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Foreign Insects and Plant Diseases Invade U.S. Food Supply

  • Spence Cooper
  • October 12, 2011

As a result of hundreds of agricultural scientists being reassigned to the Department of Homeland Security, scores of foreign insects and plant diseases have invaded the United States after 9/11 because of a steep decline in agricultural inspections.

US authorities were so concentrated on thwarting another terrorist attack they neglected the massive influx of pests that currently threatens our nation’s food supply with billions of dollars in crop damage and eradication efforts from California to Florida.

“Whether they know it or not, every person in the country is affected by this, whether by the quality or cost of their food, the pesticide residue on food or not being able to enjoy the outdoors because beetles are killing off the trees,” said Mark Hoddle, an entomologist specializing in invasive species at the University of California, Riverside.

MSNBC lists the damage as follows:

* No fewer than 19 Mediterranean fruit fly infestations took hold in California, and the European grapevine moth triggered spraying and quarantines across wine country.

* The Asian citrus psyllid, which can carry a disease that has decimated Florida orange groves, crossed the border from Mexico, threatening California’s $1.8 billion citrus industry.

* New Zealand’s light brown apple moth also emerged in California, prompting the government in 2008 to bombard the Monterey Bay area with 1,600 pounds of pesticides. The spraying drew complaints that it caused respiratory problems and killed birds. Officials spent $110 million to eradicate the moth, but it didn’t work.

* The sweet orange scab, a fungal disease that infects citrus, appeared in Florida, Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, which all imposed quarantines.

Foreign Insects and Plant Diseases Invade U.S. Food Supply

* Chili thrips, rice cutworms and the plant disease gladiolus rust also got into Florida, which saw a 27 percent increase in new pests and pathogens between 2003 and 2007.

* The erythrina gall wasp decimated Hawaii’s wiliwili trees, which bear seeds used to make leis.

* Forests from Minnesota to the Northeast were also affected by beetles such as the emerald ash borer, many of which arrived in Chinese shipping pallets because regulations weren’t enforced.

MSNBC reports the number of pest cases intercepted at U.S. ports of entry fell from more than 81,200 in 2002 to fewer than 58,500 in 2006, before beginning to increase in 2007, when the farm industry and members of Congress began complaining.

It took authorities years “to learn there’s an important mission there,” said Joe Cavey, head of pest identification for a USDA inspection service. “Yeah, maybe a radioactive bomb is more important, but you have to do both things.”

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