USDA Head Ann Veneman Dons
Corporate Cheerleading Outfit in Rome

Agence France Presse
November 5, 2001]

US Agriculture Secretary Ann M Veneman Monday pledged Washington's
commitment to ending poverty and world hunger, despite its new priority
of battling terrorism in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

"We need to wage a war to eliminate world poverty and hunger," Veneman
told the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation's 31st Conference in Rome.

"As with the war on terrorism, success will require an international
coalition united for collective action," she added, echoing calls made
by Germany and Italy. Briefing journalists later, she cited the UN's
World Food Programme as an example of the kind of coalition she was
referring to.

She defended the US refusal to sign the International Treaty on Plant
Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, adopted here Saturday.

"We did not vote 'no' on this," Veneman pointed out to reporters.

"We have concerns in terms of protecting the integrity of intellectual
property rights, in promoting innovation and investment, but we also had
concerns that the current crop list falls far short of the global food
security needs."

Only the United States and Japan abstained from a vote backed by 116
members and designed to protect and share plant genetic resources for
crop protection.

Veneman said it was very important that trade liberalization also play
an important role in food security for countries, and was upbeat about
the possibility that the World Trade Organisation meeting in Doha later
this week would help launch a new round of trade talks.

"The world is pulling together in many ways to fight terrorism right
now. And also part of that effort is to be together as we look to
provide greater economic development through trade," she told reporters.

"But regardless of what happened on September 11, it's important that we
do not miss this opportunity. I believe to have a second failure after
Seattle might mean that it would take a long time for the countries of
the world to come together again" to discuss trade.

Veneman said bilateral discussions with other agriculture ministers in
Rome earlier Monday left her feeling hopeful about Doha: "It's certainly
not a sure thing, but I think we're all going in very hopeful. We'd all
like to launch a successful round."

In the short term, she forecast a shortening of agricultural supplies
due to the economic downturn following the September 11 terrorist
attacks on New York and Washington.

"While we've seen record low prices by recent historical standards, I
think we'll see some tightening of supplies, according to our
economists, and some increase in prices," she told reporters at a
briefing.

The US agriculture secretary said her country was committed to the goal
of ending world poverty and hunger "and will walk alongside any country
prepared to travel the same path."

"We have the means to achieve this ambitious goal. New technologies,
including biotechnology, will help meet the challenge of feeding a
growing world population with a limited resource base."

United Press International
November 6, 2001, Tuesday

Further development of biotechnology is an important means of fighting
world hunger and poverty, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said Monday.

Veneman told those attending the U.N. food conference in Rome the United
States remains committed to helping end malnutrition and poverty.

Biotechnology is a means of ending those problems, even though some
nations of the world object because of uncertainties about how stable
such food products are.

Veneman cited as examples the use of drought-resistant crops for Africa,
genetically enhanced cotton in South Africa and Vitamin A enhanced rice
that could significantly reduce blindness. "New technologies, including
biotechnology, will help meet the challenge of feeding a growing world
population with a limited resource base," Veneman said.

She said technologies will reinvigorate productivity growth in food and
agriculture production, make agriculture more environmentally
sustainable, offer more economic self-sufficiency for subsistence
farmers in developing nations, and provide increased nutrition and
health benefits for the developing world.

"The United States is committed to the goal of ending world poverty and
hunger and will walk alongside any country prepared to travel the same
path," Veneman said.

In the future, Veneman said she thinks "bio-technology will also help
produce vaccines against many diseases, including cholera, that could be
administered through dietary staples such as rice and bananas."

Veneman praised the work of the FAO in playing a critical role in trade
liberalization through the work of the Codex Alimentarius Commission and
the International Plant Protection Convention, which ensure the
integrity of science-based decision-making on health and safety issues.

"Trade liberalization must be a key component of food security and
assures all countries of equal access to world food supplies," Veneman
said.