Michael J. Fox campaigns for stem cell research at UNH - Diabetes and Stem Cell Research in Alaska

Michael J. Fox campaigns for stem cell research at UNH

www.seacoastonline.com

By Michael Mccord
mmccord@seacoastonline.com
September 24, 2008 6:00 AM
DURHAM — Speaking at the University of New Hampshire, actor Michael J. Fox called for a lifting of restrictions on federally funded stem cell research and urged elected leaders in Washington "to take the politics out of science."

Appearing at a brief campaign event Tuesday with Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Jeanne Shaheen, Fox was experiencing the nerve disorder symptoms of Parkinson's disease, with which he was diagnosed in the early 1990s — but he said it was important to return to the political and election battles over stem cell research.

Video

Fox told the audience of some 500 students and local residents that he received "a bloody nose" in 2006 for supporting candidates in races around the country who advocated for expanded embryonic stem cell research.

Fox, who publicly disclosed that he had Parkinson's disease in 2000, started a foundation and has lobbied strongly to free researchers from the executive order by President Bush in 2001. The order severely restricts embryonic stem cell research to existing lines of cells and bans federal funding for any research expansion outside his directive.

Shaheen's Republican rival, John Sununu, does not support lifting the restrictions, and she criticized his votes against expanded research as paying more homage to socially conservative "ideology" than science.

Shaheen, whose granddaughter was recently diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, and Fox have joined a majority of medical researchers around the country who believe that embryonic stem cell research offers more potential than other stem cell lines, which have also attracted research attention. She said Bush's restrictions, and Sununu's support of them, have led to a loss of progress.

"These lines of research could hold the key to cures for diabetes, Parkinson's, spinal cord injuries — could impact the lives of families like ours all across the country," Shaheen said. "Yet under George Bush and John Sununu, we have lost seven years of potential advancement in stem cell research. We've lost seven years in the development of potential cures."

Sununu, who voted against congressional efforts in 2006 and 2007 to overturn Bush's executive order restricting research, responded by citing his support for new lines of stem cell research "without destroying human embryos."

"As the only engineer in the U.S. Senate," Sununu said, "I've been proud to protect funding for the National Science Foundation from political manipulation and fully support funding for adult and amniotic stem cell research — which has already resulted in a number of treatments that have proven to be successful in patient trials."

Though both Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama and Republican rival Sen. John McCain have voted to relax federal funding restrictions on embryonic stem cell research, some advocates are concerned that McCain might backtrack, given the platform his party recently adopted and his choice of a running mate.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Fox said the platform plank is troublesome, but he isn't ready to conclude that McCain has changed his mind.

"Historically, Sen. McCain has been a friend to the cause and a supporter of stem cell research. He hasn't specifically reversed himself on that," he said.

"Although, with Sen. Obama, there's no mystery about it," he added. "There's no veil over any part of his support. His support is total and enthusiastic."

The Republican Party platform includes opposing even private funding for research on surplus embryos, which is currently allowed. McCain's running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, has opposed the use of embryos in research.

Fox said he is not particularly concerned with Palin's opposition.

"I'm not a political scientist, but my attention is at the top of the ticket," he said.

Both McCain and Obama voted in 2006 and 2007 for bills that would increase federal funding for the research, but President Bush vetoed those plans. A campaign spokeswoman said Monday that McCain's position hasn't changed, but declined to say specifically what McCain would do if elected. Obama has promised to loosen the restrictions and double National Institutes of Health Funding over 10 years.

UNH senior Sara Townsend said stem cell research is a personal issue for her mother, who has diabetes. The likely Democratic voter said she was learning more about the subject but would like to see Bush's restrictions overturned by Congress or the next president.

"I do believe that researchers should at least have more of a chance to find cures," she said.

It remains to be seen how much the issue of embryonic stem cell research will play in one of the nation's most closely watched and hard-fought Senate elections. One analyst believes the issue, which had a high profile in 2006 in part because of Fox's public advocacy, doesn't have the same potency in 2008 because of other national events, such as the meltdown of the county's financial markets.

"It doesn't have the same prominence it did two years ago because the economy is swamping everything else and it puts other issues on the margins," said Dante Scala, a political science professor at UNH.

Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Copyright © 2009 Seacoast Media Group, a subsidiary of Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. All Rights Reserved.