APS LEGISLATIVE ALERT EMAIL
TO: U.S. APS Members
FROM: APS Public Policy Board
SUBJECT: Legislative Alert – NRI Funding
To all U.S. APS
Members:
The USDA-NRI did not fare well in the President's proposed Federal Budget. The
APS Public Policy Board has communicated to the Subcommittee on Agriculture,
Rural Development, and Related Agencies of the Senate Committee on
Appropriations requesting a 15% overall increase in NRI funding and
specifically requesting an increase of $5 million for microbial genomics,
especially genomics of microbial pathogens, within the NRI and the USDA
ARS. We as scientists need to be heard
as indicated in the letter at the end of this email that appeared in Science. While
your area of interest in Plant Pathology may not be directly affected by the
type of funding currently being sought, any additional funding coming into our
science strengthens our field. The Public Policy Board requests that you write
your legislators to let them know how funding for plant pathology will help their
state. A copy of a letter that the Public Policy Board sent to appropriation
leaders follows for you to modify and make specific for your state.
Contact information for any Senator is most easily found by searching the
alphabetical index at: http://www.senate.gov/senators/index.cfm
To find your state's delegation for the House go to:
http://clerkweb.house.gov/106/mbrcmtee/members/mbrsstate/Unoflmbr.htm
Thank you for supporting Plant
Pathology,
O.W. Barnett
APS Public Policy Board
********LETTER SENT BY PPB TO APPROPRIATION LEADERS************
Dear ___________:
On behalf of the American Phytopathological Society that represents
approximately 5,000 U.S. plant pathologists, we want to thank you for your
support of agricultural research. As work begins on the FY 2002 agricultural
appropriations bill, we urge you to ensure that the bill includes increases in
funding for the USDA National Research Initiative (NRI) competitive grants
program and for microbial genomics, particularly genomics of microbial
pathogens. We consider these programs of very high priority for the future of
plant disease management in America.
We recognize that funds for
microbial genomics may be available through the Initiative for Future
Agriculture and Food Systems and the Agricultural Research Service in addition
to the NRI. Thus, in addition to increased total funding for the NRI, we
support the addition and use of funds specifically for microbial genomics and
especially genomics of plant pathogens in each of these other research agencies
and programs of the U. S. Department of Agriculture.
The NRI has been the primary source of federal funds awarded competitively for
research on plant diseases and their management since its formation as the
flagship competitive grants program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in
1991. This program is particularly valuable and unique with the USDA because of
its focus on more fundamental understanding of plant diseases so critical to
the opening of new directions in applied research for plant disease management.
However, while the costs of modern-day research in the biological sciences
continue to climb, and while funding for research in other federal mission
areas of the U.S have been increased by 40-50 % or more over the past 10 years,
funding for the NRI has remained essentially flat. After a modest but
encouraging increase in FY 2000, funding for the NRI was again decreased by $14
million in 2001, with much of this decrease occurring in the plant science
areas of this program. A report released by the National Academy of Sciences in
2000 again recommends that funding for the NRI be increased to the level
authorized in 1991, which is five times its current level of $106 million.
As professionals, we are proud of our scientific and technical accomplishments,
including in the area of biotechnology where plant pathology research has been
a leader. Some of our accomplishments funded by the NRI include:
· The first cloning of a plant gene
responsible for recognition and rejection of a microbial plant pathogen by the
plant, and now known to be one of a family of genes with counterparts
responsible for recognition and rejection of infectious, microbial agents by certain
human and animal tissues;
· Identification of the harpin protein
responsible for a generic resistance response in plants and approved in 2001 by
the EPA as a natural plant-protection product manufactured and sold by a
start-up biotechnology company under the trade name “Messenger;” and
· Discovery of a gene expressed uniquely
in roots and responsible for the widespread susceptibility of plants to root
knot nematodes and now opening an entirely new approach to development of crop
plants with genetic resistance to these pests.
In spite
of these and other accomplishments that could be cited, we are deeply concerned
that because of flat funding, our discipline, so critical to assuring a safe
and secure food supply, is being left behind both by the fast-pace of change in
agriculture and the revolution in the biological sciences. New plant disease
problems continue to emerge while the older problems continue to threaten the
efficiency and productivity of American farms or keep our farmers locked into
the use of pesticides.
Genomics has opened entirely new vistas for improvements in human, animal, and
plant health. Plant pathology is poised along with our contemporaries in the
medical and veterinary fields to take advantage of the new information on
sequences of genomes. However, still missing in this explosion of information on
genome sequences is information on the sequences of genomes of our most
important plant pathogens. Of some 100 microbial genomes (other than viruses)
now sequenced, only one plant pathogen, a bacterial pathogen of citrus, has
been completely sequenced, and this work was done in Brazil.
The American Phytopathological Society has been working to prioritize those
plant pathogens for which sequences are needed and would be representative
based on both practical and scientific criteria. The availability of information
on both genome sequences and the function of genes for this select and
representative list of plant pathogens would open entirely new approaches to
understanding, managing, and even predicting plant disease outbreaks and
epidemics just as is now happening for medicine. Such information can also
improve diagnostics in cases where phytosanitary laws are used as trade
barriers and help authorities track down any bioterrorist release of a
notorious plant pathogen.
The American Phytopathological Society has also developed a more comprehensive
and
detailed list of priorities guided by our commitment to “Healthy Plants Healthy
World,” and would be pleased to make this more complete list available upon
request. You also are invited to learn more about our society, our programs,
and plant diseases through our web site www.apsnet.org
We, strongly, urge you to ensure that the FY 2002 agricultural appropriations
bill includes increased funding for the NRI and for microbial genomics,
especially microbial pathogens.
Sincerely,
Your Name Here
********SCIENCE LETTER TO THE EDITOR************
Former Congressman Paul Rogers, longtime chair of Research!America, had the
following letter in Friday's issue of Science.
Proposed Research Budget a Starting Point
Congress should fund the National Science Foundation (NSF), the U.S. Department
of Energy, and other research agencies at a much higher rate than proposed by
the Bush Administration, as Donald Kennedy urges in his Editorial "A
budget out of balance" (23 Mar., p. 2275). However, this goal should not
impede the effort to double funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
by fiscal year 2003.
Last year the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, NSF, and NIH all received historic increases (36%, 28%,
14%, and 14%, respectively), and this year's budget should be no different. The
Administration's proposed research budget is the starting point. Already this
year, Secretary of State Colin Powell has appointed a science advisor as
reinforcement of science's role in national security and global health.
President George Bush has set forth a $2.8-billion increase for NIH. Senators
Christopher Bond (R-Mo) and Barbara Mikulski (D-Md) have introduced a bill to
double funding for NSF over 5 years.
Better health, a growing economy, and improved quality of life are national
priorities. Congress needs to hear from the entire science community on how
engineering, mathematics, life sciences, and physical sciences are the key to
maintaining our world leadership in these areas. The historic national
commitment to NIH should set the standard, not be the exception to the rule.
Scientists must tell the story of how much progress we are making, how many
people are benefiting, and how many programs could be funded. When science
delivers this message, Congress delivers on the funding. It's a national
mandate when one considers that 85% of those surveyed by Research!America (1)
say it is very important that the United States maintains its role as a world
leader in scientific research. It's a mandate to our elected officials, but
even more so, it's a mandate to America's scientific enterprise.
Paul G. Rogers
Chair
Research!America
908 King Street
Suite 400
East, Alexandria, VA 22314, USA
References
and Notes Opinion poll results are available at http://www.researchamerica.org/opinions/