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Interview: Mary Tyler Moore Talks About Her Efforts to Get Congress to Allow the Release of More Stem Cells so that Type I Diabetes Research Can Proceed
CBS News: The Early Show
20 June 2005
HARRY SMITH, co-host:
Emmy Award-winning actress Mary Tyler Moore is one of America's most-beloved television stars, but besides acting she has devoted much of her time and talents to something close to her heart. For more than 20 years, she's been the international chairman of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. And later today, she's gonna be on Capitol Hill to bring attention to that cause. And she is with us this morning.
Good morning, Mary.
Ms. MARY TYLER MOORE (International Chairman, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation): Good morning, Harry. How are you?
SMITH: I'm really well. It's great...
Ms. MOORE: Good.
SMITH: ...to be with you as always.
Ms. MOORE: Thank you.
SMITH: We used to call this juvenile diabetes. We now call it Type I diabetes. For folks who don't know, tell us exactly what it is.
Ms. MOORE: Well, Type I diabetes generally means that the pancreas has shut down pretty much completely and the patient is reliant on insulin, which has to be injected. Type II is--or obesity onset or aging onset--the patient produces some insulin cells and they can be stimulated with oral medication. The end result, however, the complications of this disease, are the same for both.
SMITH: Are the same. Now this is--how old were you when you were diagnosed?
Ms. MOORE: I was in my early 30s. It was almost 20 years ago--no, 40 years ago. And I, like so many diabetics, have lived with some pretty frightening side effects that--I shouldn't call them side effects because these problems are the target of the disease. They can be diabetic neuropathy, meaning that the eyes don't function as well as they should. I've had laser treatment on them. I'm doing much better now. They can cause kidney damage, blindness, amputation, heart and kidney...
SMITH: Yeah.
Ms. MOORE: I think I mentioned that already.
SMITH: Yeah, yeah. The--well, the thing is, people have this notion about it--these being diseases that can be managed. But as you have said, there are long-term effects of these diseases.
Ms. MOORE: Right.
SMITH: One of the reasons you're there is to testify in front of Congress. I'm going to run a little bit of a piece of tape from a child who spoke there two years ago. Let's take a listen to this.
Ms. MOORE: All right.
SOPHIA CYGNAROWICZ (Columbia, Illinois): (From video) I have had diabetes since I was one. I have taken 4,380 shots of insulin and have pricked my finger over 13,000 times to test my blood sugar. I don't like it. It hurts.
SMITH: It hurts. That's something people have to live with every single day of their lives.
Ms. MOORE: Right.
Ms. MOORE: As you all get together in Washington, this once every two years, what are the things that the young people do?
Ms. MOORE: Well, the young people will testify tomorrow in the House before Senator Susan Collins' committee, and we will be pleading for more stem cells. Three years ago, I think it was, that President Bush gave some to the public--but no more, he said, after this date. Well, it turns out that many, many--in fact, almost most of those stem cells were contaminated and therefore useless. And we are asking him to change. Stem cell research is really the result of a woman who wants to have a baby, has not been able to conceive, and so she has in vitro fertilization.
SMITH: Right.
Ms. MOORE: Those eggs are fertilized and then planted in a petri dish, and then implanted into her womb.
SMITH: Right.
Ms. MOORE: Now the extra...
SMITH: Mary, let me ask you--let me just interrupt a second. We have some some understanding of this. This ends up being such a controversial issue. As you plead your case, do you feel like you'll be heard?
Ms. MOORE: Yes, I do. Because I want to make sure people understand what this is about. One egg will plant itself. And the rest, sometimes five or six, will be useless and most of them are destroyed. So we are asking merely to have the eggs that will be destroyed to experiment with.
SMITH: Yeah. As long as we have you here, I know you are still working and you're about to go embark on working on another film. And...
Ms. MOORE: Yes.
SMITH: Yeah. What--now what is that all about?
Ms. MOORE: Well, that's a Christmas movie for CBS. And we are going to in the end of July be filming in New Orleans, Louisiana.
SMITH: Wow.
Ms. MOORE: Ha-ha. It's gonna be hot.
SMITH: Perfect time of year to go down there and make a movie.
Ms. MOORE: Right, right.
SMITH: Thank you so much for the hard work that you do on behalf of diabetes patients, and as always, it's a pleasure to chat with you.
Ms. MOORE: Thank you.
SMITH: All right. Take care.
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