Playing on pity.

After a barrage of ads containing a decrepit-looking Michael J. Fox in support of the amendment, Missouri passed Amendment 2, which guarantees that any embryonic stem-cell research that is allowed by the federal government will be allowed in Missouri. The amendment was reportedly introduced because of attempts by legislators to ban embryonic stem-cell research in that state.

Opponents of the amendment had hoped that it would be defeated because it allows human embryos to be destroyed, and it allows "therapeutic cloning" of humans. The small margin of victory could be owing to deceptive ads placed by the measure's supporters, which claimed that the amendment bans "human cloning" The only difference between the two types of cloning is that in human cloning, the embryo is implanted in the uterus, and in therapeutic cloning, it is not.

Opponents of the amendment believe that it was initiated as part of a maneuver to guarantee government funding of embryonic stem-cell research in that state, needed because in the eight years since scientists began working with embryonic stem cells, there have been no successful human medical applications. They say the technology's failures--which include "incidents of cancer" in the range of 25 percent of the time, according to Daniel McConchie, the chief of staff at Americans United for Life--have caused private funding of embryonic stem-cell research to begin drying up. This while research with adult stem cells, gathered from parts of the human body such as fat and umbilical cord blood, has garnered repeated medical breakthroughs: remedying some paralysis cause by spinal-cord injuries, heart-tissue regeneration, restoring vision, fighting Parkinson's disease (the disease Michael J. Fox has), and treating anemias and cancers.