Fighting for Farmers

Fresh off the military campaign against the Saddam Hussein regime, President George W. Bush launched a new offensive - this time on behalf of American farmers.

On May 22, 2003, the President challenged our European allies to drop their unscientific objections to the safe use of bio-technology to help boost crop yields.

His remarks came just days after the United States filed a trade lawsuit against a European ban on genetically enhanced foods and crops.

After privately talking to the President and his senior aides about the need for dramatic action on this very issue for years now, I was so pleased that he finally went public.

As the Senate's leading supporter of the biotechnology revolution, I understand what is at stake for American farmers and for the world. That is why I have secured over $300 million in National Science Foundation money for genomics research.
And why I have secured over $30 million to build a Life Sciences Center at the University of Missouri in Columbia.

The President issued his challenge to our European allies by saying that we have a chance to fight starvation in Africa and elsewhere if the entire world embraces the promise that biotechnology can bring to agriculture.

President Bush was forced to take action on behalf of American farmers because reason has not prevailed in Europe.

The European ban on plant biotechnology is a lesson about the serious harm that can come in the form of unintended consequences.

In the past few years, we have seen over-eager politicians in Europe join forces with hysterical anti-commercial activists to whip their public into a frenzy. Their true aim was to shield European farmers from the technological advantage now enjoyed by American farmers.

European governments can no longer ignore what their own scientists are telling them: that genetically enhanced foods and crops are safe.

But despite this scientific evidence, European governments still refuse to act. They point to European public opinion which is against genetically modified foods. The irony is that European governments now claim to be held hostage by the monster they created through disinformation.

It seems to me that Europe would rather export hysteria than import and compete against safe and inexpensive American food and crops.

We could live with this situation if it were only a European problem. But it is not. The anti-technology stance of European governments cost American farmers $300 million a year in corn exports.

It is not only unfair to American farmers. It violates our trade agreements with our European allies.

And hungry people the world over - especially in Africa - are denied new kinds of crops that can resist drought, insects and disease.

That is an intolerable situation. And that is why President George W. Bush acted. Even though we face stiff odds in overturning European public opinion, he did the right thing by standing up for American farmers.

Time and again, this President has been willing to stand tall for the things he believes in. Like many farmers in Missouri, I am proud of George W. Bush's willingness to use the powers of his office for the benefit of American farming families.