BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Actor Christopher Reeve is among the witnesses scheduled to testify before a Senate panel this morning about promising medical research that also poses some ethical questions. It involves the use of stem cells from an embryo or fetus. More now from our medical correspondent Dr. Steve Salvatore.</s>DR. STEVE SALVATORE, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Stem cells are so valuable, researchers keep them under lock and key. Stem cells are blank cells that can potentially be turned into virtually any tissue in the human body.</s>DR. JOHN GEARHART, JOHNS HOPKINS MEDICAL SCHOOL: So, imagine you can grow up millions of cells in a dish, and then giving it a signal of some sort, you can then convert those cells into a million neurons of some kind, or a million cardiac muscle cells.</s>SALVATORE: Or cells to repair damaged spinal cords. Christopher Reeve, paralyzed since a 1995 horse accident, is lobbying Capitol Hill to move this research forward. Reeve will lobby lawmakers to allow federal funding of stem cell research. Right now, the government has a ban on federal dollars for the research because it involves using tissue from human embryos or fetuses. Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, some lawmakers have introduced legislation to lift the federal ban on stem cell funding. And the National Institutes of Health is working toward a compromise that would allow federal funding and address ethical concerns of the research, research that Christopher Reeve believes will help him walk again. Dr. Steve Salvatore, CNN, New York.
Actor Christopher Reeve to Testify Before Senate on Stem Cell Research