[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 45 (Tuesday, April 11, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H2016-H2017]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    GENE TECHNOLOGY HAS COME OF AGE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 19, 1999, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Smith) is recognized 
during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SMITH of Michigan. Madam Speaker, gene technology has come of 
age. It is referred to under different names: genetic engineering, gene 
splicing, bioengineering, recombinant DNA. No matter the name used to 
describe it, this technology represents the latest tool in a continuum 
of techniques researchers have developed and adopted over the 
centuries.
  As chairman of the Subcommittee on Basic Research of the Committee on 
Science, we have spent the last 14 months studying this new 
biotechnology of genetically modifying products. We will be releasing 
probably the most inclusive and detailed report this coming Thursday at 
2:30 at a press conference in Room 2320, the Committee on Science room. 
It is a summation of the findings of a series of three hearings held 
during the first session of the 106th Congress by our Subcommittee on 
Basic Research entitled, ``Plant Genome Science: From the Lab to the 
Field to the Market.'' Additionally we have talked to and counciled 
with many other world experts on this subject.
  What is truly powerful about this technology is that it allows 
individual, well-characterized genes to be transferred from one 
organism to another, thus increasing the genetic diversity available to 
improve important commercial crop plants as well as pharmaceuticals.
  The potential benefits to mankind are limited only by the 
resourcefulness of our scientists. Biotechnology has been used safely 
for many years to develop new and useful products used in a variety of 
industry.
  More than a thousand products have now been approved for marketing, 
and many more are being developed. These products include dozens of 
therapeutics, including human insulin for diabetics, growth factors 
used in bone marrow transplants, products for treating heart attacks, 
hundreds of diagnostic tests for AIDS and hepatitis, and other 
infectious agents, enzymes used in food production, such as those used 
for the production of cheese and other products.
  And this is just the beginning. In agriculture, new plant varieties 
created with these techniques will offer foods with better taste, more 
nutrition, longer shelf life, and farmers will be able to grow these 
improved varieties more efficiently, leading to lower costs for 
consumers and greater environmental protection.
  Soybeans that produce high oleic oil containing less saturated fat 
and less processing; cotton plants that fight pests or produce 
naturally colored cotton, reducing the need for chemical dies; bananas 
that deliver vaccines to fight enteric diseases are just a few examples 
of what is in store.
  While millions of lives all over the world have been protected and 
enriched by biotechnology, its application to agriculture has been 
coming under attack by well-financed activist groups. The controversy 
they have generated revolves around probably three basic questions as I 
have defined them: one, are agricultural biotechnology and classical 
breeding methods conceptually the same? Two, are these products safe to 
eat? And three, are they safe for the environment?
  The testimony and other material made available to the subcommittee 
as we have met with leading scientists throughout the world lead me to 
conclude that the answer to all three questions is a resounding yes.
  In fact, modern biotechnology is so precise and so much more is known 
about the changes being made that plants produced using this technology 
may even be safer than traditionally bred plants.
  This report contains background information on the development and 
oversight of plant genetics and agricultural biotechnology, a summary 
of the subcommittee hearings, and my findings and recommendations based 
on these hearings. I hope that it will be of use to all of the 
scientists and researchers in America as we examine this important 
issue of biotechnology.
  The human genome effort and the plant genome effort with the 
arabidopsis thaliana is being completed well ahead of schedule and will 
have a tremendous impact on our lives and the lives of people all over 
the world. We need to move ahead, but we need to make sure that 
scientific facts and not rumors and scare tactics are the basis of 
information to the general public. Politically motivated misinformation 
can slow down the advancement of a science that has so much potential 
for mankind.

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