Christopher Reeve, the actor who played Superman, has been actively endorsing embryo stem cell research. Last week, he attended a conference in the US where he said he strongly supported legislation banning human reproductive cloning but permitting therapeutic cloning and embryo stem cell research.
Reeve, who was paralysed by a spinal cord injury suffered in a riding accident in 1995, believes that stem cells offer him the best chance of a 'cure'. He called the cloning technology that may result in treatments for disease and injury a 'miracle'.
Additionally, in an interview on BBC radio in the UK, the actor said that he would be willing to come to the UK for stem cell treatment and that the House of Lords Select Committee must vote in favour of therapeutic cloning and stem cell research when it discusses the issues later this week. Regulations proposed in the UK would permit embryo stem cell research to take place under strict licence. He said that he hoped 'the Lords will really take the time to understand what the technology actually is and to recognise that it has nothing to do with destroying life'.
He added 'I believe that it's got to be a worldwide effort to conquer the problem and the UK is very progressive in terms of its attitude to medical research and I don't want to see setbacks in this very promising area'.
Sources and References
-
Reeve hopes for stem cell cure
-
Britain's 'progressive' stance on embryo research gives paralysed Reeve hope
-
Superman steps into Lords' stem-cell debate
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.