Political Quotes

“What it calls for is more research. More research is going to include not only what it can do for people but also to increase the safety of any resulting product. The gentleman mentioned that a lot of the private research so far in this area has been to simply increase profits. That is the kind of private research in genomics that have been directed at plant products that can be sold because they increase yield or they reduce the cost for the farmer. If we are going to have the kind of research that helps people, there is no doubt that Federal funding for genomic research is important, that research in areas possibly has no profit potential but that can help alleviate poverty, that can protect the environment, that can improve human health, and that can reduce our overdependence on petroleum products. Reducing our dependency on petroleum energy is one of the areas that I have been concerned about. We have the potential to enhance the nitrogen-fixing capability of agricultural plants.”