Reagan urges Democrats to back stem-cell research

BOSTON — The son of one of the most influential Republican presidents in U.S. history took his campaign for embryonic stem-cell research to the Democratic National Convention last night.

Ron Reagan urged the convention delegates to vote for candidates who support the research so that more people can be cured of their diseases.

Many people who oppose embryonic research are “well-meaning and sincere,” said Mr. Reagan, 46, a self-described liberal.

“But it does not follow that the theology of a few should be allowed to forestall the health and well-being of the many,” he said. “Whatever you do come November 2, I urge you, please cast a vote for embryonic stem-cell research.”

Although he often has been openly critical of President Bush, who opposes such research, Mr. Reagan was careful not to mention the president by name last night.

But his call to voters was a tacit endorsement of Sen. John Kerry’s presidential bid because the prospective Democratic nominee opposes Mr. Bush’s restrictions on stem-cell research.

The research, which involves the creation of human embryos and then their destruction in order to harvest their stem cells, is contested on ethical and moral grounds. Opponents say human beings, even early in life, should not be made the objects of deadly experiments.

Mr. Reagan’s father, the late President Ronald Reagan, died of Alzheimer’s disease on June 5. Stem-cell research is viewed as one of several promising avenues for combating Alzheimer’s.

In his speech last night to an enthusiastic convention audience intrigued by the guest appearance of the son of the conservative Republican icon, Mr. Reagan insisted that embryos used for medicine “are not, in and of themselves, human beings. [It is tissue] at the cellular level.”

If more embryonic research is allowed, he said, doctors someday will use stem-cell tissues to make “personal biological repair kits” and correct the neural cell defects in patients with Parkinson’s and other debilitating diseases.

“In other words, you’re cured,” said Mr. Reagan, whose position is supported by his mother, former first lady Nancy Reagan.

This was the second prominent mention of stem-cell research at the convention. On Monday night, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, New York Democrat, called on Mr. Bush to lift his 2001 restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research, which limited financial support for such study to several dozen existing lines of human stem cells.

Mr. Kerry has promised to “lift the barriers” on stem-cell research and not let “ideology and fear” stand in the way of “medical exploration.”

On Monday in North Carolina, Mr. Kerry’s running mate, Sen. John Edwards, North Carolina Democrat, told health care professionals that he and Mr. Kerry “believe there’s more work that can be done” in stem-cell research.

Tony Perkins, head of the conservative Family Research Council in Washington, said yesterday Republicans should stop giving Democrats “a free ride” on the stem-cell issue.

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