[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 40 (Monday, October 6, 1997)]
[Pages 1476-1479]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]
<R04>
Remarks Announcing a Food Safety Initiative and an Exchange With
Reporters
October 2, 1997
The President. Thank you Mr. Vice President, Secretary Shalala,
Deputy Secretary Rominger, Cathie Woteki, Dr. Friedman, all the
representatives of the groups that have helped us come to this day.
Our Government made a fundamental promise to the American people of
a bounti
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ful and safe food supply way back at the beginning of this century. It
is a promise that we have had to renew our commitment to periodically
over the years and a promise that needed a lot of work when I became
President. From the day I took office, I worked very hard to honor that
commitment, to make our food supply the world's safest, even safer.
In 1993, the Vice President's National Performance Review
recommended an overhaul of our food safety procedures so that we could
use the best scientific technology available in inspection methods to
make sure that we had put in the best preventive controls to keep our
food supply the world's safest.
Since then, we have taken major steps. We first put in place
rigorous new safety standards for seafood, meat, and poultry products,
throwing out archaic and ineffective methods of inspection that had not
been updated for nearly a century. We've required slaughterhouses to
test for deadly E. coli and salmonella bacteria. We've begun developing
new safety standards for fruit and vegetable juices. We've strengthened
our system of guaranteeing that our drinking water will remain safe and
improved public health protections for pesticide uses on food. And we
brought a host of Federal agencies together to boost food safety
research, education, and surveillance efforts around our Nation. In so
doing, we're using the world's best science to help prevent food
contamination tragedies before they happen, to make sure our supply of
food is as safe as it can be.
Today, our food supply remains the world's safest, but we can't rest
on those accomplishments. We have to do more. At the time when Americans
are eating more and more food from around the globe, we must spare no
effort to ensure the safety of our food supply from whatever source.
Today, I want to tell you the new steps we're taking to ensure that
our fruits and vegetables, including those imported from other
countries, meet the highest health and safety standards. First, I'm
asking Congress to give the Food and Drug Administration the power and
the obligation to ban the importation of fruits, vegetables, and other
foods from countries whose safety precautions do not meet American
standards. This new law would be similar to a law that already requires
the United States Department of Agriculture to keep meat and poultry
from countries with inferior food safety systems out of our stores.
In my next budget, I will provide enough funds to ensure that the
FDA can fully implement this new legislation by dramatically expanding
its international food inspection force. With these efforts, we can make
sure that no fruits and vegetables cross our borders, enter our ports,
or reach our dinner tables without meeting the same strict standards as
those grown here in America. Our food safety system is the strongest in
the world, and that's how it's going to stay.
I'm also directing the Secretary of Health and Human Services and
the Secretary of Agriculture to work together in close cooperation with
the agricultural community to develop the first-ever specific safety
standards for the growing, processing, shipping, and selling of fruits
and vegetables. These standards will address potential food safety
problems throughout the production and distribution system, and they'll
improve the sanitation and safety practices of all those seeking to sell
produce in the United States market.
I'm asking Secretary Shalala and Glickman to report back to me
within 90 days with a complete schedule for developing these standards
within a year. I'll also ask them to submit a comprehensive plan to
improve the monitoring of food safety programs abroad, to help foreign
countries upgrade their safety precautions and toughen food inspections
at the border.
Being a parent is perhaps the toughest job in the world. Our parents
deserve the peace of mind that comes from knowing the food they set
before their children is safe. With today's new actions, we can help
make their jobs much easier.
And, again, let me thank all of those who were involved in this
effort as I sign this order. Thank you very much.
[At this point, the President signed the memorandum.]
The President. Thanks.
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Appropriations Legislation
Q. Mr. President, will you be using the line item veto----
The President. Excuse me?
Q. Will you be using the line item veto on any of the appropriations
bills that you've just passed--that you've just signed?
The President. Well, let me say, I have received only--I've received
one memorandum from my staff on one bill. And that came in late last
night, so I haven't read it. But I will consider it--as the bills come
in, I will ask for a review of the potential uses by specific bill and
make judgments as we go along. I have nothing to report at this time,
because I have received only one memorandum, and I haven't read it.
2000 Decennial Census
Q. What about the census, sir? Do you have any concerns concerning
the Commerce bill and the particular ways that the money will be used
for the census?
The President. Well, my feeling is that we ought to do the census as
well as we can. I don't think this is a complicated issue. The National
Science Foundation has recommended this statistical sampling method. The
man who did President Bush's census says that it's the only way to get
the most accurate count. I just want to do whatever the Census Bureau
believes, the full-time professionals believe is the most accurate thing
to do.
I think that's a heavy constitutional responsibility we have, to
conduct a census that is as accurate as possible based on what the
professionals say. This ought to be a professional, not a political
judgment. And that's the position I will take throughout.
Q. Mr. President, did the Democratic Party send money to the States
because of Federal election law restrictions?
Q. Mr. President, there are fresh fruit and vegetable producers that
are saying----
The President. Well, wait a minute. I'll take both of them. Go ahead
first.
Food Safety
Q. There are fresh fruit and vegetable producers that are saying
that you're acting with this action as the world food police and that
your actions here today are unwarranted and that's going to complicate
the trade environment.
The President. Well, I hope it doesn't complicate the trade
environment. But you know, it seems to me that we have no higher
responsibility than to protect the health and safety of our citizens,
and everyone who has been following all of your reporting over the last
4 or 5 years knows that we have had continuing challenges in food
safety. We have millions of people who get sick every year. And we're
not trying to unfairly target foreign producers of food into our market.
We don't ask them to meet any standards we don't meet. And indeed, if
you look at the actions of this administration over the last 4 years,
when we started, I think you can make a compelling case that we started
working on things that were problems coming out of the American market
first. So I just don't think that's right.
I don't want it to complicate the trade environment, but I'm not
interested in trade in things that will make the American people sick.
1996 Campaign Financing
Q. Mr. President, did the Democratic National Committee send money
to the States in order to get around the Federal spending limits that
went along with accepting Federal money for the national campaign, sir?
The President. It's my understanding that everything the Democratic
National Committee did had the prior approval of the lawyers. If they
cleared it all in advance, then it was perfectly legal. And when this
issue was raised about a year ago, the exact issue, I believe that that
was clarified at that time. I'm sure that they had legal advice that
they followed, and I believe the Republicans said that they did some of
the same things and also had prior legal clearance.
Q. Mr. Clinton, do you feel that Mrs. Reno--she's been advised to go
forward with the 90-day investigation into the fundraising calls of the
Vice President--and perhaps Mr. Gore would like to comment, too----
The President. I think that----
Q. ----do you feel that the 90-day investigation would be helpful?
The President. Well, if you read the statute, she can consider
certain things in the
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90-day period that are not permitted in the 30-day period. But I think
this is a legal question, and it should be done based on an independent
legal review with no pressure from the outside, from me or from anyone
else. And that's the way I intend to keep it, at least on my part.
Thank you.
Note: The President spoke at 10:59 a.m. in the Rose Garden at the White
House.