Sign New Mexico Banking Medical History Safe

Industry sign banking new mexico medical history safe

[Applause] thank you very much ladies and gentlemen please be seated and thank you very much for for coming here and um before I present the president for his remarks and after which he will sign this landmark piece of legislation on his behalf I would like to acknowledge some of the distinguished guests who are here today Carol Browner administrator of the EPA David Kessler Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration rich Rominger a deputy secretary with the Agriculture Department Leon Panetta the president's chief of staff Katie McGinty the chairperson of the Council on Environmental Quality bill Galston former deputy assistant to the president who so worked on these issues also many members of Congress who have sponsored this legislation and who have worked extremely hard to make sure that it is passed Senator Richard Lugar who is here Congressman Tom Bliley representative Henry Waxman and I believe his wife Janet is here as well representative Michael bill Arrakis representative Gary Condit excuse me yeah Kent Conrad's not here but congressman Cal Dooley senator Hal Heflin senator patrick leahy congressman bill Richardson I want to acknowledge two people not present David Pryor and John Dingell both of whom worked very hard on this legislation and Karen Thoreau congresswoman Karen Thurmond now have I missed [Applause] mr. Chairman I we apologize the groups that help pass this legislation in the crop protection Association the Farm Bureau the national food processors Association particular thanks the Environmental Working Group the Natural Resources Defense Council and others and also we're joined and will be joined up here on stage along with the members of Congress including the Committee Chairman by youth from families from New Mexico South Dakota and Pennsylvania and some environmental groups from two schools Connor Elementary School in Manassas Park and Hunter Woods Elementary School in Fairfax today we do right by American families and their children after many years of debate over our nation's food safety laws President Clinton is about to sign into law a comprehensive overhaul that will strengthen our nation's food safety system this law which President Clinton has urged since 1993 will ensure health and safety for American families in three important ways first the law establishes a much more protective more stringent health-based standard so American families can have increased protection from pesticide exposure second special new provisions in the law will protect infants and children from pesticide health risks important measures that will bring the latest science to the supermarket finally the law includes new measures to expand consumers right to know about pesticide health risks more than ever before in September 1993 nearly three years ago we joined together to chart a new more stringent system to achieve those protections today in just moments that system will a reality and it is going to become a reality above all because of the leadership and determination of the individual I now have the honor of presenting the President of the United States Bill Clinton thank you very much thank you all for being here today I'm I'm delighted to see you I know that a lot of you have come from a very long way away and I know that was an extreme effort but I think in some ways that most extreme effort was made by the members of Congress who are here because they finished a an exhaustive and very productive week late last night and I can't believe they're still around in Washington and I want to thank them for saying chairman bliley chairman Roberts congressman Waxman bill Arrakis Condit Dooley and Richardson and I'd like to say a special word of thanks not only to congressman Dingell but to congressmen physio who's not here who also worked on this bill and the senator Heflin and Senator Leahy and senator lugar and my friend senator Pryor who worked on this bill he's not here and I want to thank the Agriculture Department deputy secretary Rominger is here and the FDA Commissioner Kessler and I'd like to thank the members of the administration especially a Carol Browner and Katie McGinty I'd like to thank the vice president who told me that he had the first hearings on dealing with this issue 15 years ago and the Congress this issue has been around a long time and it's a great great day I'd also like to say that the happiest person in the administration today is Leon Panetta because in his other life he is a walnut farmer but I assure you this is not special interest legislation there there's nothing in here with a disproportionate impact on Italian walnut farmers from Northern California that is to the best of my knowledge there is ladies and gentlemen we are here today in celebration and we should be immensely proud of the food quality Protection Act that will revolutionize the way we protect food from harmful pesticides it proves we don't have to choose between a healthy environment and healthy economy it shows when we come together across party lines and do the right thing for the American people we can get real results this is important not only for what was done but for how it was done and I thank everyone here who's been a part of it when the day I took office I have worked hard to meet what I think is a fundamental promise that we should make to our people people should know the food they eat and the water they drink will not make them sick we strengthened and expanded the Community right-to-know law which requires industries to tell our citizens what substances are being released into the world around us last year we put in place strong new protections to ensure that seafood is safe last month we announced steps to revamp our meat and poultry inspection system for the first time in 90 years today we add the cornerstone to this solid foundation with the food quality Protection Act I like to think of it as the peace of mind Act because it'll give parents the peace of mind that comes from knowing that the fruits the vegetables the grains that they put down in front of their children are safe it's long overdue the old safeguards have protected our foods from pesticides were written with the best of intentions but they weren't up to the job and as you can see from the vast array of support here across every specter of American life nobody liked him very much and no one thought that they really work as they were supposed to bad pesticide stayed on the market too long good alternatives were kept out in this new provision we deal with the problem of existing law which is that there are strong protections against cancer but not against other health dangers there is simply no uniform standard for what's safe these weaknesses in the present law cause real problems for everyone involved in producing and distributing our food and for most of all the people who consume it especially our children according to the National Academy of Sciences infants and young people are especially vulnerable to pesticides chemicals can go a long way in a small body this act puts the safety of our children first it sets a clear consistent standard for all pesticide use on all foods for all health risks it sets the standard high if a pesticide poses a danger to our children it won't be in our food period the act will reform the regulatory process for pesticides so that new and safer substitutes will be approved faster and this is also very important the sooner they get on the markets the sooner farmers will be able to use them to replace older pesticides that may pose greater health risks the pesticides will be reviewed regularly to use using the best science available third this legislation will see to it that consumers get the information they need supermarkets will be required to provide health information to shoppers about the pesticides used on food they're buying a family ought to be able to gather for a summer dinner knowing that the food that before them will provide nothing more than nourishment and joy Americans have enough on their minds without having to worry about that with this legislation Americans will continue to know that the word world's most bountiful food supply is also its safest and as I said before to me almost as important that's what the law does is how it was done this act comes to our desk to my desk and to our administration with the support of farmers and environmentalists consumer groups in agribusiness and the medical community after more than a decade of work these groups have come together to say with this bill we do not have to choose between a clean environment and a safe food supply and a strong economy if we do it right we can have both it comes with the unanimous backing of every member of Congress in both parties and I must say I am gratified to see this because I see this effort to preserve the environment in a way that will permit us to grow the economy is an essential component of our national security in the 21st century last year we were fighting about efforts to weaken our most basic safeguards for clean air clean water safe food now we see a bipartisan public commitment to the public health this is an area of where we stand on common ground and as a people we should continue to stand on common ground I want to compliment the Congress for the work that was done in this last week moving people from welfare to work raising the minimum wage helping small businesses passing health care reform making this effort to safeguard our food last night Congress passed strong legislation to help keep our drinking water safe this has been a very good season of progress turning away from extremism toward common ground around opportunity responsibility and community I am very pleased I thank the members of Congress here for their leadership and I thank the American people and especially those here represented for making this day happen we have we're going to do the bill signing now and I want to invite the children who've come from around the country here to come up and the members of Congress to come up for the bill signing thank you [Applause] [Applause] [Applause]