Actors, Athletes to Be in Stem-Cell Ad
By JIM SALTER
The Associated Press
Wednesday, October 25, 2006; 12:33 PM
ST. LOUIS -- Days after actor Michael J. Fox appeared in a
TV ad urging Missouri voters to support stem cell research,
opponents will unveil their own commercial during the World
Series Wednesday night.
The Cardinals' starting pitcher for Game 4, Jeff Suppan, is
among several celebrities who appear in the minute-long ad.
Others include Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner,
Kansas City Royals player Mike Sweeney and two actors _
Patricia Heaton of TV's "Everybody Loves Raymond" and Jim
Caviezel, who portrayed Jesus in "The Passion of the
Christ."
Actor Michael J. Fox listens to Tammy Duckworth, the
Democratic candidate for the U.S. House in Illinois' 6th
Congressional District, during a rally for stem cell
research Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2006, in Wheaton, Ill. Duckworth
faces Republican opponent Peter Roskam in the Nov. 7
election. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green) (M. Spencer Green -
AP)
"Amendment 2 claims it bans human cloning, but in the 2,000
words you don't read, it makes cloning a constitutional
right," Suppan says in the commercial. "Don't be deceived."
Amendment 2 would provide constitutional protections for
embryonic stem cell research in Missouri. The 30-second spot
featuring Fox, 45, who sways uncontrollably in the ad due to
his Parkinson's disease, is actually a commercial for
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Claire McCaskill.
But the Senate race and stem cell issue are intertwined _
McCaskill's Republican opponent, Sen. Jim Talent, opposes
the stem cell measure.
Fox also has lent his celebrity to Democrats Rep. Benjamin
L. Cardin, running for the Senate in Maryland, and Wisconsin
Gov. Jim Doyle, who is seeking re-election. Both politicians
also back stem cell research.
"They say all politics is local, but it's not always the
case," Fox says in the ad that began airing Saturday during
Game 1 of the World Series. "What you do in Missouri matters
to millions of Americans _ Americans like me."
The Fox ad has triggered a backlash, with some criticizing
it as exploitive. Conservative radio commentator Rush
Limbaugh claimed Fox was "either off his medication or
acting," though he later apologized.
Dr. John Boockvar, a neurosurgeon and assistant professor at
Weill Cornell Medical Center at New York's Presbyterian
Hospital, called Limbaugh's claim "ludicrous." Boockvar said
those with Parkinson's have "on" and "off" spells.
"If there is one single disease that has the highest
potential for benefit from stem cell research," Boockvar
said Tuesday, "it's Parkinson's."
The Missouri ad opposing Amendment 2 was finished Tuesday
and was immediately available on the Internet. Missourians
Against Human Cloning spokeswoman Cathy Ruse said the ad was
already in the works, "but we sped up production after the
Michael J. Fox ad came out.
"That ad claims opponents want to criminalize research and
prevent the expansion of stem cell research. Those claims
are just false and misleading," Ruse said. "Our gripe with
Amendment 2 is it creates a right to do human cloning and it
creates the right to human egg trafficking for cloning
research."
Connie Farrow, a spokeswoman for Missouri Coalition for
Lifesaving Cures, a supporter of the amendment, called the
ad "a pathetic attempt to distort the facts and mislead
voters."
"To believe the claims made in their ad you'd have to
believe that over 100 nonprofit patient and medical
organizations, including the Missouri State Medical
Association, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and
the Muscular Dystrophy Association, just to name a few, are
conspiring to mislead voters," Farrow said. "And that defies
commonsense."
Celebrities have a long history of supporting political
candidates. But there's no question that Fox, who campaigned
for John Kerry in the 2004 presidential race, is uniquely
suited as a spokesman for stem cell research.
Fox, who starred on TV's "Family Ties" and "Spin City" plus
the "Back to the Future" films, shakes and rocks as he
directly addresses the camera, the effects of his disease
clearly apparent.
"The reason that he's powerful is that he's comparatively
young," said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director for the
University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center.
"As a result, a lot of people in that age range can look at
him and say, `If that can happen to him, it can happen to
me.'"
Jamieson noted that the stem cell issue has the potential to
be an advantage to Democrats in the November elections since
polls have shown the majority of Americans favor some form
of stem cell research. Critics say it requires the
destruction of a human embryo.
The risk, Jamieson added, is that the ads could appear as
using Fox's hopes for a cure for political gain, as some
claimed was the case when the paralyzed actor Christopher
Reeve lobbied for stem cell research before his death in
2004.
Parkinson's disease is a chronic, progressive disorder of
the central nervous system that leaves patients increasingly
unable to control their movements.
Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 1991 and revealed his
condition publicly in 1998. In 2000, he quit full-time
acting because of his symptoms and founded the Michael J.
Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, which has raised
millions of dollars.
He has since acted sporadically in smaller roles, such as in
a several-episode guest appearance earlier this year on
ABC's "Boston Legal," playing a business tycoon with cancer.
For that role and others, Fox generally has sought to
control his movements, though his illness was evident. He
told The Associated Press in January that one long scene was
physically taxing and that because of Parkinson's disease,
he "can't show up with a game plan."
___
On the Net:
http://www.michaeljfox.org/
Parkinson's Disease Foundation:
http://www.pdf.org/
Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures:
http://www.missouricures.com
Missouri Right to Life:
http://www.missourilife.org
___
AP entertainment writer Jake Coyle in New York contributed
to this story.
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