Kerry swipes at Bush rebuff of stem cell research
Sat Jun 12, 6:42 PM ET
FROM:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1521&ncid=696&e=8&u=/afp/20040612/pl_afp/us_vote_kerry_reaganWASHINGTON (AFP) - Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry (news - web sites) swiped at President George W. Bush (news - web sites)'s opposition to stem cell research, which Ronald Reagan (news - web sites)'s widow, Nancy, said may have saved the late president from Alzheimer's.
"Today, more than 100 million Americans have illnesses that one day could be cured or treated with stem cell therapy," Kerry said in his Democratic Party's rejoinder to Bush's Saturday address.
It was the closest Kerry came to campaigning in a week, after saying he would suspend appearances out of respect for Reagan, whose funeral was Friday. The Massachusetts senator visited Reagan's coffin in California on Tuesday.
"Stem cells have the power to slow the loss of a grandmother's memory, calm the hand of an uncle with Parkinson's, save a child from a lifetime of daily insulin shots or permanently lift a best friend from his wheelchair," Kerry said, without mentioning Bush's opposition on religious grounds. The religious right believes that embryos have souls.
<SNIP>