Mary Tyler Moore's Mission

Goes To Washington As Advocate For Type I Diabetes Patients

(CBS)  Mary Tyler Moore is one of America's most beloved television stars. But, besides acting, she has devoted much of her time to something close to her heart.

For more than 20 years, she has served as the international chairman of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Monday morning, she was interviewed by The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith about the foundation's 2005 Children's Congress, which begins Tuesday, June 21. The first JDRF Children's Congress was held in 1999 and since then, it's been held every two years.

Moore is attending a Senate hearing in Washington with 150 children (ages 2-17) with type 1 diabetes. They represent 50 states and the District of Columbia. As official delegates, they will each tell their personal story about living with the disease and urge continued federal funding of diabetes research to find a cure.

In addition, Moore is asking the Bush administration to expand its policy on embryonic stem cell research.

"Juvenile" diabetes is no longer the common term for the disease. Increasingly, it is being referred to as type 1 diabetes.

That type of diabetes, explains Moore, "generally means that the pancreas has shut down pretty much completely, and the patient is reliant on insulin, which has to be injected. In type 2, or obesity onset, or aging onset, the patient produces some insulin cells, and they can be stimulated with oral medication.

"The end result, however, is that the complications of this disease are the same for both," Moore says.