[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 3 (Monday, January 24, 2000)]
[Pages 116-117]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7269--National Biotechnology Month, 2000

January 19, 2000

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    As we stand at the dawn of a new century, we recognize the enormous 
potential that biotechnology holds for improving the quality of life 
here in the United States and around the world. These technologies, 
which draw on our understanding of the life sciences to develop products 
and solve problems, are progressing at an exponential rate and promise 
to make unprecedented contributions to public health and safety, a 
cleaner environment, and economic prosperity.
    Today, a third of all new medicines in development are based on 
biotechnology. Designed to attack the underlying cause of an illness, 
not just its symptoms, these medicines have tremendous potential to 
provide not only more effective treatments, but also cures. With 
improved understanding of cellular and genetic processes, scientists 
have opened exciting new avenues of research into treatments for 
devastating diseases--like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, diabetes, heart 
disease, AIDS, and cancer--that affect millions of Americans. 
Biotechnology has also given us several new vaccines, including one for 
rotavirus, now being tested clinically, that could eradicate an illness 
responsible for the deaths of more than 800,000 infants and children 
each year.
    The impact of biotechnology is far-reaching. Bioremediation 
technologies are cleaning our environment by removing toxic substances 
from contaminated soils and ground water. Agricultural biotechnology 
reduces our dependence on pesticides. Manufacturing processes based on 
biotechnology make it possible to produce paper and chemicals with less 
energy, less pollution, and less waste. Forensic technologies based on 
our growing knowledge of DNA help us exonerate the innocent and bring 
criminals to justice.
    The biotechnology industry is also improving lives through its 
substantial economic impact. Biotechnology has stimulated the creation 
and growth of small businesses, generated new jobs, and encouraged 
agricultural and industrial innovation. The industry currently employs 
more than 150,000 people and invests nearly $10 billion a year on 
research and development.
    Recognizing the extraordinary promise and benefits of this 
enterprise, my Administration has pursued policies to foster 
biotechnology innovations as expeditiously and prudently as possible. We 
have supported steady increases in funding for basic scientific research 
at the National Institutes of Health and other science agencies; 
accelerated the process for approving new medicines to make them 
available as quickly and safely as possible; encouraged private-sector 
research investment and small business development through tax 
incentives and the Small Business Innovation Research program; promoted 
intellectual property protection and open international markets for 
biotechnology inventions and products; and developed public databases 
that enable scientists to coordinate their efforts in an enterprise that 
has become one of the world's finest examples of partnership among 
university-based researchers, government, and private industry.
    Remarkable as its achievements have been, the biotechnology 
enterprise is still in its infancy. We will reap even greater benefits 
as long as we sustain the intellectual partnership and public confidence 
that have moved biotechnology forward thus far. We must strengthen our 
efforts to improve science education for all Americans and preserve and 
promote the freedom of scientific inquiry. We must protect patients from 
the misuse or abuse of sensitive medical information and provide Federal 
regulatory agencies with sufficient resources to maintain sound, 
science-based review and regulation of biotechnology products. And we 
must strive to ensure that science-based regulatory programs worldwide 
promote public safety, earn public confidence, and guarantee fair and 
open international markets.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the 
Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim January 
2000 as National Biotechnology Month. I call upon

[[Page 117]]

the people of the United States to observe this month with appropriate 
programs, ceremonies, and activities.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this nineteenth day 
of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand, and of the 
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-
fourth.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 10:34 a.m., January 21, 
2000]

Note: This proclamation was released by the Office of the Press 
Secretary on January 20, and it was published in the Federal Register on 
January 24.