CONGRESSIONAL RECORD -- SENATE

August 16, 1967

Page 22916

Mr. KENNEDY of Massachusetts. ... The establishment of an American FPC industry will benefit not only the developing nations, but the American economy as well. Further, it could provide a inexpensive animal protein supplement for Americans on poverty-level incomes. It could eliminate protein deficiency among migrant workers, among subsistence farmers, and among schoolchildren.

The growth of a large American FPC industry would also help to reverse the decline of the American fisheries. Many species of fish now ignored could become valuable assets, and parts of fish now discarded could be made palatable. Fishermen could work all year catching variety of species, and the industry would be far less subject to seasonal variations. During times of surplus, excess fish could be converted to FPC in order to stabilize the markets, and low cost protein food would then be available for global marketing.

In addition, the development of FPC would greatly facilitate the conservation of our fisheries resources. By providing much greater diversity, it would remove the obstacles to limiting the season for threatened species. By providing a market for predatory fish, the FPC industry would help to restore the ecological balance which has been threatened in the past by highly selective fishing.

Viewed from every perspective, it seems apparent that the development of FPC can be one of the most important scientific breakthroughs of the 20th century, and unless we press forward, we stand the chance of seeing this industry dominated by other nations. We can, through the program this amendment would authorize, develop a substantial American expertise in the technology of FPC production and marketing, to the benefit both of the United States and of the hungry peoples of the world.

The amendment would authorize $2.5 million for the food from the sea division of AID, to carry out an actual program to demonstrate the potential and encourage the use of FPC. Three underdeveloped countries -- one in Asia, one in Africa, and one in Latin America -- would be chosen to demonstrate the impact of FPC on those people whose diets keep them undernourished. In each country, AID will encourage and conduct food technology studies, and will disseminate information to foster an understanding of the principles of nutrition.

When this groundwork has been done, AID will encourage demonstration feeding programs to prove to the people of these nations that FPC can change their lives for the better -- that it offers at least a partial solution to the fast-approaching crisis of hunger. If the people of the developing nations can be convinced to participate in these feeding programs, we will demonstrate to the leaders of those nations and to the leaders of our industries that the obstacles to the widespread use of a protein diet supplement can be overcome. By stimulating the interest of both of these groups, this small program could make a great contribution to the development of a viable FPC program -- and thus to the solution of the crisis of hunger which threatens mankind.

President Johnson said in this year's state of the Union message that:

Next to the pursuit of peace, the really greatest challenge to the human family is the race between food supply and population increases. That race is being lost. Every member of the world community now bears a direct responsibility to help bring our most basic human account into balance.

The program this amendment would authorize would be a step in bringing that account into balance. AID has recently reorganized its activities in providing food resource assistance a to other nations, partly in response to the Food for Peace Act of 1966. This food resource assistance approximates, in annual value, the monetary resources made e available for economic assistance through the Foreign Assistance Act. Under Public Law 83-480, for example, the value of commodities shipped in the period between July 1, 1954, and December 31, 1966, is nearly $16 billion.

AID's reorganized effort, now operating through an Office of the War on Hunger, will move forward on two fronts: First, an assistance program, geared to furnishing U.S. skills and equipment in helping less-developed countries to grow more of their own food and to carry out family planning programs; and second, the food-for-peace program, geared to using U.S. food supplies to help these less-developed countries meet today's food deficits.

The amendment I offer today will give specific authorization to AID to develop, as part of its overall war on hunger, a component devoted to utilizing the vast resources of the sea. Under existing legislation, AID has wide authority for stimulating and utilizing agricultural resources, but only nominal reference is made to using the resources of the sea. This amendment would restore something of a balance, although I would point out that the agricultural effort will continue to dominate the work of the Office of the War on Hunger.

The President's Science Advisory Committee indicates that fresh water fish can play an important role in the provision of FPC. The recent and astonishing growth of the alewife population in the Great Lakes, for example, could certainly be utilized for FPC if our technology is properly developed.

I want to make clear that the amendment I offer today should in no way be construed as restricting any assistance in FPC or any other aspect of the food from the sea program, made available under existing authorizations. This amendment should be viewed as a supplement to existing authority, and not restrictive of it in any way.

