Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 114 Part 6.djvu/192

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114 STAT. 3248 PROCLAMATION 7270-^AN. 31, 2000 Recognizing the extraordinary promise and benefits of this enterprise, my Administration has pursued pohcies 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 worid'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 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 ihe people of the United States to observe this month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereimto 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. WILLIAM J. CLINTON Proclamation 7270 of January 31, 2000 National African American History Month, 2000 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation Each year during National African American History Month, as we explore the history and cultiu-e of African Americans, we discover anew a treasiu-e of stories about the triumph of the himian spirit, inspiring accounts of everyday people rising above the indignities imposed by prejudice. These stories are not only an important part of Afirican American history, but an essential part of American history.