USDA worries about ?artificial spread? of plant pests

USDA worries about ôartificial spreadö of plant pests    The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will hold a handful of public meetings throughout the country in late August and September to help mitigate the domestic 'artificial spread' of certain plant pests in wood packaging materials and firewood.
   'Our goal is to gather feedback and input from a wide range of stakeholders to assist us in making an informed decision regarding our objectives and direction in relation to the interstate movement of WPM (wood packaging materials),' USDA said in a Federal Register notice.
   The agency also plans to use input from its Aug. 27 meeting in Washington to develop a 'federal firewood strategy' to better control the flow of harmful wood-eating pests through the interstate flow of firewood shipments.