USDA to ban certain wooden craft items from China

USDA to ban certain wooden craft items from China    Starting April 1, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will ban the import of craft items from China that contain wooden logs, limbs, branches or twigs greater than 1 centimeter in diameter and have intact bark.
   “This restriction will remain in place, pending the adoption of adequate mitigation measures by Chinese exporters,” the agency said.
   The USDA is concerned about the introduction of wood-boring pests into the United States from China through decorative and craft items. The primary insects of concern are the brown fir longhorn beetle and the Japanese cedar longhorn beetle. These beetles are related to the Asian longhorn beetle, which has killed numerous trees in New York City and Chicago in recent years.
   In January, the USDA conducted its fourth recall in six months of wooden decorative items imported from China. The Maryland Department of Agriculture had intercepted multiple brown fir longhorn beetles in artificial Christmas trees made in China, the agency said.