Inside APHIS / United States Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

22 Pages·1996·2.2 MB·English

Historic, Archive Document
Do not assume content reflects current
scientific knowledge, policies, or practices.

Vol.16 No. 3 United States Department of Agriculture * Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service May/June 1996
Task Force Team Joins States to Eradicate Karnal Bunt
APHIS PHOTO
By Beth Hulse, Public Affairs, LPA
On March 5, 1996, Arizona team to begin quarantine and billion in fiscal year 1995, PPQ and
Department of Agriculture officials survey work. This team, now FAS officials immediately.began
reported to APHIS what they termed the Karnal bunt task force, negotiating with UIS: trading
thought might be a first for U.S. has been working steadily to trace partners concemecL-abouf the
agriculture—an infestation of Karnal back the sources of infected seed outbreak, assuring,-that every
bunt. In the following days, it was lots, identify all Kamal bunt- precaution would tje^taken to
confirmed that the fungal disease infected premises, disseminate up- protect U.S. wheat .export^ So far,
of wheat, durum wheat, and triticale to-date information to local wheat 38 countries have agreed^ accept
(a hybrid of wheat and iye) had industry officials, and enforce U.S. wheat shipments with^elther
found its way into durum wheat regulatory actions. no changes to phytosknitajy
seed in Southwestern Arizona. “Cooperation among the grow¬ requirements or an additional
Since that March 8 announce¬ ers, the States, and the wheat declaration proposecFby APHIS
ment, APHIS, teaming up with industry continues to be excep¬ stating that the wheSS* shipment
State regulatory officials, the tional,” says Fred Meyer, Kamal comes from an area free of Kamal
Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), bunt project manager. “Their bunt. APHIS’ Trade Support Team
the Agricultural Research Service cooperation is essential to the and FAS officials are continuing to
(ARS), and the Grain Inspection, success of the program.” negotiate with other trading
Packers and Stockyards Adminis¬ partners.
tration (GIPSA), has been working Export Markets at Risk What exactly is Kamal bunt?
around the clock to keep on top of Since United States is the It's best described as a fungal
this outbreak. Only 3 days after world's leading exporter of wheat, disease of wheat. The disease
the announcement, APHIS officials accounting for one-third of world causes infected plants to produce
had organized a rapid response wheat exports and valued at $4.9 (See KARNAL BUNT on page 3)
In This Issue
4 10 13
IS employee survives ordeal. International Marketplace. Forms go electronic.
6 11 16
PPQ employees learn AMS New IS office opens in Pern. FIS employees focus on their
tomato grading. customers.
One-APHIS team values
8 12 19
Medfly project shuts down. people. Alumni organization meets.
In Silence Employees Recollect the Oklahoma Bombing
April 19 marked the 1-year
anniversary of the bombing of
the Alfred P. Murrah Federal
Building in Oklahoma City, OK.
At Riverdale, MD, employees
attended a simple ceremony to
honor the seven APHIS
employees who lost their lives
as well as employees who
survived the explosion. The
ceremony centered around the
time of last year’s bombing—
10:02 a.m. Eastern Time—and
was held outdoors around the
dogwood tree that was planted
last year. Administrator Lonnie
King and Assistant Secretary
Mike Dunn attended and
placed a wreath next to the
plaque honoring the seven.
Here, three Riverdale
employees pause for
reflection.
USDA PHOTO BY BOB NICHOLS
Inside APHIS
Inside APHIS is published by:
Legislative and Public Affairs
Dear Editor: good, kind, and humane col¬ 4700 River Road, Unit 51,
league and friend. Riverdale, MD 20737
REAC employees were saddened Phone: [phone]
to learn of the sudden death of M. Jerry DePoyster LPA reserves the right to edit
Foster Mather. He died of a heart Animal Care, REAC for reasons of space and style.
attack on Saturday, March 23,
Director:
1996. Foster was a REAC veteri¬
Patrick Collins
nary medical officer, working out
of his home in Rochester, NY. Managing Editor:
Rick McNaney
We will all miss “Dr.” Foster Editor/Designer
Mather and remember him as a Mary Yurkovich
May/June 1996
2/Inside APHIS
KARNAL BUNT, From Page 1
less grain than healthy plants. It
also adversely affects the color,
odor, and palatability of flour and
other foodstuffs made of wheat if
the wheat is heavily contaminated.
Kamal bunt does not present a risk
to human health. The fungus was
first reported in 1931 in India and
has since been found in Pakistan,
Iraq, Afghanistan, and Mexico.
