the stem cell research is still unclear. Sixty-seven percent of respondents said they were either “not at all clear” or “not very clear” on the differences between reproductive cloning and so-called therapeutic cloning, yet the majority opposed using cloning technology for research purposes, and almost six out of 10 respondents said they were either strongly or somewhat opposed to the use of cloning to create embryos for the purpose of stem cell experimentation.
In addition to the above, 56% of respondents said they were always opposed to abortion or opposed to abortion only when the pregnancy does not impact the health of the mother, or is not a result of rape or incest.
The VCU Life Sciences Survey was conducted by telephone with 1,002 adults nationwide from Sept. 14 through Sept. 29. The margin of error for the poll is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Overall, a majority of Americans—58 percent—now strongly or somewhat favor embryonic stem cell research, up from 53 percent in the 2004 survey and 47 percent in the 2003 survey. Now, only 32 percent strongly or somewhat oppose embryonic stem cell research, down from 36 percent in the 2004 survey and 44 percent in the 2003 survey. Views on embryonic stem cell research continue to be related to views on abortion and religion.
Looks like a losing issue for the Republicans
But other news in the poll
When asked to choose from statements representing the three main theories of the origin of biological life, 42 percent said that the “creationist” view—that God directly created biological life in its present form at one point in time—was closest to their own views about life’s origin. Twenty-six percent selected a statement representing “intelligent design”—that biological life developed over time from simple substances, but God guided this process. Another 17 percent chose a view reflecting “evolution”—that biological life developed over time from simple substances, but God did not guide this process.
Well while there is promise with adult embryonic stem cells, the militant stem cell supporters will attack it on the basis of adult stem cells lacking the pluripotency of embryonic stem cells. while this may or may not be true, new research is starting to show that some adult stem cells retain this ability and can differentiate into any type of cell and i think given the choice most americans would rather pick adult stem cells versus ones that come from embryos.
I think one problem in this debate is that were focusing more on the actual issue of life instead of the federal funding issue and potential pluripotency of adult stem cells. Focusing on the last two seem more winnable to me at this point.
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