Palin proudly displays her cluelessness again - this time about autism

Memo To Palin: Fruit Fly Research Has Led To Advances In Understanding Autism
This morning, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) gave her first policy speech urging the federal government to fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), “a law ensuring services to children with disabilities throughout the nation.” In the speech, Palin cited the need to do more for children with disabilities such as autism:

For many parents of children with disabilities, the most valuable thing of all is information. Early identification of a cognitive or other disorder, especially autism, can make a life-changing difference.

Palin claimed that the amount that Congress spends on earmarks “is more than that short fall to fully fund IDEA.” She then ridiculed some of the projects — such as “fruit fly research” — saying they have little or no value:

Where does a lot of that earmark money end up anyway? <…> You’ve heard about some of these pet projects they really don’t make a whole lot of sense and sometimes these dollars go to projects that have little or nothing to do with the public good. Things like fruit fly research in Paris, France. I kid you not.

Palin did not specify what fruit fly research earmark she was referring to (presumably a grant for olive fruit fly research), but she is apparently unaware that scientific research with fruit flies has led to valuable discoveries that have boosted autism research, as a study at the University of North Carolina demonstrated last year:

cientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine have shown that a protein called neurexin is required for..nerve cell connections to form and function correctly.

The discovery, made in Drosophila fruit flies may lead to advances in understanding autism spectrum disorders, as recently, human neurexins have been identified as a genetic risk factor for autism.

The study of fruit flies has also been used for other autism research and "revolutionize” the study of birth defects.


(Think Progress)

http://teotw.blogspot.com/2008/10/palin-proudly-displays-her-cluelessness.html

But it is a false dichotomy that it isn't being done because of earmarks.

nearly a century.

These idiots would shut down the hand the hand that feeds them if it made for a good soundbite.

They reproduce quickly, and people don't have the same concerns about sacrificing them to research that they have for humans and certain other animals.

That is why they are valuable.

Apparently Palin did not pay much attention in her high school biology class, where I learned the above.

her "first policy speech" and she utterly blows it on special education research.

There is no way to predict what you will learn and how it will be used or when.