Kamal bunt is caused by the
smut fungus Tilletia indicia (Mitra)
Mundkur and is spread by spores.
The spores can be carried on a
variety of surfaces, including
plants and plant parts, seeds, soil,
elevators, buildings, farm equip¬
ment, tools, and even vehicles.
These spores can remain viable for
4 to 5 years in the soil.
Actions in Four States
As of mid-April, infected wheat
seed has been traced to premises
in Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, APHIS PHOTO BY STEVE POE
and California. Currently, a
quarantine, announced by Agricul¬ Task force member Rob Meyer from the Germplasm Quarantine Center at
Beltsville, MD, examines a grain-sampling suspension to see if there are
ture Secretary Dan Glickman on
spores of Kamal bunt.
March 26, is in place in the State
of Arizona, four counties in New
More recently, Secretary wheat industry officials and
Mexico, two counties in Texas, and
Glickman announced crop de¬ growers affected by the fungus.
two counties in California. This
struction orders in New Mexico Task force officials respond to
quarantine restricts the interstate
and Texas for Kamal-bunt infected more than 100 calls each day from
movement of regulated articles,
premises. Under these orders, industry officials, growers, inter¬
such as wheat, conveyances used
farming operations that comply ested citizens, and media.
to move wheat, grain elevators
and plow their wheat crops down Even though crop destruction
used to store wheat, and milling
may be eligible to receive compen¬ for Kamal bunt has begun, PPQ
products and byproducts.
sation. USDA's Chief Economist anticipates it will be a long time
On March 27, Glickman an¬
Office has recommended that before APHIS can forget about the
nounced a declaration of emer¬
compensation for these growers disease. A national survey of
gency, transferring $24.7 million
would be appropriate at the rate of elevators is planned for every
from the Commodity Credit Corpo¬
$275 an acre plus an additional county where wheat is produced,
ration for fiscal year 1996 to help
$25 an acre for plowing. some 2,100 sites.
with Kamal bunt eradication and
“The wheat that was destroyed The survey will be a coopera¬
control activities. He also declared
in New Mexico and Texas was in tive effort between APHIS, the
an extraordinary emergency for the
early stages of development,” says States, and industry to monitor
states of Arizona, Texas, New
PPQ Deputy Administrator Don our wheat exports and ensure they
Mexico, and California because of
Husnik. “So plowdown was a are healthy,” says PPQ Chief
Kamal bunt. This declaration
feasible method of initiating Operations Officer Jerry Fowler. ♦
allows USDA to take a wide range
eradication on these premises. By
of actions within states to control
plowing under these crops, we
and eradicate the fungus, includ¬
prevent the further spread of
ing providing compensation.
Kamal bunt into noninfected areas
of the United States and help
protect our export markets,”
Husnik adds.
Plowdown is complete in New
Mexico and Texas,” says Meyer.
‘The growers there should be
commended for their willingness to
cooperate with program officials to
eradicate Kamal bunt.”
From the beginning, APHIS and
Kamal bunt task force officials
have been in constant contact with
May/June 1996 Inside APHIS/3
IS Employee Survives 40 Hours Afloat in Nicaraguan Bay
On Saturday March 9, 1996, IS boats, and headed to the left. We “About mid-morning Sunday, I
technical manager Pedro Matos saw a huge wave; our pilot speeded think it was, Salomon Baltodano
Ripoll left Managua, Nicaragua, on up and tried to meet it bow on. But and Lorenzo Perez left us to swim
a 17-hour trip by land and water the wave hit us abeam, and water to shore and get help. After they
to La Cruz de Rio Grande, a town came in and swamped the boat. swam all day, the tide turned and
upriver from the Caribbean Coast We tried bailing, but we could not carried them back north, away
of that country. He had planned to bail fast enough to level the boat. from the town lights they saw at
review activities of the Cooperative The stem went under, and the dusk, and further away from the
Screwworm Eradication Program boat literally began to sink out shore. The remaining four of us
and to give a 3-day training course from under us. stayed with the barrel all Sunday
to a brigade of program employees afternoon and night and Monday
assigned to verify the absence of Holding On morning until searchers finally
screwworm cases in that area. “I remember holding on to the found us. Baltodano and Perez
He never reached his destina¬ boat’s anchor chain at first. The were found first; they had almost
tion. Instead, Matos and five boat floated partially, stem down made it to a beach again when
Nicaraguan inspectors spent about and bow out of the water, and we they were rescued Monday morn¬
40 hours in the water clinging to stayed with it until high wind and ing. Exhausted and almost
ropes tied around an empty fuel rough waves forced us away. One incoherent, they managed to tell
drum and praying their colleagues of the inspectors, Gonzalo Guerrero, rescuers about where we were.
