Norman Borlaug honoured with America's highest civilian award

Washington, July 17 (UNI) Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and father of the Green Revolution Dr Norman Borlaug was today honoured with the Congressional Gold Medal, America's highest civilian honour at a glittering ceremony held at the high-domed impressive Capitol Hill Rotunda.

President George W Bush and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi presented the award to the World Food Prize Founder and the 1970 Nobel Peace prize Laureate.

An original gold medal prepared and created by the United States mint commemorates Dr Borlaug's achievements - including his remarkable agricultural research, which saved millions of lives.

Its bronze replica will be available for the public to buy directly from the mint.

Dr Borlaug is believed to have saved more lives, more than a billion, than any other person through his breakthrough research work in agriculture. He is widely credited with ushering in India and other parts of Asia, the ''Green Revolution,'' the greatest period of food production in human history.

''Dr Borlaug is responsible for saving a billion lives around the world,'' said Representative Tom Latham, R-IA, during the debate on the House Floor last week. ''It is extraordinarily important that we recognise this great humanitarian. Dr Norman Borlaug truly is an American superhero. He completely altered agriculture as we know it.'' On the occasion, Republican Latham, Republican Leonard Boswell (D-IA), Republican Jim Leach (R-IA) and Republican Steve King (R-IA) spoke on the House floor.

The Senate resolution to honour Dr Borlaug was introduced by Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA).

''The Congressional Gold Medal is a remarkable tribute to Dr Borlaug's legacy of feeding the world,'' said Amb Kenneth Quinn, President of the World Food Prize. ''It is said of Dr Borlaug that he has saved more lives than any other person who has ever lived. We are extremely grateful to members of the Iowa Congressional delegation for their bipartisan leadership effort to pass this resolution in recognition of Dr Borlaug's accomplishments.'' In 1986, Dr Borlaug founded the World Food Prize to recognize life-saving achievements that increase the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world. Now celebrating its twentieth anniversary, the award is often referred to as the ''Nobel Prize of Food and Agriculture.'' Now 92, Dr Borlaug was born in the small northeast Iowa town of Cresco in the United States. He continues to work for the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico, as well as the Sasakawa Global 2000 program in Africa.

He travels extensively most of the year, returning to the United States each year to teach a course at Texas A&M University and to participate in the World Food Prize activities in Des Moines.

''Dr Norman Borlaug is an American citizen that fits all of our definitions of a hero,'' Leach said during the debate on the House floor.

The first Congressional Gold Medal was awarded in 1776 to General George Washington. Dr Borlaug now joins an illustrious list of recipients including Thomas Edison, Pope John Paul II, Martin Luther King Jr, and President Ronald Reagan.

UNI