Scott Klug: “319,000 dairy cows, to be more specific. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague, the gentleman from Florida…”

“319,000 dairy cows, to be more specific. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague, the gentleman from Florida [Mr. Bilirakis], for his terrific work on behalf of this legislation, and also the full chairman of committee, the gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Bliley], and my colleague, the gentleman from Colorado [Mr. Allard], one of the few veterinarians in Congress, who has been such a strong advocate for this piece of legislation. Mr. Speaker, as you know, for the last year the Committee on Commerce has been struggling with the ways to modernize the Food and Drug Administration, which now regulates a quarter of this Nation's economy. We have high hopes in the next session of Congress we will be able to streamline the process to approve prescription drugs and also medical devices. Part of what we have been able to accomplish this session of Congress are two major changes in terms of the FDA's responsibility in food content. One of them is the modernization of the Delaney clause, and then this piece of legislation we have in front of us today. As we know, the current law requires animal drugs to be approved in 6 months, but it actually takes an average of 58 months. Only 1 in 7,500 chemicals ever makes it through the current approval process. In the past 5 years the FDA has approved only four new drugs for food-producing animals.”