would find them before the sharks snagged an empty 55-gallon fuel “By that time, I was uncon¬
did or before they died of exposure. drum with its cover on. I had a scious a lot; my eyes were swollen
Reached in Puerto Rico where new 12-foot coil of rope on my shut, my whole face was swollen
he was recuperating with his shoulder, but I have no memory of from the sun and salt, and my
family, Matos tells his story: how it got there. Did I grab it as I hands were bleeding from holding
left the boat? I don’t know. We on to the rope. I must have had
Laguna de Perlas lashed the rope to the barrel, and some strength left, because I kept
“Our party left the river port of there we stayed, clinging to the holding on.
Rama in three outboards to make rope, for all Saturday night and all “I don’t remember much about
the water leg of the trip. There are day Sunday. the rescue. I remember one of my
no roads in this part of Nicaragua,
so all travel is done by boat. We
motored down the Rio Escondido
to Laguna de Perlas, an inland bay
about 30 miles long by 8 miles
wide. We had to travel the length
of this bay to reach our destina¬
tion. Because the boat I was
traveling in was fast, we got to the
village of Laguna de Perlas at the
south end of the bay about 11/2
hours ahead of the others.
“In Orinoco, we visited with
honorary inspectors about the
program and met with the police to
get their assessment of security in
the area. (Armed groups and
bandits are still a significant
problem in parts of Nicaragua.)
The police told my companions
that there was danger in staying in
the town because of some local
troublemakers. By that time, the
other boats were in sight, and my
companions said we had time to
reach the next little village on the
bay before dark. To prevent an
incident, we indicated to the arriving
boats to continue ahead, and we
followed them out into the bay.
Sudden Squall
APHIS PHOTO
“About 10 minutes into the bay, Before his life-threatening experience, IS technical manager Pedro Matos
a storm blew up, and the seas often traveled into the Nicaraguan countryside. Here Matos (white hat)
grew rough. We passed the other teaches field inspectors how to collect samples.
4/Inside APHIS May/June 1996
companions saying, Take him Because much of what happens in out, not the safest design. His
first—he’s the worst one.’ I was the Nicaragua does so more through companions later placed an extra
oldest one—the others are all in personal connections than through life preserver, the boxy kind, on
their 20’s.” organized structures, the crisis him, and it kept his head out of
group began calling government the water when he was drifting in
Rescue Efforts officials, business people, military and out of consciousness.”
While Matos and his compan¬ contacts, police contacts, friends, A full accounting of the accident
ions were bobbing in the water, the friends of friends, relatives, and is not in, but Terrell says that the
crew of the second boat finally relatives of relatives in an effort to bay Laguna de Perlas has been
passed through the storm and find resources on the Caribbean subject this year to unusual north¬
reached the village of Orinoco after Coast to intensify the search. erly winds. These northerners bring
dark. They mounted flashlights as rain squalls without warning, and
beacons, but the boat never Expanding the Search because the bay is shallow, waves
arrived. At daybreak, they From the three or four boats are whipped to a frenzy in min¬
mounted a search. However, this searching on Sunday, the hunt utes.
area is sparsely populated, and the expanded to seven or eight boats
local people are quite poor. They by Monday. Two program aircraft Local Cooperation
have only dugout canoes, and were flying search patterns over “The program inspectors on site,
there are no telephones or radios— the bay as well. Walter Rice, the local communities, and the
no way to contact program head¬ APHIS administrative officer, Nicaraguan Air Force were all
quarters in Managua. joined the hunt, flying as a spotter wonderfully cooperative,” comments
The people began searching as in one of the planes. All the local Terrell. “Without the willingness of
best they could, and the program inhabitants and officials around the locals to assist in the search
boat was sent to another village to Laguna de Perlas joined the and without the helicopter evacua¬
hunt for a working telephone or search, helping with everything tion and medical assistance, at least
radio and other boats. By Sunday from feeding searchers, to hunting two of our employees likely would
afternoon, an inspector finally for fuel (scarce in that area) for the have died. Someone was watching
found a telephone and reached outboards, to trying to establish out for these guys. The locals claim
Leon, one of the larger Nicaraguan reliable communications with that no one ever survived 40 hours
towns close to Managua. Program Managua. As the search effort afloat in this bay.”
employees in Leon relayed a gained momentum, the first In Puerto Rico, Matos is pleased
message to the U.S. Screwworm survivors were found drifting in to be getting a new pair of glasses
Program Director Alan Terrell in their lifejackets about 10 a.m. to replace the ones he lost in the
Managua. Terrell sent out a Monday morning. By 11:30 a.m., accident. He was also looking
contract aircraft to search the area all had been retrieved from the forward to returning to Nicaragua
and called the program crisis waters of the bay and taken to a sometime in April and to replaying
group together. local aid station in the village of the experience with his colleagues.
