2008 Year in Review

Illinois Can Contribute Progress Campaign Against HIV/AIDS

Illinois' leadership role in the campaign against HIV/AIDS got new momentum in July when President Bush signed the Henry J. Hyde and Tom Lantos United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Reauthorization Act. Under this new legislation, Illinois soybean fields are literally growing some of the nutrition to help promote greater progress and relieve human suffering.

In 2003, then Illinois Congressman and Chairman of the House International Relations Committee Henry Hyde worked closely with Democrats and Republicans to craft groundbreaking legislation. Their cooperation would allow America to take a leading role in helping break the death grip that HIV/AIDS has in many countries. This was not a partisan issue. It was an opportunity. Our Democratic Senator Dick Durbin and Illinois soybean growers have long championed its importance to the world as well as America. Meanwhile, President Bush supported the bill as the largest commitment by any nation to combat a single disease and launched the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

The new legislation expands U.S. HIV/AIDS efforts and extends the legislation for another five years. Policymakers were supportive of food/nutrition programs in the first bill, and the new legislation calls for an even greater role for food. It recognizes that even with some of the best medicines being sent around the world, many people can't take advantage of them because they are so malnourished. They often don't have basic food to sustain their health so that the medicine can work.

That's where those millions of Illinois acres planted to soybeans right now can-and already are-making a difference. Soybeans are approximately 80 percent protein and 20 percent oil. That means each soybean offers high-quality protein that can be used for human consumption, as well as livestock feed. In addition, 75 percent of the oil is used for human consumption as vegetable oil, while the rest is used for biodiesel and other industrial uses. Illinois gets food and feed and fuel along with green jobs to boost our economy.

Meanwhile, some of that soybean protein is also greeted by children's cheers when delivered to places like Kasheshe, Namibia where Africare, a leading nonprofit organization, offers soymilk. Groups like Humana People to People have created "soy restaurants" to offer good nutrition as well as education programs in Africa. Across the globe in Guatemala, HIV/AIDS orphans receive soy-based nutrition through a partnership between the World Initiative for Soy in Human Health (WISHH) and the Juan Bautista Gutierrez Foundation. Local companies play a vital role in manufacturing the foods made with high-protein U.S. soy, thereby improving the health and business opportunities of their communities and maximizing use of foods grown locally.

These are just a few of the groups that have joined hands with Illinois soybean growers, like myself, who created the WISHH program and the World Soy Foundation. Like Congressman Hyde, Illinois soybean growers had a vision of a future where HIV/AIDS no longer tears down the lives of an estimated 33 million people and the very fabric of societies.

So if you are out driving in Illinois this month and see those fields of Illinois soybeans, you are also viewing an opportunity for Illinois to do a world of good.

by  Editor, theCity1.com
September 2, 2008