sexta-feira, 17 de setembro de 2004
________________________________________________________________________
A Science publica no seu número de 15 de Setembro uma notável entrevista, sob o título The Candidates Speak, com George W. Bush e o Senador John Kerry, os dois candidatos à presidência dos Estados Unidos, sobre a estratégia norte-americana para a Ciência, nos próximos 5 anos. Para ler a entrevista na totalidade, há que fazer o download em PDF mas vale bem a pena.
Ficam aqui alguns excertos no que se refere à investigação espacial, energia e investigação genética:
Science: Can we afford to send astronauts back to the Moon and on to Mars? Should that be the cornerstone of U.S. space policy? If so, what parts of the current program should be scaled back or eliminated to make room for it?
KERRY: Today, thanks to decades of public investment in space exploration activities, a rotating international team of astronauts are living and working in space on the International Space Station, a dozen Americans have walked on the Moon, we have rovers exploring the surface of Mars, and an armada of spacecraft continue to explore our solar system. NASA is an invaluable asset to the American people and must receive adequate resources to continue its important mission of exploration. However, there is little to be gained from a space initiative that throws out lofty goals but fails to support those goals with realistic funding. I am committed to increasing funding for NASA and space exploration because it not only makes critical contributions to our economy but also because it expands our understanding of the world we live in.
BUSH: My administration firmly believes that the benefits of space technology are far reaching and affect the lives of every American. Space exploration has yielded advances in communications, weather forecasting, medicine, electronics, and countless other fields. For example, image processing technologies used in life-saving computed tomography (CAT) scanners and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) trace their origins to technologies engineers use in space. In January of this year, we committed the United States to a long-term human and robotic program to explore the solar system, starting with a return to the Moon to ultimately enable future exploration of Mars and other destinations. It will be affordable and sustainable, while maintaining the highest levels of safety. Return missions to the Moon will give astronauts the opportunity to develop new technology and harness the Moon’s resources to allow manned exploration of more challenging environments. Furthermore, an extended human presence on the Moon could reduce the costs of further exploration, since lunar-based spacecraft could escape the Moon’s lower gravity using less energy at less cost than Earth-based vehicles. The program commits the nation to a fiscally responsible long-term program to explore space through the use of robotic missions and human exploration. This new vision is a measured one that will be executed on the basis of available resources, accumulated experience, and technology readiness.
KERRY: Today, thanks to decades of public investment in space exploration activities, a rotating international team of astronauts are living and working in space on the International Space Station, a dozen Americans have walked on the Moon, we have rovers exploring the surface of Mars, and an armada of spacecraft continue to explore our solar system. NASA is an invaluable asset to the American people and must receive adequate resources to continue its important mission of exploration. However, there is little to be gained from a space initiative that throws out lofty goals but fails to support those goals with realistic funding. I am committed to increasing funding for NASA and space exploration because it not only makes critical contributions to our economy but also because it expands our understanding of the world we live in.
BUSH: My administration firmly believes that the benefits of space technology are far reaching and affect the lives of every American. Space exploration has yielded advances in communications, weather forecasting, medicine, electronics, and countless other fields. For example, image processing technologies used in life-saving computed tomography (CAT) scanners and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) trace their origins to technologies engineers use in space. In January of this year, we committed the United States to a long-term human and robotic program to explore the solar system, starting with a return to the Moon to ultimately enable future exploration of Mars and other destinations. It will be affordable and sustainable, while maintaining the highest levels of safety. Return missions to the Moon will give astronauts the opportunity to develop new technology and harness the Moon’s resources to allow manned exploration of more challenging environments. Furthermore, an extended human presence on the Moon could reduce the costs of further exploration, since lunar-based spacecraft could escape the Moon’s lower gravity using less energy at less cost than Earth-based vehicles. The program commits the nation to a fiscally responsible long-term program to explore space through the use of robotic missions and human exploration. This new vision is a measured one that will be executed on the basis of available resources, accumulated experience, and technology readiness.
(...)
Science: Worldwide energy demand is rising at the same time oil production is expected to peak soon and to begin declining. But burning more coal will greatly increase carbon emissions. How would your energy in research and development (R&D) priorities address these problems?
BUSH: I believe America’s energy future must include coal—the key challenge is developing technologies to make it burn cleaner. My Clear Skies legislation, which is the most aggressive presidential initiative in history to reduce power plant emissions, will create a $50 billion market for clean coal technologies. Through Clear Skies, we will cut sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and mercury by 70%, while maintaining America’s most domestically secure, affordable, and reliable energy source. Additionally, as a key part of my comprehensive national energy policy, I am investing more than $2 billion over 10 years in the clean coal technologies that will transform America’s energy economy, including support for FutureGen, an international, public-private initiative to build the world’s first coal-based power plant that can produce both electricity and hydrogen with virtually no emissions of air pollutants or greenhouse gases.
KERRY: Our energy plan will increase and enhance domestic energy sources and provide incentives to help Americans use energy more cleanly and efficiently while creating 500,000 new jobs. The United States can develop and deploy clean energy technologies that will make us more efficient and allow us to capitalize on domestic and renewable sources of energy. John Edwards and I believe that we need clear benchmarks by which to measure the emissions performance of existing and new uses of coal. Our administration will provide a flexible package of incentives to construct state-of-the-art advanced coal plants, including Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) coal-fueled power plants. In addition, we will invest in research and development into advanced fossil and renewable fuel technologies and fund research into advanced greenhouse gas mitigation and sequestration technologies.
