BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Nancy Reagan, wife of former president Ronald Reagan, has endorsed human embryonic research at a star-studded fundraiser.

Reagan was introduced Saturday by Canadian actor Michael J. Fox, who suffers from Parkinson's disease, and was himself widely applauded by the Hollywood crowd.

Such research is generally opposed by political conservatives and many anti-abortion groups because it involves the destruction of days-old human embryos. President George W. Bush signed an executive order in 2001 limiting research to existing embryonic stem cell lines.

However, Nancy Reagan and others believe the use of stem cells taken from embryos could lead to cures for such illnesses as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease, which afflicts Ronald Reagan.

"Ronnie's long journey has finally taken him to a distant place where I can no longer reach him," she said at the ceremony.

"Because of this I'm determined to do whatever I can to save other families from this pain. I just don't see how we can turn our backs on this."

The former first lady became one of the first conservative public figures to support human embryo research when she first spoke in favour of it more than three years ago.