Blue science and red science: examining the Democratic and Republican platforms on stem cells, space, and more.

• Author: Bailey, Ronald

ACCORDING TO Nobel Prize-winning economist Robert Solow, technological progress has been responsible for about half of U.S. economic growth since the end of World War II. Politicians of all stripes recognize the importance of science and technology to our future well-being. So what do the Democratic and Republican party platforms have to say about science and technology policy? Below are a few highlights.

Stem cells. President George W. Bush restricted federal funding for embryonic stem cell research to work done with cell lines derived before August 2001. In its 2008 platform, the Democratic Party promised to "lift the current Administration's ban on using federal funding for embryonic stem cells." The 2012 platform notes that Obama "issued an executive order repealing the restrictions on embryonic stem cell research" in March 2009.

The 2012 Republican platform calls for "expanded support for the stem-cell research that now offers the greatest hope for many afflictions--with adult stem cells, umbilical cord blood, and cells reprogrammed into pluripotent stem cells--without the destruction of embryonic human life." The platform is silent on the question of privately funded research on embryonic stem cell research, but it does advocate a "ban on human cloning and on the creation of or experimentation on human embryos."

Because in vitro fertilization (IVF) often involves the creation of multiple embryos, some of which are discarded, such a ban probably would prohibit standard IVF techniques that have resulted in the births of 5 million babies worldwide since 1979. Those babies include at least three of Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's grandchildren.

Energy. Both the Democrats and the Republicans favor "energy independence" and an "all-of-the-above" energy policy. Back in 2008, however, the Democrats declared that "we know we can't drill our way to energy independence." Instead the 2008 platform promised to "fast-track investment of billions of dollars over the next ten years to establish a green energy sector."

President Obama proudly pointed out in his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention that renewable energy generation has doubled under his administration. Furthermore, the U.S. has cut its oil imports by I million barrels per day while opening up "millions of new acres for oil and gas exploration in the last three years, and we'll open more" Evidently the 2008 platform was wrong: We can "drill our way" to...