BUSH: I believe America’s energy future must include coal—the key challenge is developing technologies to make it burn cleaner. My Clear Skies legislation, which is the most aggressive presidential initiative in history to reduce power plant emissions, will create a $50 billion market for clean coal technologies. Through Clear Skies, we will cut sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and mercury by 70%, while maintaining America’s most domestically secure, affordable, and reliable energy source. Additionally, as a key part of my comprehensive national energy policy, I am investing more than $2 billion over 10 years in the clean coal technologies that will transform America’s energy economy, including support for FutureGen, an international, public-private initiative to build the world’s first coal-based power plant that can produce both electricity and hydrogen with virtually no emissions of air pollutants or greenhouse gases.
KERRY: Our energy plan will increase and enhance domestic energy sources and provide incentives to help Americans use energy more cleanly and efficiently while creating 500,000 new jobs. The United States can develop and deploy clean energy technologies that will make us more efficient and allow us to capitalize on domestic and renewable sources of energy. John Edwards and I believe that we need clear benchmarks by which to measure the emissions performance of existing and new uses of coal. Our administration will provide a flexible package of incentives to construct state-of-the-art advanced coal plants, including Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) coal-fueled power plants. In addition, we will invest in research and development into advanced fossil and renewable fuel technologies and fund research into advanced greenhouse gas mitigation and sequestration technologies.
(...)
Science: Should U.S. government–funded scientists have access to human embryonic stem cell lines generated after August 2001? Should they be able to create new lines?
KERRY: Yes. As president, I will lift the current ban on federal funding of research on stem cell lines created after August 2001. Right now, more than 100 million Americans suffer from illnesses that one day could be wiped away with stem-cell therapy, including cancer, Parkinson’s, diabetes, and other debilitating diseases. We must make funding for this research and other important scientific work a priority in our universities and our medical community—all while we ensure strict ethical oversight. And we must secure more funding for it at agencies like the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.
BUSH: My administration is the first to allow federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research. However, I put in place reasonable ethical requirements for scientists who want to use taxpayer dollars. I believe that scientific discovery and ethical principles can go hand in hand and that we should not use taxpayer money to encourage or endorse the additional destruction of living, human embryos.
I remain committed to fully exploring the promise and potential of stem cell research without violating ethical principles and while maintaining respect for all human life. And I have dramatically increased funding for all forms of stem cell research. In addition, NIH is creating a new National Embryonic Stem Cell Bank, which is important for consolidation, reducing costs, and maintaining uniform quality control over the cells.
Science: Should U.S. government–funded scientists be allowed to do somatic cell nuclear transfer (research cloning), creating early preimplantation human embryos for research purposes?
BUSH: I believe all human cloning is wrong, and a total ban on human cloning is necessary to ensure the protection of human life as the frontiers of science expand. Anything short of a comprehensive ban would be impossible to enforce and would permit human embryos to be created, developed, and destroyed solely for research purposes. I strongly support a comprehensive law against all human cloning.
KERRY: I’m proud to support bipartisan legislation by Senator Orrin Hatch that would make human cloning illegal. This bipartisan legislation includes support for somatic cell nuclear transfer, which would provide greater access to stem cells to conduct the important research we need. We all have loved ones who suffer from diseases that could be cured or ameliorated by this research, including cancer, Parkinson’s, diabetes, spinal cord injury, and Alzheimer’s. This is not a partisan issue. We should not put ideological shackles on the ability of America’s doctors to bring them those urgently needed cures.
KERRY: Yes. As president, I will lift the current ban on federal funding of research on stem cell lines created after August 2001. Right now, more than 100 million Americans suffer from illnesses that one day could be wiped away with stem-cell therapy, including cancer, Parkinson’s, diabetes, and other debilitating diseases. We must make funding for this research and other important scientific work a priority in our universities and our medical community—all while we ensure strict ethical oversight. And we must secure more funding for it at agencies like the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.
BUSH: My administration is the first to allow federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research. However, I put in place reasonable ethical requirements for scientists who want to use taxpayer dollars. I believe that scientific discovery and ethical principles can go hand in hand and that we should not use taxpayer money to encourage or endorse the additional destruction of living, human embryos.
I remain committed to fully exploring the promise and potential of stem cell research without violating ethical principles and while maintaining respect for all human life. And I have dramatically increased funding for all forms of stem cell research. In addition, NIH is creating a new National Embryonic Stem Cell Bank, which is important for consolidation, reducing costs, and maintaining uniform quality control over the cells.
Science: Should U.S. government–funded scientists be allowed to do somatic cell nuclear transfer (research cloning), creating early preimplantation human embryos for research purposes?
BUSH: I believe all human cloning is wrong, and a total ban on human cloning is necessary to ensure the protection of human life as the frontiers of science expand. Anything short of a comprehensive ban would be impossible to enforce and would permit human embryos to be created, developed, and destroyed solely for research purposes. I strongly support a comprehensive law against all human cloning.
KERRY: I’m proud to support bipartisan legislation by Senator Orrin Hatch that would make human cloning illegal. This bipartisan legislation includes support for somatic cell nuclear transfer, which would provide greater access to stem cells to conduct the important research we need. We all have loved ones who suffer from diseases that could be cured or ameliorated by this research, including cancer, Parkinson’s, diabetes, spinal cord injury, and Alzheimer’s. This is not a partisan issue. We should not put ideological shackles on the ability of America’s doctors to bring them those urgently needed cures.
