This Man Is An Inspiration

By Rebecca Myers

Another actor has entered California politics--not as a candidate but as the spark for legislation. The "Tom Cruise bill," passed last week by the California state assembly and now headed for the senate, prohibits the sale of ultrasound devices to anyone but professionals licensed to use the machines. Assemblyman Ted Lieu, the Southern California Democrat who wrote the bill, grew concerned in November when Cruise and then pregnant fiance Katie Holmes purchased a machine for a reported $200,000 to track the growth of their baby at home. The scans are considered safe when properly conducted, but the Food and Drug Administration, which regulates the devices, does not approve of what it calls "entertainment ultrasounds." Lieu says, "This bill was never intended to target Tom Cruise." (The actor had no comment.) But as Lieu's chief of staff David Ford puts it, "California is a state that sets fashion trends, and we don't want this to become the fashionable thing to do."