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The Halifax Daily News
July 30, 2003 Wednesday DAILY Edition
SECTION: MATINEE; Pg. 33
LENGTH: 339 words
BYLINE: By The Associated Press
DATELINE: REHOVOT, Israel

Actor Christopher Reeve told an Israeli audience yesterday he thinks there is a good chance he will walk again -- provided "politics and religion" don't interfere with scientific research.

The Superman star, who has been paralysed from the neck down since an equestrian accident in 1995, is on a five-day visit to Israel, visiting research facilities and hospitals to study advances in treatment for spinal cord injuries.

Speaking to journalists at the Weizmann Institute of Science in the city of Rehovot, near Tel Aviv, Reeve said progress on research required international collaboration, but was being slowed by disputes over intellectual property rights and widely varying rules on stem cell research.

Many scientists believe stem cells from human embryos could be used to treat a vast array of conditions, from spinal injury to diabetes and Parkinson's disease.

Israel is a leader in the field of spinal injury treatment and in stem cell research, which has been limited in some countries because obtaining the cells involves destroying a human embryo.

The U.S. government has limited stem cell research because of the embryo issue. Reeve has been critical of U.S. policy.

"My hopes are that politics and religion will not interfere with progress for a cure," Reeve said yesterday. "If those problems are overcome, I stand a good chance of walking."

"Israel is one of the leaders in the world, and I came to pay tribute to the work being done here."

Reeve is also meeting Israelis injured in Palestinian terrorist attacks. Yesterday he met Elad Wassa, a 25-year-old Ethiopian immigrant paralysed from the waist down in a suicide bombing in May 2002.

"Welcome to Israel -- you are my hero," said Wassa, who wrote to Reeve during his convalescence and shared a stage with him yesterday.

Reeve saluted Wassa's courage and determination.

"Elad's story was particularly moving to me," he said. "A young man and a victim of random violence in a country that has seen so much violence. His story just touched me."