House OKs plan to honor Borlaug - Truth About Trade and Technology

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Thursday, 01 October 2009 20:09

Des Moines Register
October 1, 2009 Des Moines Register
By Thomas Beaumont - TBeaumont@DMREG.com
October 1, 2009

www.desmoinesregister.com

The U.S. House on Wednesday approved a resolution honoring the life of Norman Borlaug, an Iowa-born food scientist and Nobel laureate who died last month.

"By all accounts, Norman Borlaug's agricultural innovations saved billions of lives and improved the health of countless people across the globe," said Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Waterloo. "Dr. Borlaug's work brought life to the desert, fed the hungry, and advanced science."

Borlaug, of Cresco, died at the age of 95 on Sept. 12 in Texas.

Rep. Leonard Boswell, a Des Moines Democrat, introduced House Resolution 739 on Sept. 14 to honor Borlaug.

"The passage of this resolution celebrates an Iowan who is a world-renowned agricultural scientist and great humanitarian - a man who has fed more than 1 billion of the world's hungry," Boswell said.

The resolution had 17 original co-sponsors, including all five members of Iowa's House delegation.

Meanwhile, Rep. Tom Latham, an Ames Republican, has recommended including Borlaug's likeness in a sculpture in the U.S. Capitol.

A Borlaug statue as part of Iowa's representation would require a resolution to be passed and signed in the Iowa Legislature and then approval from a congressional committee.

It would also replace one of the two existing statutes representing the state in the Capitol's Statuary Hall and Hall of Columns. Those statues are of former Gov. Samuel J. Kirkwood and former Sen. James Harlan, 19th-century political figures in Iowa.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200910010405/NEWS09/910010354