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Supporters describe stem cells as blank slates created in the first days after conception that scientists might someday be able to manipulate into adult cells that could be used to treat diseases I just don't see how we can turn our backs on this
A growing number of state and private efforts designed to skirt federal restrictions are underway, most notably in California where a measure is expected to qualify for the November ballot that would provide the state's scientists and biotechnology industry with $3 billion in stem cell research funds The California measure is being led and supported by wealthy celebrities â€â€? many personally affected by disease â€â€? who have lent their names and donated millions to the cause Advocates hope to raise and spend $20 million in the run-up to the election "People from Hollywood have always supported this," said Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation chief executive Peter Van Etten "
Mrs The foundation has contributed $500,000 to the California campaign Hollywood Pushing for Stem Cell Research
May 9, 2:47 PM EST
As President Bush resists mounting pressure to loosen the restrictions he's placed on stem cell research, Hollywood's supporting role in the debate this election year is growing
Her husband, former President Ronald Reagan, is afflicted with Alzheimer's disease and Mrs
Those groups mingled over steak and shrimp at the Beverly Hilton Hotel Saturday night, raising $2 million for stem cell research at a gala for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
"Ronnie's long journey has finally taken him to a distant place where I can no longer reach him," she said One reason: None of the colonies available are safe for testing on human patients because mouse cells were used to help the human cells grow, exposing them to possible rodent viruses
"When Katie was diagnosed five years ago we promised we would do everything in our power to find a cure," Zucker said
Bush has ordered the National Institutes of Health not to fund any research on stem cells harvested from embryos after Aug
Mrs
The dinner featured a rare public appearance by former First Lady Nancy Reagan, who renewed her call for expansion of the controversial research His Parkinson's disease foundation has contributed $10 million to stem cell research, while the diabetes foundation â€â€? another vocal proponent of the research â€â€? is raising $20 million
Stem cell scientists say the funding and colonies are insufficient to jump-start the nascent field
Despite Bush's opposition, supporters of the research are optimistic
Hollywood movie makers Jerry and Janet Zucker, along with Hollywood colleagues Douglas Wick and his wife Lucy Fisher, are prime backers of the California ballot measure The Bush administration said it has no plans to change its policy, which limits federal funding to stem cell colonies created before August 2001 Last month, 206 members of Congress sent Bush a letter calling on him to reconsider his stem cell policy, including several conservative Republicans 9, 2001
Since Bush's edict, NIH has provided $60 million in grants to train scientists and experiment with the colonies that meet the restrictions
Movie mogul money and star power are providing frustrated scientists and patients desperate for cures with additional muscle in an intensifying lobbying campaign against the Bush stem cell policy, which severely limits federal funding for research Reagan made her views on stem cell research known more three years ago, becoming one of the first conservative-minded public figures to buck the Bush administration's restrictive funding policy NIH identified 78 cell colonies that met all the restrictions, and 19 of those colonies are now available for study Since then, prominent Republicans such as Utah Sen Arlen Specter have also endorsed the research Fox, who suffers from Parkinson's disease, a degenerative nerve condition
Still, growing numbers of federal lawmakers â€â€? including several staunch anti-abortion Republicans and party stalwarts like Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who is also a heart surgeon â€â€? are lobbying Bush to reconsider his policy Orrin Hatch and Pennsylvania Sen
Zucker's 16-year-old daughter Katie has diabetes and he and his filmmaker wife have contributed more than $50,000 to the California campaign Reagan believes stem cells, which are considered the building blocks of the human body, might someday provide a cure Reagan was introduced to the Hollywood crowd by actor Michael J
"Because of this I'm determined to do whatever I can to save other families from this pain
"The people that are pushing it here are simply parents in pain," Zucker said But many anti-abortion activists view the work as immoral because they believe life begins at conception, and the research involves destroying days-old human embryos |