[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 5 (Monday, February 3, 1997)]
[Pages 95-96]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's Radio Address

January 25, 1997

    Good morning. Today I'm pleased to announce a major new step toward 
protecting the health and safety of all Americans, especially our 
children.
    Almost a week ago, in my Inaugural Address, I told the American 
people that we must lead our country into the 21st century with the 
American dream alive for all our children, with the American promise of 
a more perfect Union a reality for all our people, with the light of our 
freedom illuminating all the world.
    I believe we will make this vision real by doing what we've always 
done in moments of great change--holding fast to our enduring values. 
Central among these is the belief that we work tirelessly to make our 
families stronger and our children safer. Nothing is more important to 
meeting this goal than seeing to it that Americans live in a world with 
clean air, safe food, pure water. Hard-working American parents deserve 
the peace of mind that comes from knowing that the meal they set before 
their children is safe.
    That's why I was so concerned by what happened in Washington State 
and in two other Western States this fall. Apple juice contaminated with 
a deadly strain of E. coli bacteria reached supermarket shelves. More 
than a dozen children, some as young as 2, were hospitalized, and one 
child died.
    I'm sure just about every parent in America remembers what E. coli 
can do. Four years ago this month, tragedy struck hundreds of families 
in the Western United States when they took their children to fast-food 
restaurants that served them hamburgers tainted by the E. coli bacteria. 
Five hundred people became ill, some of them severely, and four children 
lost their lives.
    Our administration has made it a top priority to protect the health 
and safety of all Americans. I signed into law legislation to keep 
harmful pesticides off our fruits and vegetables and legislation that 
keeps our drinking water safe and pure. We put in place strong new 
protections to ensure that seafood is safe. And last summer we announced 
steps to modernize our meat and poultry food and safety system for the 
first time in 90 years. These new safety rules will begin to take effect 
next week. From now on, all meat and poultry plants will be required to 
test for E. coli.
    We have built a solid foundation for the health of America's 
families. But clearly we must do more. No parent should have to think 
twice about the juice that they pour their children at breakfast or a 
hamburger ordered during dinner out. That's why today I'm announcing new 
steps to use cutting-edge technology to keep our food safe and to 
protect our children from deadly bacteria. We must continue to modernize 
the food safety system put in place at the dawn of the 20th century so 
that it can meet the demands of the 21st century.
    First, we will put in place a nationwide early warning system for 
food-borne illness. Right now the Centers for Disease Control, the Food 
and Drug Administration, and the Agriculture Department sponsor five 
centers across the country whose mission is to post a lookout for food-
borne diseases like E. coli bacteria and salmonella. Working with State 
and local governments, these sentinel sites in California, Oregon, 
Minnesota, Georgia, and Connecticut, actively track outbreaks of 
illnesses caused by contaminated food. Today I'm announcing we'll 
increase the number of these sites from five to eight and link them to 
other State health agencies. This expanded early warning system will 
enable us to catch outbreaks sooner and give us the data we need to help 
us prevent outbreaks from happening in the first place.
    Second, we will see to it that the early warning system uses state-
of-the-art technology to keep our food safe. We'll increase

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the number of expert disease detectives to investigate and control food-
borne disease outbreaks. We will give these experts the technology to 
use sophisticated new DNA finger-printing methods to trace dangerous 
bacteria to their source. We will create a permanent DNA fingerprint 
library so we can immediately recognize an illness if it reappears. And 
we will use advance communication networks to speed outbreak information 
to hospitals and public health agencies all around America.

    Third, I'm directing Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman, 
Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala, and the 
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Carol Browner, to 
work with communities, farmers, businesses, consumer protection groups, 
and all levels of Government to come up with additional measures to 
improve food safety. I want them to pay special attention to research 
and public education efforts. I want them to focus on what sort of 
partnerships the Government can form with the private sector to meet our 
goals. And I want them to report back to me with their findings within 
90 days.

    Finally, let me add that these new public health investments are 
paid for, line by line, dime by dime, in the balanced budget I will 
officially send to Congress next month. With this new early warning 
system to track food-borne illness, we are saying loud and clear that we 
will use the world's best science to make the world's most bountiful 
food supply safer than ever before for our families and for our 
children. Together we will see to it that our people and our Nation are 
prepared for the 21st century.

    Thanks for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 7:30 p.m. on January 24 in the 
Roosevelt Room at the White House for broadcast at 1:26 p.m. on January 
25.