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REMARKS BY: TOMMY G. THOMPSON,SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES PLACE: The National Food Processors Association, Washington, D.C. DATE: November 27, 2001
Dennis's company, Agrilink, bought Dean Foods in Green Bay in my great home state of Wisconsin a few years ago and employs more than 2,000 Wisconsinites. So, Dennis is pretty high in my book.
I also want to thank Kelly Johnston for his leadership. Kelly had a distinguished career on Capitol Hill, culminating in his appointment as Secretary of the United States Senate. He's a tremendous asset to the NFPA and we in the Administration appreciate working with him.
It's fitting that I'm speaking to America's food processors right after Thanksgiving. One only needs to look at the bounty of America's tables, or the generosity of the American people toward those in need, to know how blessed we are in this remarkable country.
As some of you might know, my Dad was a grocer. I began working in the store polishing eggs when I was five years old and worked there until I was 16. So, I'm very pleased to be among a group of men and women whose work is essential to the security and prosperity of the country we all love.
Our love of our country has only deepened since September 11th. The attacks in New York and at the Pentagon, and the plane crash in Pennsylvania amounted to an assault on every American and the convictions about life and liberty we all share.
I've been to New York City and to the Pentagon. I've spoken with rescue workers and physicians and with EMS personnel. They are extraordinary men and women.
As President Bush said recently, "We have gained new heroes: Those who ran into burning buildings to save others, our police and our firefighters. Those who battled their own fears to keep children calm and safe, America's teachers. Those who voluntarily placed themselves in harm's way to defend our freedom, the men and women of the Armed Forces."
These new heroes rank with heroes of a different kind - men and women who prevent disease, fight hunger, champion prosperity and foster a better quality of life for everyone here at home and people around the world. In other words, men and women like you.
Our war against international terrorism is going well. The territory of the Taliban is shrinking day by day. Osama bin Ladin is jumping from cave to cave, trying to stay one step ahead of the greatest warriors on earth - our military's special forces . and the United States Marines.
The moral misfits who ran Afghanistan and who attacked us on September 11th are fleeing in fear, but they are hiding in vain. They have but two alternatives - surrender, and face justice, or run, and face death.
They thought they knew us. They thought we were weak and easy to prey upon because we are free and open. How very, very wrong they were.
Our freedom makes us strong. Our representative democracy is rooted in our belief that every person is created equal. And our heritage of liberty inspires us to great deeds.
Let our enemies ponder those truths before they consider striking again. The great lesson for our adversaries, whoever they might be, is that America is a peaceful giant; but when a giant is stirred, let his foes beware.
Today, I want to talk with you a bit about what we're doing at the Department of Health and Human Services to advance an agenda I know is important to you and to every American.
Like all of you, the Bush Administration is committed to a science-based program that provides a high level of public confidence in the safety of our food supply.
Let me make some comments about biotechnology and food allergens, then discuss our efforts on bioterrorism and conclude with some remarks about food safety. After I'm done, I'll be glad to answer your questions.
While I was governor of Wisconsin, I was a founding member of the Governor's Biotechnology Partnership. Our purpose was to engage our fellow governors and other state officials in an ongoing effort to better understand the role of biotechnology, particularly with respect to agriculture and food safety.
That was important to me because biotechnology makes such a difference in the production of safe and affordable food products. Biotech enables farmers to create hybrid plants more quickly. The scientific data show that biotechnology results in healthier foods and is better for the environment.
Through biotech, foods already developed ripen more naturally once picked and are more disease- and insect-resistant than conventionally developed crops, allowing for less use of pesticides. Biotechnology helps us feed a world with more and more people, many of them in poor and developing countries.
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 will save forestland, reduce the use of chemical pesticides and provide a higher standard of living for everyone, whether in the U.S. and Europe or in places like Sub-Saharan Africa and other developing regions.
At HHS, we're mindful of the need for reasonable and appropriate regulation. As a nation, we've put 30 years of research into food biotechnology. From that research have come the regulatory and labeling practices now in place.
I know that your industry has been very clear in its opposition to mandatory labeling of biotech foods. I want to tell you today that I share your opposition. Mandatory labeling would only frighten consumers and play into the hands of those who exploit fear rather than deal in fact.
Biotech foods offer promise because advances in technology continue to be made. But other technological advances offer promise, as well. I'm thinking of the ways we can address the problem of allergens in food. More efforts are needed to protect consumers who have food allergies.
Millions of Americans - including some of us here in this room and people we care about - have severe allergies to certain types of foods.
Let me offer one example that immediately caught my attention because it's from my home state. I'm sure you have heard that not long ago, food safety officials in the states of Wisconsin and Minnesota took a food allergen survey.
The survey reviewed some specific products - candy, baked goods and ice cream and showed that 25 percent of these products had unwanted peanut residue in them.
For some Americans, peanuts are not a healthful source of protein but a potentially deadly health hazard. So, the FDA is increasing its inspections to guard against cross-contamination during manufacturing.
I know that the NFPA has developed an industry code of practice to help food companies reduce such cross-contamination, and I commend your leadership in this important area.
I also want to thank you for your leadership on allergen labeling, which helps to alert people to the dangers of certain allergens in your products.
I know you're doing this voluntarily, and I thank you for it. By alerting people - in labels written in plain English - to possible ingredient problems, you're saving lives, not to mention the cost of litigation.
Technology holds great promise. But there's one other technology that's not a promise - it is a threat. Of course, I'm thinking of bioterrorism.
