[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 41 (Tuesday, April 4, 2006)]
[House]
[Page H1421]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      HONORING DR. NORMAN BORLAUG

  (Mr. LATHAM asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. LATHAM. Mr. Speaker, Dr. Norman Borlaug is an American superhero 
that few people have ever heard of.
  Dr. Borlaug's campaign to save the lives of the world's neediest 
people through agricultural science deserves special recognition.
  How many lives has he saved? Dr. Borlaug's innovative leadership in 
plant breeding and agricultural production is credited with saving the 
lives of nearly 1 billion people from starvation. That is right: one 
billion souls.
  In 1994 he was given the task of researching high-yield and disease-
resistant cereal grains. Through trial and error, Dr. Borlaug's 
successful efforts led to the development of varieties of wheat that 
completely altered production agriculture as it was known then in 
places like Pakistan and India and Mexico.
  The dwarf wheat variety he developed allowed farmers to produce far 
more grain per acre than anyone could have predicted. This newfound 
bounty gave the world's poorest people access to food, ensuring that 
children, who would have been victims of malnutrition, could thrive. 
His landmark discoveries in agriculture led to what is called today the 
``Green Revolution.''
  Dr. Borlaug is a legendary figure within the agricultural community, 
and his name is held in high regard around the world. However, this 
Cresco, Iowa, native is a very modest man who once said that his 
accomplishments were ``a temporary success in man's war against hunger 
and deprivation.''
  Almost 40 years since receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, he continues 
at age 92 to work for improvement of mankind.
  For this reason I introduced H.R. 4924, which is a bill to award Dr. 
Norman Borlaug the Congressional Gold Medal for his lifetime of service 
to the world.
  Dr. Borlaug's leadership has inspired so many of our best and 
brightest students to pursue careers in agricultural sciences. His work 
and the work of future innovators will live on in the lives of those 
who have been spared the misery of starvation.
  I ask my colleagues to consider adding their names to H.R. 4924 so 
that we can officially recognize this great humanitarian.

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