Michael J. Fox admits he hasn't read cloning measure

Michael J. Fox on ABC's 'This Week'

Actor Michael J. Fox says he's against human cloning, against human egg farming and hasn't read a Missouri constitutional amendment measure he has championed in television ads that critics contend would promote both.

On ABC's "This Week" with host George Stephanopoulos, formerly of the Clinton administration, Fox, who suffers from Parkinson's disease, said today he got involved in the Missouri campaign because he supports Senate candidate Claire McCaskill, a proponent of Amendment 2.

While the bill purports to oppose human cloning, critics say experimentation on human embryos necessitates the procedure. Therefore, they call the measure deliberately deceptive, designed to get voters to support with the idea of opposing human cloning – even though they are, in fact, supporting it.

"I agree that we should have no human cloning," said Fox. "We're against that."

He also said he opposes the farming of human eggs to create the embryos.

"We're against egg farming, that notion," he said. "We agree on all of that."

Which leaves the question: How do you get human embryos to experiment with if you don't farm the eggs or clone human tissue? Fox did not provide an answer – nor was the question asked by Stephanopoulos. But Fox did explain he was not an expert on the subject nor had he read Amendment 2 for himself.

"You know, I campaigned for Claire McCaskill," he explained. "And so I have to qualify it by saying I'm not qualified to speak on the page-to-page content of the initiative. Although, I am quite sure that I'll agree with it in spirit, I don't know, I – in full disclosure, I haven't read it, and that's why I didn't put myself up for it distinctly."

Fox performed in a television ad for McCaskill, who is seeking to replace Sen. Jim Talent, R-Mo. But the focus of the ad was her support for Amendment 2.

Opponents of embryonic stem cell research say it is unproven in treatment of diseases, while adult stem cell research is more promising.

Asked about the claim opponents of Amendment 2 make that despite rhetorically opposing human cloning it will in fact enshrine it into the state's constitution, Fox said: "Well, I don't think that's true."

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