Hi all, We have until October to submit comments. Mike's comments seem very well considered. I will be happy to forward other useful comments posted here to Joyce Fingerut, who headed a consortium of plant societies in negotiating the creation of the Small Lots of Seeds plant import permit. Joyce is very knowledgeable on this subject, and has good contacts with USDA/APHIS. She will be a huge help in getting a good solution to this issue. It need not be all a "Bad Thing" one way or the other. There are still some areas of information unknown but likely relevant to the program, and input from as many knowledgeable plant people as possible will help Joyce and others achieve a mutually acceptable and useful result. Sincerely, Jim Shields ************************************************* Jim Shields USDA Zone 5 Shields Gardens, Ltd. P.O. Box 92 WWW: http://www.shieldsgardens.com/ Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA Tel. ++1-317-867-3344 or toll-free 1-866-449-3344 in USA