Michael J. Fox Records Second Misleading Stem Cell Research Ad

Bioethics   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Oct 24, 2006   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Michael J. Fox Records Second Misleading Stem Cell Research Ad Email this article
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
October 24
, 2006

Annapolis, MD (LifeNews.com) — Actor Michael J. Fox is coming under fire for the second time in two days after recording a second television commercial blasting a pro-life candidate on the issue of stem cell research. The latest ad, in Maryland, attacks pro-life candidate when his opponent voted against stem cell research.

In the new spot, Fox vouches for Senate hopeful Ben Cardin, a current Congressman, in his bid against pro-life Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele.

"Cardin fully supports lifesaving stem cell research and that’s why I support Ben Cardin," Fox says.

However, Cardin voted against a bill that would have authorized the federal government to search for embryonic stem cell research alternatives that don’t involve the destruction of human life. The measure would have promoted some types of research that could possibly have been palatable to both sides of the debate.

“There is only one candidate in this race who voted against stem cell research and it’s Congressman Ben Cardin," Steele said in a statement LifeNews.com received from his campaign.

He pointed out that senators Barbara Mikulski and Paul Sarbanes voted for the same bill.

"Marylanders deserve better than Congressman Cardin’s continued Washington double-talk, mistruths and sheer political gamesmanship on an issue as important as stem cell research," he added.

Despite embryonic stem cell research not having helped a single patient "George Bush and Michael Steele would put limits on the most promising stem cell research," Fox claims.

But Steele says he "is an enthusiastic supporter" of a myriad of stem cell research such as "cord blood, adult stem cell and embryonic stem cell research that does not destroy the embryo."

In the first commercial, Fox, who is clearly increasingly suffering from the effects of Parkinson’s disease, makes inaccurate generalizations about stem cell research.

“In Missouri, you can elect Claire McCaskill, who shares my hope for cures,” Fox tells viewers urging them to support the pro-abortion, pro-cloning candidate.

"Unfortunately Senator Jim Talent opposes expanding stem cell research," Fox claims. "Senator Talent even wanted to criminalize the science that gives us a chance for hope."

Though the ad makes it appear Talent opposes all kinds of stem cell research, he has voted in favor of spending millions in federal funds for adult stem cell research, the only kind of research that has ever cured a single patient.

What Talent has opposed is forcing taxpayers to pay for studies using embryonic stem cells, which can only be obtained by destroying human life.

A new study by Steven Goldman and colleagues at the University of Rochester Medical Center finds embryonic stem cells cause tumors when inserted into rats that have Parkinson’s.

As a result, patients like Fox would likely be killed or face severe problems if treated with embryonic stem cells.