Michael J Fox Blasts Bush Stem Cell Veto

Actor Michael J Fox has slammed US President George W Bush's decision to veto government funding of pioneering studies into stem cell research.On Wednesday 19th July 2006, Bush used his power of veto for the first time since he came to power in January 2001.And Back To The Future star Fox, who suffers from Parkinson's Disease, is outraged Bush went against American public opinion that scientists should be allowed to try and find the cure for many diseases using the cells from nearly 400,000 embryos currently in storage.He says, "I regret the loss of five years when real progress could have been made, and I find it frustrating that the president would use his first veto of his time in office to thwart this research. It just seems a shame to me."I am respectful of those who oppose this research and their reasoning for it but they do represent a minority."I think that to make a choice to protect millions of cells that are going to be destroyed over protecting millions of living and soon-to-be living human beings and citizens of this country... it's hard to get around that."I figure you have to trust the American people, our scientists, our institutions, our facilities, to really do the right thing and lead the way with this."It's going to happen anyway, so why doesn't it happen with American oversight and federal funding, and with an enthusiastic and well-thought-out approach?

"Since when does America wait for somebody else to figure it out? I mean, we should figure it out.

"We have been blessed with the resources and the intelligence and the spirit and the energy to tackle these kinds of problems. We are all set to do it and we need leadership from the top to spur us on to do it."