Tom Harkin: “I am pleased to join my Senate colleagues in recognizing January as National Biotechnology Month. At the dawn of this…”

“I am pleased to join my Senate colleagues in recognizing January as National Biotechnology Month. At the dawn of this new century, it is fitting for us to recognize the promise and potential of biotechnology. With the mapping of the human genome, we are on the brink of critical advances in health care and medical discovery. These advances can become new cures and new treatments, new industrial products, and improved agricultural products. Biotechnology is changing medical practice from the way diseases are diagnosed to the way they are treated. By helping us to understand life at the molecular level, biotechnology can help eliminate the guesswork of disease management and treatment. Biotechnology researchers have already made dramatic strides in confronting some of our most devastating and tragic diseases, from cancer to multiple sclerosis to Alzheimers. Recent breakthroughs in human embryonic stem cell research have given us cause to predict cures for diseases such as Parkinsons, juvenile diabetes and spinal cord injury.”