It's been another week of electioneering in Britain, so any issue which isn't a vote winner is still absent from the media. As David Derbyshire and Roger Highfield discover in the Daily Telegraph last week, science is barely mentioned.
Of course health is a big issue in the election, particularly when it comes to expenditure on health services. And it is largely in the context of health - an issue close to the electorate's heart - that the few manifesto mentions of biomedical science are made. Fresh from the Health Secretary's recent speech (see BioNews 104), the Labour government is able to promise more than its opponents in genetics and in human cloning. Reiterating Alan Milburn's April announcement, the manifesto promises a ban on human reproductive cloning, a moratorium on insurers' use of genetic test results and more spending on genetics services.
Meanwhile, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have less to offer on the specifics of genetics, reproductive technology and cloning. The Conservatives make an oblique reference to more discussion of medical ethics in Parliament.
But far away from the glossy (or not so glossy) manifestos, press briefings and poster campaigns, voters often worry more about local issues and the personal views of those standing for election in their own constituency. So if you've got a vote (apologies to our overseas readers) and you would like information about the voting records of your own MP on some of the issues we cover in BioNews, please feel free to contact us.
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