I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2920

To ensure that efforts to address world hunger through the use of genetically 

engineered animals and crops actually help developing countries and 

peoples while protecting human health and the environment, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 25, 2003

Mr. KUCINICH (for himself, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. SANDERS, Ms. LEE, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. OLVER, Mr. ACEVEDO-VILA ́, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. NADLER, 

Mr. OWENS, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, Ms. WATERS, Ms. WATSON, and Ms. 

WOOLSEY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations, and in addition to the Committees on 

Ways and Means, Financial Services, and Agriculture, for a period to be 

subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 

of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL

To ensure that efforts to address world hunger through 

the use of genetically engineered animals and crops actually help developing countries and peoples while protecting human health and the environment, and for other 

purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS; FINDINGS. 

2 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

3 ‘‘Real Solutions to World Hunger Act of 2003’’. 

4 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 

5 this Act is as follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents; findings. 

Sec. 2. Definitions. 

Sec. 3. Ensuring safety and mitigating ecological impacts of United States exports of genetically engineered animals, plants, and seeds. 

Sec. 4. Promotion of international research regarding sustainable agriculture to 

assist developing countries. 

Sec. 5. Position of the United States in the international financial institutions 

regarding genetically engineered animals, plants, and seeds. 

Sec. 6. Tax on biotech companies to help fund sustainable agriculture research.

6 (c) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

7 (1) The need for mandatory labeling, safety 

8 testing, and environmental reviews of genetically en9 gineered foods do not constitute obstacles to the ces10 sation of world hunger. 

11 (2) The dominant causes of world hunger are 

12 not technological in nature, but rooted in basic so13 cial-economic failures. 

14 (3) Technologies, like genetically engineered 

15 food, may have a limited role, but economics remain 

16 the significant barrier to a consistent food supply, 

17 and the development of expensive genetically engi18 neered foods may only exacerbate this trend. 

19 (4) Most genetically engineered food products 

20 and almost all research funding for the development 

21 of genetically engineered food target developed na-
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1 tion agriculture and consumers. Developing coun2 tries cannot afford this technology and therefore are 

3 vastly ignored. 

4 (5) Agroecological interventions have had sig5 nificant success in helping developing nations feed

6 themselves with higher yields and improved environ7 mental practices, all within reasonable costs for de8 veloping countries. 

9 (6) If the biotech industry believes they can 

10 help mitigate hunger concerns, domestic or foreign, 

11 then requiring biotech companies to make available 

12 the necessary resources for this purpose is appro13 priate.

14 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

15 In this Act: 

16 (1) GENETICALLY ENGINEERED ANIMAL.—The 

17 term ‘‘genetically engineered animal’’ means an ani18 mal that contains a genetically engineered material 

19 or was produced with a genetically engineered mate20 rial. An animal shall be considered to contain a ge21 netically engineered material or to have been pro22 duced with a genetically engineered material if the 

23 animal has been injected or otherwise treated with 

24 a genetically engineered material or is the offspring 

25 of an animal that has been so injected or treated. 
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1 (2) GENETICALLY ENGINEERED PLANT.—The 

2 term ‘‘genetically engineered plant’’ means a plant 

3 that contains a genetically engineered material or 

4 was produced from a genetically engineered seed. A 

5 plant shall be considered to contain a genetically en6 gineered material if the plant has been injected or 

7 otherwise treated with a genetically engineered mate8 rial (except that the use of manure as a fertilizer for 

9 the plant may not be construed to mean that the 

10 plant is produced with a genetically engineered ma11 terial). 

12 (3) GENETICALLY ENGINEERED SEED.—The 

13 term ‘‘genetically engineered seed’’ means a seed 

14 that contains a genetically engineered material or 

15 was produced with a genetically engineered material. 

