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Proclamation 7269--National Biotechnology Month, 2000
Note: EPA no longer updates this information, but it may be useful as a reference or resource.
[Federal Register: January 24, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 15)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Page 3777-3780]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr24ja00-124]
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Part V
The President
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Proclamation 7269--National Biotechnology Month, 2000
Presidential Documents
___________________________________________________________________
Title 3--
The President
[[Page 3779]]
Proclamation 7269 of January 19, 2000
National Biotechnology Month, 2000
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
As we stand at the dawn of a new century, we recognize
the enormous potential that biotechnology holds for
improving the quality of life here in the United States
and around the world. These technologies, which draw on
our understanding of the life sciences to develop
products and solve problems, are progressing at an
exponential rate and promise to make unprecedented
contributions to public health and safety, a cleaner
environment, and economic prosperity.
Today, a third of all new medicines in development are
based on biotechnology. Designed to attack the
underlying cause of an illness, not just its symptoms,
these medicines have tremendous potential to provide
not only more effective treatments, but also cures.
With improved understanding of cellular and genetic
processes, scientists have opened exciting new avenues
of research into treatments for devastating diseases--
like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, diabetes, heart
disease, AIDS, and cancer--that affect millions of
Americans. Biotechnology has also given us several new
vaccines, including one for rotavirus, now being tested
clinically, that could eradicate an illness responsible
for the deaths of more than 800,000 infants and
children each year.
The impact of biotechnology is far-reaching.
Bioremediation technologies are cleaning our
environment by removing toxic substances from
contaminated soils and ground water. Agricultural
biotechnology reduces our dependence on pesticides.
Manufacturing processes based on biotechnology make it
possible to produce paper and chemicals with less
energy, less pollution, and less waste. Forensic
technologies based on our growing knowledge of DNA help
us exonerate the innocent and bring criminals to
justice.
The biotechnology industry is also improving lives
through its substantial economic impact. Biotechnology
has stimulated the creation and growth of small
businesses, generated new jobs, and encouraged
agricultural and industrial innovation. The industry
currently employs more than 150,000 people and invests
nearly $10 billion a year on research and development.
Recognizing the extraordinary promise and benefits of
this enterprise, my Administration has pursued policies
to foster biotechnology innovations as expeditiously
and prudently as possible. We have supported steady
increases in funding for basic scientific research at
the National Institutes of Health and other science
agencies; accelerated the process for approving new
medicines to make them available as quickly and safely
as possible; encouraged private-sector research
investment and small business development through tax
incentives and the Small Business Innovation Research
program; promoted intellectual property protection and
open international markets for biotechnology inventions
and products; and developed public databases that
enable scientists to coordinate their efforts in an
enterprise that has become one of the world's finest
examples of partnership among university-based
researchers, government, and private industry.
Remarkable as its achievements have been, the
biotechnology enterprise is still in its infancy. We
will reap even greater benefits as long as we
[[Page 3780]]
sustain the intellectual partnership and public
confidence that have moved biotechnology forward thus
far. We must strengthen our efforts to improve science
education for all Americans and preserve and promote
the freedom of scientific inquiry. We must protect
patients from the misuse or abuse of sensitive medical
information and provide Federal regulatory agencies
with sufficient resources to maintain sound, science-
based review and regulation of biotechnology products.
And we must strive to ensure that science-based
regulatory programs worldwide promote public safety,
earn public confidence, and guarantee fair and open
international markets.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United
States, do hereby proclaim January 2000 as National
Biotechnology Month. I call upon the people of the
United States to observe this month with appropriate
programs, ceremonies, and activities.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
nineteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord two
thousand, and of the Independence of the United States
of America the two hundred and twenty-fourth.
(Presidential Sig.)
[FR Doc. 00-1758
Filed 1-21-00; 10:34 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P