A strong program of assistance to developing nations must be a firm plank in U.S. policy. No matter how difficult or frustrating or varied are the problems we face in helping the developing nations to help themselves, we have an obligation both to our national interest and to our humanitarian heritage to do so. The place of the United States in the history of the world will be based, in part, on how well we met these global obligations.

President Kennedy said it well in his inaugural address:

To those peoples in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required -- not because the communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right. If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it can not save the few who are rich.

The effort authorized by the amendment I offer today can become a key piece in our foreign assistance program. I urge its acceptance.

Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, will the Senator yield?

Mr. KENNEDY of Massachusetts. I am happy to yield to the junior Senator from Maine.

Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, I am privileged to join the distinguished senior Senator from Massachusetts in sponsoring this measure which will amend S. 1872, the Foreign Assistance Act of 1967, to speed the development and utilization of fish protein concentrate in the underdeveloped world.

The amendment is not a panacea for all the problems of the world. However, it could begin to break down the wall of hunger and starvation which obscures even the sight of the ultimate goals of peace, justice, and progress from fully two-thirds of the world's population.

Americans, Mr. President, have never had to make the choice which today faces over 2 billion starving and undernourished people -- the choice between food and freedom. Indeed, to what extent is this really a choice? Freedom does not survive in the absence of food. We cannot expect growth, progress, and self-determination from hungry men. Yet, these are the goals to which we expect the underdeveloped nations to aspire, and which we expect them to achieve.

Our duty to these countries is unmistakably clear. To help them reach these goals, we must help them tear down the wall of starvation.

Malnutrition is only a broad term for many health problems caused by an inadequate food supply. The most serious of these problems is a deficiency in animal protein.

Those of us familiar with the importance of animal protein recognize its absence in the statistics of a people's diet and see it reflected in the nation's lagging rate of growth.

But the men and women of these countries know nothing of the importance of animal protein; they are unaware of their nation's gross national product. They only notice the painful suffering of their children, the high frequency of fatal or crippling disease, and the indifference, depression, and apathy that pervades their environment.

For them, malnutrition is not protein deficiency. It is a way of life.

This physical and mental retardation is a devastating process. Traditional forms of assistance and traditional forms of food have not been successful remedies. We must seek additional tools. The vegetable protein found in grains and cereals is vital for the maintenance of health and cannot be replaced by the animal protein from fish or other sources. But if the amino acids and other unidentified growth factors found in animal protein are not provided for the body, even vegetable protein can be of no use. Thus, we are dealing with the most essential ingredient of life itself.

This recognition of the importance of animal protein and of its critical absence from the diet of the underdeveloped world is not a recent discovery. However, relatively few steps have been taken and little progress has been made to end this critical shortage.

The availability of animal protein on a global scale has never been in question. The basic obstacles have been the development, distribution, and utilization of the proper protein sources for each country. Meaningful and effective approaches to improving nutrition must consider a country's economic, agricultural, industrial, cultural, social and political realities.

For many countries, these considerations eliminate otherwise valuable sources of protein. For example, the taste of soybeans may be unacceptable to some people. Rice-eating populations have traditionally resisted attempts to introduce other cereals. Meat and dairy products are too costly for sufficient consumption in many nations. Converting land from cash to food crops may seriously reduce needed revenues from exports.

Until recently, the problems of development, distribution, and utilization had prohibited the efficient use of the fishery resources as a source of animal protein. The largest and least expensive supply of protein in the world had to go to waste. The development of fish protein concentrate has drastically changed that situation, and now, at long last, the abundant food of the oceans can be supplied in usable form to those who so desperately need it.

As the distinguished senior Senator from Massachusetts has shown, the potential of fish protein concentrate as an inexpensive, highly nutritious food supplement is universally understood and accepted. Any cereal with a 5- to 10-percent content of FTC has the protein quality of an equal amount of milk, meat, or eggs. The base price of 10 grams of FTC, the entire daily protein requirement for a 3-year-old child, is little more than one-half cent.

Nevertheless, the mere potential of fish protein concentrate will not fill the stomachs of the undernourished. We must realize that potential, or face the consequences of growing starvation.

