Gilbert Gutknecht: “I want to show a couple of charts, because we are going to have several debates. This amendment is somewhat broader than…”

“I want to show a couple of charts, because we are going to have several debates. This amendment is somewhat broader than the one that I have drafted, but it really revolves around a couple of important points. One is the issue of price. I do not think anybody here today is going to dispute this chart. I did not make this chart. This was done by the Life Extension Foundation. The information is about 2 weeks old. If we compare what Americans pay to what Europeans pay, and we are talking about Europe here, not Mexico, not Third World countries, but we are talking about Switzerland and Germany, where they do not have price controls, at some point we are going to have to explain to our constituents why we stand idly by and allow this chart to exist. The issue they are going to raise, and it is going to be a red herring, is safety. Safety. Understand this, Mr. Chairman, every day millions of pounds of raw meat and vegetables come into this country, and we have checked with the FDA, it is the Food and Drug Administration, their own study in 1999 said that 4.4 percent of the produce coming into the United States has dangerous pathogens, including 3.3 percent have salmonella. Do Members know what can happen if we get salmonella? We can get real sick. In fact, we can die. That is every day that is coming into the United States.”