The opportunities of which I speak are the result of past public and private investments in the physical and biological sciences by many individuals and many nations. In the last 50 years, thanks to the work of many of the members of this committee, and of their colleagues in the House of Representatives, as well as former leaders like Senator Mark Hatfield, the United States has led the world in the generosity of its commitments to medical and health research.
As Americans, we should be proud of these commitments. Twenty thousand children won't get meningitis this year because of the availability of a vaccine against Hemophilus influenza b, and 450,000 adults who would have died in 1970 will not die this year because of better methods for preventing, diagnosing, and treating cardiovascular diseases. New drugs and treatments provide hope for advances on other fronts.
We still have a long way ...
