BIO honours Reeve's courage

The death of Superman actor Christopher Reeve has focused attention in America on the use of embryonic stem-cell research to treat a range of illnesses.

While the President of the USA is reticent about such research, the state of California is about to vote of whether it should fund cutting edge research. This against a background of financial difficulties for the West Coast state.

Carl Feldbaum, president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) said: 'Christopher Reeve, who was paralysed from the neck down in a horseback riding accident in 1995, turned his condition into an inspiring effort to educate the public on the potential use of human embryonic stem cells to treat a range of ailments including diabetes, spinal-cord injuries, cancer and Parkinson's disease.

Reeve was an uplifting voice at BIO's annual meeting in Boston in 2000. In his address to thousands of biotechnology scientists, he said: 'It's important to give them [patients] hope - not to give them false hope, but to go back to what really is the American mantra, and it is a realistic mantra, that nothing is impossible. Tell them that. Let them know that.'

Currently, California, the first state in the union to take a proactive stance on embryonic stem cell research, is asking voters whether it should provide $3bn over the next decade to fund this cutting-edge research. Voters will answer the question, referred to as Proposition 71, in a ballot on the 2nd November.