WASHINGTON As part of its annual legislative day held Wednesday, the Washington-based Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) named senators Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) legislators of the year.

In a prepared statement, Carl Feldbaum, BIO’s president, said the biotechnology industry owes a significant part of its legislative success to the support of Specter.

“He is a courageous leader, fearless in his support for responsible research involving stem cells and somatic cell nuclear transfer. In January, he co-sponsored a bill that would ban reproductive cloning while allowing therapeutic applications to advance.”

Specter is the ranking minority member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health, Human Services and Education.

He also was instrumental in securing increased funding for the National Institutes of Health. (See BioWorld Today, Feb. 6, 2002.)

Meanwhile, Harkin, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health, Human Services and Education, also played a role in doubling the NIH budget and has supported federal funding of stem cell research and continued research into somatic cell nuclear transfer.

“BIO salutes congressional leaders such as Sen. Harkin who see biotechnology’s potential, especially in the industrial and environmental areas. His support for the biorefinery grant provision and biobased product purchasing requirements in this year’s farm bill could translate into true innovation in the energy and agricultural arenas,” Feldbaum said. Kim Coghill