Political Quotes

“the American taxpayer is making a considerable investment in research through the spending of Congress and the President. Part of the research that I am particularly interested in is the basic plant genome research. Current sequencing efforts on the Arabidopsis plant has allowed us to understand the plant gene and our ability to modify plants, with the potential of tremendously helping mankind throughout the world. We now have the ability to select one or two or a few genes, whose characteristics have been determined, and incorporate those genes into another plant to improve the nutrient digestibility, to improve the vitamins, to improve the needed minerals, to create the desease immunization values of that particular food product. We are now faced with what I call fear profiteers that are spreading the word of fear to stymie research. My message this morning is that we have to rely on scientific information as we pursue our scientific endeavors and not allow emotion and fear profiteers to determine the destiny of research and scientific achievement in this country. Mr. Speaker, the payoffs from plant genome research will depend in large part on our ability to capture and apply the benefits from it. Congress should support the goals of the plant genome research. The National Plant Genome Initiative is a well-managed public asset that represents a wise use of taxpayer dollars.”