16 A seed shall be considered to contain a genetically 

17 engineered material or to have been produced with 

18 a genetically engineered material if the seed (or the 

19 plant from which the seed is derived) has been in20 jected or otherwise treated with a genetically engi21 neered material (except that the use of manure as 

22 a fertilizer for the plant may not be construed to 

23 mean that any resulting seeds are produced with a 

24 genetically engineered material). 
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1 (4) GENETICALLY ENGINEERED MATERIAL.—

2 The term ‘‘genetically engineered material’’ means 

3 material that has been altered at the molecular or 

4 cellular level by means that are not possible under 

5 natural conditions or processes (including recom6 binant DNA and RNA techniques, cell fusion, micro7 encapsulation, macroencapsulation, gene deletion 

8 and doubling, introducing a foreign gene, and chang9 ing the positions of genes), other than a means con10 sisting exclusively of breeding, conjugation, fer11 mentation, hybridization, in vitro fertilization or tis12 sue culture or mutagenesis. 

13 (5) BIOTECH COMPANY.—The term ‘‘biotech 

14 company’’ means a person engaged in the business 

15 of creating genetically engineered material and ob16 taining the patent rights to that material for the 

17 purposes of commercial exploitation of that material. 

18 The term does not include the employees of such 

19 person. 

20 SEC. 3. ENSURING SAFETY AND MITIGATING ECOLOGICAL 

21 IMPACTS OF UNITED STATES EXPORTS OF 

22 GENETICALLY ENGINEERED ANIMALS, 

23 PLANTS, AND SEEDS. 

24 It shall be unlawful for any person to ship or offer 

25 for shipment, or for any carrier or other person to trans-
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1 port or receive for transportation, to any foreign country, 

2 any genetically engineered animal, genetically engineered 

3 plant, or genetically engineered seed that the person

4 knows, or has reason to believe, will be used by the ulti5 mate purchaser to produce an agricultural commodity if—

6 (1) the genetically engineered animal, geneti7 cally engineered plant, or genetically engineered 

8 seed—

9 (A) was denied a Federal approval nec10 essary as a condition for commercial marketing 

11 in the United States; or 

12 (B) was the subject of an application for 

13 such a Federal approval that was withdrawn; or 

14 (2) the government of the foreign country has 

15 not certified that ecological impacts related to the 

16 importation of the genetically engineered animal, ge17 netically engineered plant, or genetically engineered 

18 seed have been mitigated to the satisfaction of the 

19 foreign government. 

20 SEC. 4. PROMOTION OF INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH RE21 GARDING SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE TO 

22 ASSIST DEVELOPING COUNTRIES. 

23 (a) GRANTS FOR INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH.—The 

24 Secretary of Agriculture may make grants to designated 

25 international research institutions for the purpose of pro-
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1 moting the development of sustainable agriculture tech2 niques that rely on minimum artificial inputs to meet the 

3 food and fiber needs of developing countries. Eligible sus4 tainable agriculture techniques may not derive any genetic 

5 engineered material.

6 (b) USE OF GRANT FUNDS.—A grant recipient shall 

7 use the funds provided under this section only in a manner 

8 consistent with the purpose for which the grant is award9 ed. 

10 (c) DESIGNATED INSTITUTIONS.—The Secretary of 

11 Health and Human Services shall designate the inter12 national research institutions eligible to apply for a grant 

13 under this section. The designated institutions shall in14 clude the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organiza15 tion and the Consultative Group on International Agricul16 tural Research. 

17 (d) COMPETITIVE BASIS.—Grants under this section 

18 shall be made on a competitive basis. 

19 (e) FUNDING SOURCE.—The Secretary of Agriculture 

20 shall use the Sustainable Agriculture Trust Fund, in such 

21 amounts as provided in advance in appropriation Acts, to 

22 make grants under this section. 
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1 SEC. 5. POSITION OF THE UNITED STATES IN THE INTER2 NATIONAL FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS RE3 GARDING GENETICALLY ENGINEERED ANI4 MALS, PLANTS, AND SEEDS. 

