Entertainment

Fox Pushes For Parkinson's Cure

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

May 23, 2000 / 4:37 PM EDT / CBS

May 23, 2000 - Spin City star Michael J. Fox held a news conference on Capitol Hill Tuesday to kick off a foundation and Web site under his name for Parkinson's Research.

The Canadian-born actor pushed the button to launch the new foundation's Web site and appealed for help in conquering the ailment within a decade.

"Our goal is obsolescence," said Fox to a crowded news conference held in a U.S. Senate hearing room.

"We're close, we're really close" to finding effective treatments and possibly a cure, he said.

For now, Fox, 38, is leaving his popular "Spin City" TV series as a full-time cast member but said he plans to drop in for guest appearances, as well as work on other projects.

The foundation will add a research component to the Parkinson's Action Network's lobbying efforts. Fox already has testified before Congress, seeking more research money for the baffling neurological disorder.

AP Photo/ABC, Bill Foley
Michael J. Fox gets a hug
from Heather Locklear
on the final episode
of ABC's Spin City.

But after keeping his disease, which struck him at an unusually young age, confidential for a few years, he has become increasingly open about it, and has made the transition, as he put it, from "patient to advocate." At the moment, he said, he wants to focus more on advocacy than acting.

Congress has sharply increased funding for research into Parkinson's disease, and Pennsylvania Republican Arlen Specter, chairman of the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee, said he hopes to boost annual spending even further.

A big controversy surrounding Parkinson's research is stem cell research, which the Senate may debate next month. Some scientists believe that stem cells, elusive master cells with the potential to become any kind of human cell, may hold huge promise for treating diseases such as diabetes and Parkinson's.

However, stem cells may be derived from embryos left over from fertility treatment, which puts the research smack in the middle of the abortion debate.

Fox urged people not to have a "knee-jerk" response to the stem cell debate and said the research had the potential to "literally change the world."

An emotional farewell to the cast, as well as numerous references to his early career hit "Family Ties," capped off Fox's last appearance on "Spin City," a season finale which was followed by a public service announcement explaining his departure from show business and entrance into the world of public service.