[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 78 (Friday, May 23, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7172-S7173]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




ENDING UNWARRANTED EUROPEAN UNION MORATORIUM AGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY 
                                PRODUCTS

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 154, which was 
submitted earlier today.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 154) expressing the support of the 
     Senate of the United States efforts in the World Trade 
     Organization to end the unwarranted moratorium imposed by the 
     European Union on the approval of agricultural biotechnology 
     products.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution 
be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be 
laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to the matter be 
printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 154) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

                              S. Res. 154

       Expressing the support of the Senate of United States 
     efforts in the World Trade Organization to end the 
     unwarranted moratorium imposed by the European Union on the 
     approval of agricultural biotechnology products.
       Whereas agricultural biotechnology is subject to the 
     strictest Federal review in the United States, based on sound 
     science, by the Department of Agriculture, the Environmental 
     Protection Agency, and the Food and Drug Administration prior 
     to planting and human consumption;
       Whereas agricultural biotechnology has made considerable 
     contributions to the protection of the environment by 
     creating an environment more hospitable to wildlife and 
     reducing the application of pesticides by 46,000,000 pounds 
     in 2001 alone;
       Whereas agricultural biotechnology holds tremendous promise 
     for greatly increasing the world's supply of nutritious and 
     wholesome foods which will improve the quality of life and 
     health in the developing world;
       Whereas there is objective and experience-based consensus 
     in the international scientific community, including the 
     National Academy of Sciences, the American Medical 
     Association, the Royal Society of London, the French Academy 
     of Medicine, the French Academy of Sciences, the Brazilian 
     Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the 
     Indian National Science Academy, and the Mexican Academy of 
     Science, that agricultural biotechnology is safe;
       Whereas policy decisions regarding agricultural 
     biotechnology in the European Union are being driven by 
     politics and not by sound science;
       Whereas since the late 1990s, the European Union has 
     pursued policies that shelter its markets from competition by 
     opposing the use of agricultural biotechnology;
       Whereas agricultural biotechnology policies of the European 
     Union have frustrated the development of modern scientific 
     tools and plant technology that could expand the production 
     of indigenous food products by

[[Page S7173]]

     addressing problems related to local pests, weather 
     conditions, and vitamin deficiencies;
       Whereas since its implementation in October 1998, the 
     moratorium has blocked more than $300,000,000 annually in 
     United States corn exports to countries in the European 
     Union;
       Whereas the European Union's unjustified moratorium on 
     agricultural biotechnology approvals has ramifications far 
     beyond the United States and Europe, forcing a slowdown in 
     the adoption and acceptance of beneficial biotechnology to 
     the detriment of farmers and consumers around the world, and 
     especially to starving people in the developing world;
       Whereas in the fall of 2002, famine-stricken African 
     countries rejected healthy, wholesome, United States 
     humanitarian offers of food aid because of ill-informed 
     health and environmental concerns and fears that future 
     exports to Europe would be jeopardized; and
       Whereas the 5-year moratorium on the approval of new 
     agricultural biotechnology products entering the European 
     market is not science based, effectively prohibits most 
     United States corn exports to Europe, violates European Union 
     law, and clearly breaches the rules of the World Trade 
     Organization: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate supports and applauds the efforts 
     of the Administration on behalf of the Nation's farmers 
     challenging the long-standing, unwarranted moratorium imposed 
     by the European Union on the approval of agricultural 
     biotechnology products and encourages the President to 
     continue to press this issue at the G-8 Summit in Evian, 
     France, on June 1 through 3, 2003.

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