Plant diseases plague w...( tle threat to the agricultural health o...)

tle threat to the agricultural health of other countries. Its mostly that the people creating the regulations dont necessarily understand these diseases and so they tend to overreact to the threat of infection when this grain could be of substantial help to countries whose people could use an inexpensive, yet highly nutritious food product like wheat.

Critics say potatoes and tomatoes are another good example of what happens when countries fail to keep trade policies updated. In the U.S., for example, there are tough restrictions against growing imported cultivars of potatoes and tomatoes. However, there are few restrictions on bringing these crops into the country for consumption. As a result, disease strains from other countries have hitched a ride into the U.S. on potatoes headed for American grocery stores and even though the disease already exists among U.S. crops, the severity of the outbreaks appear to have worsened.

Its situations like these, and similar ones, that will be the topic of discussion when the scientists meet at the end of August. Theyll be given a complete overview of current trade practices and will hear about recent initiatives designed to help remove some of the barriers to global trade and improve the worlds overall trading environment for those working in agriculture and plant health management. It may sound like a huge undertaking to try and get the worlds major countries to reexamine their practices, but most are motivated. They know that in order to feed their growing populations and trade internationally, theyll have to become more plant health savvy. And plant pathologists will gladly be there to help, says Abawi.

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Contact: Cindy Ash
cash@scisoc.org
651-454-7250
American Phytopathological Society
13-Aug-2001


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