Sounds good, Bill. NIce presentation. ----- Original Message ----- From: "William Aley" <aley_wd@me.com> To: "Pacific Bulb Society" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> Sent: Monday, January 24, 2011 9:39 AM Subject: Re: [pbs] easy pass for small quantities of dry bulbs > It's a difficult dilemma for bulbs, when there are plant pests that > only manifest during the green stage. Even a phytosanitary > certificate cannot verify that there are no hidden pests and the > challenge will be convincing scientist- pathologists, nematologists > and entomologists that any bulb is free of all plant pests without > conducting destructive analysis to verify this. I am open to > suggestions, ideas and solutions. > > Joyce has asked us in the past about what it would take to have a > small lots of plants permit and we have the scientists reply with "how > do you know the bulbs are free of plant pests?" > > That is the purpose of the NAPPRA, which will require a pest risk > assessment before any Genera and or Species will be considered > generally enterable. This is another LONG winded topic. > > As I mentioned earlier, seeds are for the most part free of many > destructive plant pests. Other plant parts have pathways for plant > pests: stem borers, leaf minors, egg layers, cankers, galls, cysts, > spores and fungus each plant pest has a particular process to ensure > survivability and in this modern era transportation to a new > environment. I don't think anyone in this group wants to be known as > the importer responsible for a blight, new rust or plant pest that > uses the imported plant as primary or an alternative host which might > attack other plants both commercial or for hobbyists. For regulators > there is the balance between enough information to have a high level > of confidence and pest freedom and not so restrictive to be a barrier > for free trade. > > One new pest out break can cost thousands to millions of dollars to > clean up. > > Take Hosta X virus, not even a quarantine pest but a quality plant > pest that the Hosta Folks are very concerned about, each shipment > imported into the USA must pass a screening to have only a total of > plants below a 5% contamination per shipment, the individual test is > not cheap and someone pays for the test, time and validation during > the in inspection, you do as it's all funded by taxpayer and user > fees. Would anyone-one be willing to pay $300 for an import permit to > fund inspection and verification at the port of entry for any > particular shipment? Usually there is a universal no to that question > and then our managers must balance perception with the current trend > to make government smaller. > But we still have pests like emerald ash borer that will make American > Ash tree go the way of the American Chestnut, Asian longhorn beetles > that feed uncontrolled on hardwood trees. Barberry rusts that > overwinter on barberries and kill certain annual grasses like wheat. > Don't even get me started on Phytophthora. > > Our entire staff works to look for the balance and constructive > suggestions are always welcomed, were just folk who have this as our > job, just like many of you deliver or make or fix something for a > living. > > Our staff has no problem giving credit where it is due when folks > come up with great solutions to the existing dilemmas as the rules we > have now are what have been in place at least from 1979 and often way > before that. Any positive movement to that balance would be an > improvement. But remember that many people view us as the plant nazis > or mindless bureaucrats who live for the opportunity to screw over the > population. There is a reason why many of my counterparts refuse to be > in a public forum to discuss these issues and their absence is often a > reflection of vitriolic comments from folks that think they know a lot > but may be missing some of the information, understand the rules that > restrict or control legal options or even the history of how we got > to this place we are at today. > > To be honest, we in the regulatory side don't have all the answers, I > don't think we claim to be the experts in everything. Often groups > that have an affinity for a particular subject are far more equipped > at being experts because they have a collective passion for the > subject. I really believe that one of you may just come up with a > suggestion that would work and make sense or galvanize a collective to > accept a stance not previously thought of. > Individually each of us have our passions and needs and wants, but > collectively the resources and knowledge is far greater and that when > harnessed can help make this little , tiny, slow moving and often > insignificant part of government work just a little bit better so more > people have a level of satisfaction rather than disappointment. > Perhaps that's what's meant by saying, "We the people" > > Bill's soapbox about import options > > > > > On Jan 24, 2011, at 8:24 AM, r de vries wrote: > >> Great idea! >> >> but they still have to be free of dirt and bugs and will likely >> require someone to certify that.... >> >> Rimmer de Vries >> >> >> Michael Mace wrote: >> >> And in the meantime, I think it would be *great* to see if we can >> get something similar to the small lots of seed program applied to >> small >> quantities of dry bulbs. I'm interested in pursuing that. Is anyone >> else >> interested? >> >> Mike >> >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> pbs mailing list >> pbs@lists.ibiblio.org >> http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php >> http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ > > William Aley > aley_wd@me.com > http://www.aley.william.name/ > > > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/