Winston Churchill once said, "Let our advanced worrying become advanced thinking and planning." We at the Department of Health and Human Services have taken those words to heart on the bioterrorism front. Since I arrived in Washington a short eight months ago, we have assembled the greatest collection of doctors and scientists in the world.
From the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control to the National Institutes of Health and the HHS headquarters here in Washington, we're all working continuously to strengthen our nation's preparedness.
As you know, President Bush has focused with great intensity on responding to and preventing bioterrorism. The branches of the federal government have worked together admirably, and I believe their coordination is improving each day.
That improvement will be even more evident with passage of the President's funding request to strengthen our anti-bioterrorism efforts in the aftermath of September 11th. The President has requested an additional $1.5 billion for next year to strengthen our ability to prevent and respond to a bioterrorist attack, as part of a $40 billion homeland defense package.
We've grown stronger and better prepared, and will continue to in coming months. With these additional resources, we can place greater attention on our efforts to better ensure the safety of our food supply.
The President is requesting $61 million to enhance the frequency and the quality of imported food inspections and to modernize the import data system to enable us to detect tainted food.
We need to improve the "Oasis" system, which has an impressive track record for deterring and containing food thought to be contaminated.
The Administration's request for additional funding includes $46 million to provide for 410 new FDA inspectors to help ensure that our food supply is better protected, especially at the border.
Of these 410 inspectors, 210 will be deployed to our ports, to better evaluate imported food . 100 will be involved in laboratory testing . and another 100 will be active in domestic food inspection.
I should note that President Bush and I were committed to providing the FDA with the tools it needs even before September 11th. The President's budget request for the FDA for fiscal year 2002 includes a 16 percent increase to help address such important issues as "mad cow" disease prevention, pesticides and other contaminants.
The new budget will help ensure that the FDA has the scientists and inspectors needed to maintain the very high quality of our food supply.
But it is not simply a matter of money. We also need enhanced authority to prevent potentially contaminated foods from entering into commercial channels. Let me mention several areas that I think are important and are included in legislation we have submitted to Congress.
Currently the FDA cannot require the owners of food to hold distribution until a product's safety can be determined. In a public health emergency, I believe that authority to detain food is both reasonable and vital to protecting the American public.
The Administration has requested this new authority in cases of emergency. This new emergency authority is limited. I do not believe it can be abused, nor will it disrupt the way you conduct your enterprises. It simply helps ensure that we can quickly move to protect every American in case an emergency arises.
We also need to enable the FDA to prevent importers who have a history of repeated violations of our food safety laws from continuing to import food into our country.
So, we have asked for authority to debar importers who refuse to play by the rules. We have also asked food importers to give us advance notice that their shipments are approaching our borders.
That way, the FDA will have time to gather information and have appropriate inspectors available so that when goods arrive in port, the inspectors can make quick, informed decisions about whether to allow the goods to enter our country.
These initiatives, which involve both new resources and new authority, are long overdue. The Administration is glad to be working with you in advancing them.
We have also asked that the FDA have reasonable access to company records if they suspect food is contaminated. Such records could identify the location of a product or the source of the contaminant, if food was being used as a vehicle for bioterrorism.
Please know that we are looking forward to working with you hand-in-hand to improve food safety and complement the tremendous work you already have done. The President and I and our entire Administration want to work in tandem with you - not in any fashion as adversaries, but as partners joined in a common purpose.
We have heard the concerns many of you have voiced about protecting your trade secrets and other proprietary information. So, we have worked with Congress to ensure this limitation is included in the final bill. I especially want to thank the NFPA for your good work to strike the appropriate balance in this area.
The Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition within the FDA, under Joe Levitt's direction, is devoting its full attention to counterterrorism. The Center has established several internal working groups, including emergency preparedness, laboratory capability and preventive actions.
The Center is also working closely with our counterparts at the USDA to ensure the kind of coordination I spoke about earlier.
Now, let me thank you for your role in establishing the Alliance for Food Security. And let me also tell you how much I appreciated John Cady's testimony to the Senate last month on this issue.
The Alliance for Food Security is a wonderful coalition that is doing much to ensure that we are providing the highest level of vigilance.
By the way, I know that Joe Levitt is here and will be speaking to you later in your conference. He's a tremendous resource for the Center, for the FDA and for all of you, and I so appreciate his outstanding work.
The FDA is working closely with you and has developed guidance for food companies to minimize the risk of food contamination by terrorists or by some person or group that wants to tamper with America's food supply. Your work to this end is essential, and on behalf of the President, I thank you for it.
Let me be clear that the FDA and HHS cannot do this work alone. We are partners with you. We all have to work together, whether through the new inspectors we're appointing or through voluntary monitoring. We are partners, and I can tell you that this administration is proud to work with you for the good of our whole country.
Food security is part of our national effort to keep our country and its citizens secure against the attacks of our enemies.
As I mentioned earlier, we are winning that battle. While It's not over yet, and we don't know what the future holds, we can be mindful of some words spoken more than two centuries ago by one of our Founding Fathers, Sam Adams.
As he put it, "The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil constitution, are worth defending at all hazards: And it is our duty to defend them against all attacks."
We are fulfilling Sam Adams' charge. We are defending our lives and our liberties. We are winning. And we will persevere.
Thank you for all you do to make life in our unique and wonderful country healthy and full of hope for everyone. Every time any American sits down to eat a meal, drives up to a fast-food take-out, or just enjoys a daytime snack, your commitment to food quality and safety is proven again and again.
Thank you for your tremendous work and for letting me be with you today. I look forward to your questions. God bless you, and God bless America.