Actor Christopher Reeve, who has been battling paralysis since a fall from a horse in 1995, has blamed the Catholic church and President Bush for obstructing medical research which might help him.

The performer, famous for portraying Superman, told The Guardian newspaper that embryonic stem cell research could lead to ways of repairing damaged nervous systems like his own.

We could have been much further along with scientific research than we are

Christopher Reeve

But he said that Bush administration had outlawed the research after opposition from the Catholic church.

"If we'd had full government support, full government funding for aggressive research using embryonic stem cells from the moment they were first isolated, at the University of Wisconsin in the winter of 1998 - I don't think it unreasonable to speculate that we might be in human trials by now."

Reeve, who is paralysed from the neck down, is currently spending some £270,000 a year on round-the-clock medical care.

Therapeutic cloning

After his riding accident he vowed he would be back on his feet by the time he was 50 - but this is just eight days away.

The actor is now supporting a bill that would enable therapeutic cloning while punishing those who carried out reproductive cloning.

"I think we could have been much further along with scientific research than we actually are," he said.

"There are religious groups - the Jehovah's Witness, I believe - who think it's a sin to have a blood transfusion.

"Well, what if the president for some reason decided to listen to them, instead of to the Catholics, which is the group he really listens to in making his decisions about embryonic stem cell research?" Reeve told The Guardian.

The actor has also appeared in a documentary, Christopher Reeve: Courageous Steps, which shows the progress he has made in his struggle to walk again.

Recently Reeve revealed that he had regained some feeling in most of his body.

The film, directed by his 22-year-old son Matthew, is intended to show that "conventional wisdom is now falling by the wayside", Reeve said.

It shows the actor moving his right wrist, left fingers and both legs - developments few scientists predicted after his 1995 accident.