Avocado growers fear threat from Mexican insects

Avocado growers fear threat from Mexican insects California avocado growers are suing the federal government for ending a 1914 import ban and allowing Mexican avocado imports to cross the border.
   Filed in U.S. District Court on Tuesday, the suit alleges that Mexican-grown avocadoes contain pests and could threaten the state's $341 million avocado industry.
   The California Avocado Commission, representing 6,000 growers statewide, along with two additional growers, said in the suit that the lifting of the ban and the resumption of Mexican avocado imports presents 'an imminent threat' to the state industry.
   The U.S. Department of Agriculture lifted the 93-year-old ban on importation into California, Florida and Hawaii on Feb. 1. The ban had earlier been lifted in phases throughout the rest of the nation.
   The suit alleges that on the first day imports were allowed into California, a load of avocadoes from Mexico were found to contain “scale insects of unknown species or species not known to occur in California.”
   The growers are asking the court to re-impose the ban until the risks of an insect infestation can be determined.