US presidential hopeful Senator John Kerry today said he would reverse Mr George Bush's restrictions on embryonic stem cell research as he remembered the late actor Christopher Reeve, a quadriplegic, as a hero and a friend.
In a radio address for the Democrats he said: "We're going to make funding for this research a top priority in our government agencies, our universities and our medical community, and we'll continue to lead the world in great discoveries - all while upholding the highest ethical standards."
Mr Kerry called Mr Bush's restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research "a ban that's tied the hands of our scientists and shut down some of our most promising work on spinal cord injuries, Alzheimer's, diabetes, Parkinson's and other life-threatening diseases.
"I know that when we put our best minds to work studying our worst diseases, time and time again we find treatments and cures and vaccines," Mr Kerry said.
"But when we don't, when we have a president who dismisses our scientists and turns his back on science, then we say no to discovery, no to innovation and no to hope for so many Americans."
Mr Bush restricted federal funding for embryonic stem cell research to lines created after August 9th, 2001. His re-election campaign said the decision represents a federal commitment to using the promise of stem cell research in an ethical way.
Reeve, paralysed in a horseback riding accident, died from an infection last Sunday. Mr Kerry knew the "Superman" actor for about 15 years through family and activism, and he said Reeve left him a telephone message the day before he died thanking him for campaigning on the possibilities for cures found through stem cell research.
AP