And the REASON they distance themselves from abiogenesis is the "amino acid problem" that is absolutely insurmountable.
Absolutely? Pretty strong language....How about the study by Ribo, et al., Science, vol 292, pp 2063-2066 (2001), where they showed a stong selection for formation of chiral molecules by "whirlpooling" the solution they were in? How about Rikken and Raupach, Nature, 405, 932-935 (2000), where they got enantiomeric excesses in a simple metal complex by either shining circurarly polarized light through the solution, or just used unpolarized light in a magnetic field?