In 1966, the 89th Congress recognized the importance of developing the production technology of FPC and authorized the Secretary of the Interior to construct one pilot plant and to lease another. Research and production by private industry is steadily increasing.

However, if we fail to solve the problems of incorporating FTC into staple foods and introducing it into the diets of the people who need it, in many parts of the world, domestic production will be useless.

Such negligence would be indefensible. The program which this section would authorize is an inexpensive, yet crucial investment in FPC as a readily available, low-cost supply of protein for the underdeveloped world. If FPC can be introduced successfully into the diets of these people, a new market will be created for the fisheries. If it is demonstrated to these countries that FPC can help alleviate and prevent malnutrition, the pressing food shortages will be relieved.

We cannot tolerate the luxury of producing fish protein concentrate without a prospective use for it.

We cannot ignore the increasing starvation and malnutrition which it can help alleviate.

We cannot afford to lose the war on hunger by default.

We owe this program to ourselves, and we owe this program to the underdeveloped world.

Seldom could such a small amount of money redeem such a significant need.

Mr. President, it is a pleasure to support this effort of the Senator from Massachusetts. I urge the acceptance of the amendment.

Mr. KENNEDY of Massachusetts. I thank the Senator from Maine, and I very much appreciate his assistance in the development of the program the amendment would authorize.

Mr. PASTORE. Mr. President, will the Senator yield?

Mr. KENNEDY of Massachusetts. I am always glad to yield to the distinguished senior Senator from Rhode Island.

Mr. PASTORE. Mr. President, first of all I wish to congratulate the Senator from Massachusetts for his leadership in sponsoring this amendment. I am happy to be associated with him as a cosponsor.

As the Senator pointed.out, and to my way of thinking, this is the truest form of foreign aid we could possibly have. This statement is made with full deference to all other provisions of the foreign aid bill because two-thirds of the world's population is suffering from malnutrition and here we have an opportunity to use this concentrate for edible purposes. For one penny a day we can give 10 children all of the protein that they need for that day.

I say one of the big problems that the world is going to face is overpopulation and hunger. This measure would provide one way of giving all of the protein requirements to the children of the world who are suffering from malnutrition. This is an appropriate amendment. I hope the manager of the bill will accept it. I repeat: This is the truest form of foreign aid we could possibly have.

Mr. BARTLETT. Mr. President, will the Senator yield?

Mr. KENNEDY of Massachusetts. I yield to the Senator from Alaska.

Mr. BARTLETT. Mr. President, in offering the pending amendment the senior Senator from Massachusetts is entitled to and will receive the plaudits of all who are engaged in the fishing industry, all who are interested in the fishing industry, but not engaged in it, and principally those who want to make a contribution in alleviating hunger throughout the world.

As the Senator has said, and in that statement he has been joined by the Senator from Maine and the Senator from Rhode Island, perhaps nothing now available to us offers such great hopes in making available protein at a low cost to those people who need it so desperately.

Only a few months ago the great breakthrough came when the Food and Drug Administration approved a process for the manufacture of fish protein concentrate developed by the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries at Beltsville, Md. From now on we shall move ahead in this area.

Mr. President, if Senators could see, as I saw last year when hearings were conducted relating to the proposed construction of fish protein concentrate demonstration plants, pictures of a child in a hospital taken in Peru, they, too, would be more enthusiastic for this program than the uninformed could possibly be.

A baby was brought into the hospital suffering from malnutrition, belly extended, and wasting away in other parts of the body. Pictures were taken at weekly intervals and this child was fed fish protein concentrate. In 3 months he was a healthy baby, a thriving baby. This, of course, can be accomplished wherever this fish protein concentrate is made available.

This field differs from so many others. I think the problem of consumer acceptance will be negligible because the concentrate is tasteless. It can be mixed with rice, for example, and the consumer does not even know he is receiving protein sufficient to maintain his body in good health.

Thus, I am proud the Senator from Massachusetts is offering his amendment and I trust the committee will accept it.

Mr. KENNEDY of Massachusetts. I thank the Senator from Alaska.