Less than two weeks after his death, US actor Christopher Reeve has appeared in a taped appeal to Californians to vote for a controversial ballot measure that would fund a decade of stem cell research.
Reeve filmed the ad shortly before his death on Oct. 10, but proponents of California's Proposition 71 decided to go forward with the campaign after consulting his family.
The ad was aired for the first time yesterday, one day after Dana Reeve, the widow of the paralyzed actor, endorsed Democratic presidential challenger John Kerry. Kerry has urged expanded federal funding for stem cell research.
"Stem cells have already cured paralysis in animals," Reeve says in the TV spot. "Stem cells are the future of medicine. Please support Proposition 71 and stand up for those who can't."
Reeve, who was paralyzed from the neck down in a 1995 horseback-riding accident, appears in the 30-second spot just after a narrator says that "his family and his foundation wanted the people of California to see this recently recorded message."
Opponents of the California measure claim the promise of embryonic stem cell research is overstated and that channeling funds into it would divert money from more pressing needs, like the state's underfunded emergency care systems.
Backers of Proposition 71, who include Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, have already spent over $27 million on a widespread TV ad campaign, which earlier featured actor Michael J. Fox, who suffers from Parkinson's disease.
By contrast, the coalition against the measure, which includes the Catholic Church, have spent only $260,000, not enough to air commercials in major markets like Los Angeles.
Recent polls show the measure is favored by a majority of California voters. Proponents hope passage would establish the state as counterweight to federal policy.
President Bush has restricted federal funding to research with existing lines of stem cells and opposes the use of human embryos as a new source.
California's Nov. 2 ballot proposal would create one of the largest pools of money for stem cell research in the world, putting the state on par with Britain and Singapore, backers say.
Proposition 71 has been backed by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in a break with the Republican party.
The ballot proposal would establish a constitutional right within California to conduct stem cell research, while outlawing reproductive cloning research. The initiative would set up a California Institute for Regenerative Medicine and fund 10 years of stem cell research at a total cost to the state estimated over $6 billion.