USDA WEB SITE AIDS INDUSTRY IN PROTECTING AMERICAN PLANT RESOURCES

USDA WEB SITE AIDS INDUSTRY IN PROTECTING AMERICAN PLANT RESOURCES       The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and Plant Protection and Quarantine have created a new Internet Web site to allow industry to track and comment on its efforts to protect American plant resources from foreign pests.
      The Web site, at https://www.safeguarding.org , was established as part of a recent report, 'Safeguarding American Plant Resources: A Stakeholder Review of the APHIS-PPQ Safeguarding System.'
      The USDA began meeting with the National Plant Board, a group comprising 43 officials from state and local governments, industry and academia, in 1998 to find efficient ways to keep pests out without hindering trade. The report contains about 300 recommendations.
      'An increase in international trade has caused American ports of entry to be overloaded with materials that could carry foreign pests,' said Robert J. Balaam, president of the National Plant Board.
      Some of the recent pests to enter the country through imports are the Asian longhorned beetle, Mediterranean fruit fly and citrus canker.
      USDA is in the process of evaluating these recommendations and putting 'action plans' in place, said Richard L. Dunkle, deputy administrator of USDA’s Plant Protection & Quarantine.