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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services | ||||
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| REMARKS BY: | TOMMY G. THOMPSON, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES |
| PLACE: | The Tribuna Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain |
| DATE: | July 8, 2002 |
President Burniol, members of Tribuna Barcelona and other distinguished guests, it is a true pleasure and honor to be to be with you here today. The Tribuna is a forum that enables leading men and women from all facets of Catalan life come together to learn, to discuss and then to act. I applaud your commitment to building a better life for everyone in your beautiful country and this wonderful city.
I'm so very pleased to talk with you today about an issue that is so critical to the common future of men and women everywhere. It is no exaggeration to say that the biotechnology industry is defining innovation in our time.
Biotechnology is improving so many aspects of life for people in every corner of the globe. The scientific data show that biotechnology can result in healthier foods and be better for the environment. Biotech foods could improve food yields by up to 25 percent in the developing world and feed the more than three billion people to be born in the next three decades.
This message of employing innovation to boost food security, nutrition and sustainable agriculture is one of the key themes the United States is going to bring to the World Summit on Sustainable Development later this summer in Johannesburg.
The field of biotechnology is a broad one. There are many issues that challenge us and demand our best efforts in a public-private partnership.
Today, I'll deal with three areas of particular and immediate concern in the United States and to some extent to the entire globe: Stem cell research � the issue of human cloning � and some of the work we are doing in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which we call the FDA.
First, let me touch on stem cell research. When I was Governor of the great state of Wisconsin - and by the way, how many of you here have ever been to my wonderful home state? Let me invite all of you to come and see us. We'd love to show you what I believe is one of the most beautiful and friendly places in the United States.
Well, when I was Governor of Wisconsin, a University of Wisconsin researcher named Dr. Jaime Thomson - he's not a relative of mine, we just have a similar last name - conducted groundbreaking research into embryonic stem cells. I worked hard to provide funding for his research, and was gratified when, last year, the President authorized research on existing embryonic stem cell lines.
Now, our National Institutes of Health has named 14 laboratories throughout the world that can distribute 78 embryonic stem cell lines that meet President Bush's criteria for federally funded research.
Basic research will be done on these cell lines, and will be done, in part, with the use of federal funds. We have begun issuing grants to companies and academic institutions to study the stem cell lines we have approved.
And we're already beginning to realize the promise of this kind of research. At the Waisman Center at the University of Wisconsin, neural stem cells are being genetically modified to release glial derived neurotrophic factor, or GDNF. GDNF is known to prevent the death of dopamine neurons - the very thing that underlies Parkinson's Disease.
These stem cells have been transplanted into rat and monkey models of Parkinson's Disease at the Waisman Center and Primate Center. The result: significantly improved motor skills in rats and monkeys with Parkinson's symptoms.
This is very significant - especially, of course, for sufferers of Parkinson's Disease.
There are other amazing developments in the area of adult stem cell research. In January, researchers at the University of Minnesota announced that they made a discovery about an adult stem cell that has the potential to develop into many different cell types in the human body.
Previously, researchers had believed that only embryonic stem cells could be developed into multiple cell types. But it now seems entirely possible that cells from one's own body can be coaxed into replacement organs and tissue that match one's body precisely.
I am passionate about moving forward with this kind of research within the guidelines established by President Bush. So many conditions, from Parkinson's Disease and multiple sclerosis to various types of cancer, could well benefit - could even be defeated - by stem cell research. In my role as Secretary of Health and Human Services, I am doing all I can to promote research in adult stem cells and embryonic stem lines that existed prior to President Bush's announcement last year.
Stem cell research is only one facet of our commitment to improving the quality of care and the quality of life.
Along with the many positive innovations of biotechnology, I do need to mention the enormously troubling development of human cloning in biotechnology.
The United States has taken a strong stand against human cloning. It is unethical in itself and it sets a dangerous precedent for human research.
The possible creation of a human being through cloning raises many ethical concerns. It is a giant step toward a society in which life is created for convenience, human beings are grown for spare body parts, and children are engineered to eugenic specifications. We must not allow this devaluation of human life to occur.
In my country's Declaration of Independence, the great charter of our identity as a nation and people, we affirm that all persons are "created equal," and are "endowed by their Creator" with certain essential rights. The foremost among these is the right to life. We must not tamper with that most fundamental of human rights.
My country supports a global and comprehensive ban on human cloning. The U.S. government would like to thank the government of Spain for its support for our position at the United Nations. As in so many things, President Aznar is our partner in this effort, and we so appreciate working with your government on this important issue.
Finally, let me briefly discuss another key aspect of America's commitment to improving the quality of care and the quality of life for everyone. It is the work being done by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the FDA.
The FDA is important because American pharmaceutical and food products are used not only domestically in the United States but are exported to much of the world. The FDA reviews products � guarantees food safety � and ensures that when an American drug or foodstuff is sent to Catalunya, or when a product from Catalunya is exported to the United States, it is uncontaminated and effective.
To that end, just this year we have hired 655 new food safety personnel. Training these new inspectors is the FDA's top priority.
As these inspectors are trained, the FDA will double physical examinations of food imports in 2002 and again next year.
I know that many of you are concerned with the issue of biotech foods. President Bush and I oppose mandatory labeling of food products that contain bio-engineered ingredients. Mandatory labeling would only frighten consumers and play into the hands of those who exploit fear rather than deal in fact.
The Bush Administration believes that mandating the labeling of foods that contain bio-engineered ingredients will be costly both to industry and consumers. It will not provide any useful safety or health information to the public and might imply to some that bio-engineered ingredients are unsafe. That's simply not the case, so we oppose the effort to label such foods.
Well, stem cells, human cloning and the changes in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are some of the larger items on the horizon of biotechnology and health care policy. In the context of sound ethics, biotechnology offers such enormous promise it is hard to overstate it.
So, let me thank each of you again for coming today and for your commitment to a better, healthier society for the people in Barcelona, in Spain and in nations - like my own - throughout the world.
Vayan con Dios. Thank you again very much.