5 The Secretary of the Treasury shall instruct the 

6 United States Executive Director at each international fi7 nancial institution (as defined in section 1701(c)(2) of the 

8 International Financial Institutions Act) to make no effort 

9 to encourage the institution to prohibit any country eligi10 ble for assistance under the Heavily Indebted Poor Coun11 tries (HIPC) Initiative of the International Bank for Re12 construction and Development from requiring compulsory 

13 licensing with respect to any genetically engineered ani14 mal, genetically engineered plant, or genetically engi15 neered seed. 

16 SEC. 6. TAX ON BIOTECH COMPANIES TO HELP FUND SUS17 TAINABLE AGRICULTURE RESEARCH. 

18 (a) SPECIAL TAX.—

19 (1) TAX IMPOSED.—Subchapter A of chapter 1 

20 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by 

21 adding at the end the following new part: 

22 ‘‘PART VIII—TAX ON GENETIC ENGINEERING 

23 BUSINESSES

‘‘Sec. 59B. Imposition of tax.
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1 ‘‘SEC. 59B. IMPOSITION OF TAX. 

2 ‘‘(a) TAX IMPOSED.—In the case of a corporation, 

3 there is hereby imposed (in addition to any other tax im4 posed by this subtitle) a tax equal to 1 percent of the gross 

5 income of such business for the taxable year which is at6 tributable (directly or indirectly) to—

7 ‘‘(1) the marketing in the United States of any 

8 genetically engineered organism, or 

9 ‘‘(2) the holding of a patent on any such an or10 ganism. 

11 ‘‘(b) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘geneti12 cally engineered organism’ means—

13 ‘‘(1) an organism that has been altered at the 

14 molecular or cellular level by means that are not 

15 possible under natural conditions or processes (in16 cluding but not limited to recombinant DNA and 

17 RNA techniques, cell fusion, microencapsulation, 

18 macroencapsulation, gene deletion and doubling, in19 troducing a foreign gene, and changing the positions 

20 of genes), other than a means consisting exclusively 

21 of breeding, conjugation, fermentation, hybridiza22 tion, in vitro fertilization, tissue culture, or 

23 mutagenesis; and 

24 ‘‘(2) an organism made through sexual or asex25 ual reproduction (or both) involving an organism de26 scribed in subparagraph (A), if possessing any of the 
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1 altered molecular or cellular characteristics of the 

2 organism so described.’’. 

3 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of 

4 parts for such subchapter A is amended by adding 

5 at the end the following new item:

‘‘Part VIII. Tax on genetic engineering businesses.’’.

6 (3) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 

7 by this subsection shall apply to taxable years begin8 ning after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

9 (b) SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE TRUST FUND.—

10 (1) CREATION AND FUNDING SOURCE.—Sub11 chapter A of chapter 98 of the Internal Revenue 

12 Code of 1986 (relating to trust fund code) is amend13 ed by adding at the end the following new section: 

14 ‘‘SEC. 9511. SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE TRUST FUND.

15 ‘‘(a) CREATION OF TRUST FUND.—There is estab16 lished in the Treasury of the United States a trust fund 

17 to be known as the ‘Sustainable Agriculture Trust Fund’, 

18 consisting of such amounts as may be appropriated or 

19 credited to the Sustainable Agriculture Trust Fund as 

20 provided in this section or section 9602(b). 

21 ‘‘(b) TRANSFER TO TRUST FUND OF CERTAIN

22 TAXES.—There is hereby appropriated to the Sustainable 

23 Agriculture Trust Fund amounts equivalent to the taxes 

24 received in the Treasury under section 59B. 
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1 ‘‘(c) EXPENDITURES FROM TRUST FUND.—Amounts 

2 in the Sustainable Agriculture Trust Fund shall be avail3 able, as provided in appropriation Acts, only for grants 

4 under sections 3 and 4 of the Real Solutions to World 

5 Hunger Act of 2003.’’. 

6 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec7 tions for such subchapter A is amended by adding 

8 at the end the following new item:

‘‘Sec. 9511. Sustainable Agriculture Trust Fund.’’.

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