According to Terrell, the pro¬ Laguna de Perlas, which has a He hopes they can help him fill in
gram crisis group arrived at the volunteer doctor, but no supplies— the blanks in his recollections.
central office about 3:30 p.m. on not even bed sheets. “Every day is a new day in
Sunday and did not disband until Matos, who says he remembers Nicaragua,” says Matos. “We’d
10:00 p.m. on Monday evening. almost nothing of the rescue or never get anything done there if we
evacuation, was medevacked, were afraid to take risks. They
along with his five Nicaraguan come with the job.” ♦
companions, by a rented military
helicopter to the military hospital
in Managua. The next day, Matos,
who was suffering from severe
pulmonary edema, or incomplete
drowning syndrome, was evacu¬
ated via an emergency aircraft to
Miami, FL. He was hospitalized for
9 days and then sent home to
Puerto Rico for medical rest.
“Fortunately, they were all
wearing life jackets,” says Terrell,
“and that saved their lives. Matos
was wearing the jacket kind, which
is comfortable, but, as it turned
May/June 1996 Inside APHIS/5
In San Francisco PPQ Employees Take Up Tomato Grading
By Dave Talpas and Dave Black, PPQ, San Francisco
Have you ever wondered what it
takes for a tomato from Mexico to
make it into the United States
legally? Before December 1995,
imported tomatoes underwent a
series of Federal inspections. Now,
there’s only one inspection be¬
cause the industry and two Fed¬
eral agencies saw a way to reinvent
the system.
They say necessity is the mother
of invention, or, in this case, re-
invention. Last year, Mexican
tomatoes entering the United
States at the Port of San Francisco
were first inspected to make sure
that they were free from exotic
plant pests that could threaten
American agriculture. APHIS PPQ
officers performed this task. Then
the tomatoes were graded by
inspectors with the Agricultural
Marketing Service’s (AMS) Fruit &
Vegetable Division to ensure that
they met import requirements and
were legally marketable. APHIS
inspections and AMS grading
processes were sequential and APHIS PHOTO BY DICKINS CHUN
PPQ officers Georgia Goodwin and David Black get into their
time consuming.
grading routine at the San Francisco Work Unit.
As an initiative to improve
customer service, AMS and PPQ
Rosko. “So, naturally, I thought, To date, 11 officers have in¬
have found a way to reduce the
why not somehow involve PPQ spected and graded tomatoes.
process to a single inspection.
even more in a cooperative venture “So far, so good,” says PPQ
PPQ Officers at San Francisco
with AMS on grading tomatoes Airport Manager Ed Yamaki.
International Airport (SFIA) now
coming through SFIA.” “Initially, the 11 officers were
grade organically grown tomatoes
PPQ’s Reynolds agreed. “It just challenged by the complexity of the
from Mexico for AMS and perform
makes perfect sense that our two grading process. It is far more
APHIS inspections.
agencies cooperate to streamline complicated than we expected. And
Will Sharron, a tomato importer,
grading and inspection processes,” we must complete grading certifi¬
came up with the idea. “By the time
Reynolds says. “Any time we can cates. Learning by trial and error,
both APHIS and AMS had completed
streamline Government, we will make the 11 gradually got the hang of it.
their inspections,” claims Sharron,
our customers more satisfied.” They deserve a lot of credit."
“the tomatoes had degraded to the
APHIS and AMS entered into a PPQ’s Helene Wright, plant
point that it was simply not profit¬
memorandum of understanding health director in California, sees
able to import them.”
(MOU). Under the MOU signed last more cooperation between AMS
Sharron petitioned AMS to find
October, AMS provides training, and APHIS in the future. “This
a way to make importation pos¬
equipment, and user fee collection; innovative utilization of resources
sible by expediting inspection and APHIS performs the grading of will serve as the basis for possible
grading processes without jeopar¬ organically grown tomatoes im¬ national implementation for other
dizing American agriculture. ported at SFIA; and AMS reim¬ selected commodities.”
Bob Rosko, Regional Director of burses APHIS for the work.. For the American consumer
AMS’ Fresh Products Branch, The tomato import season buying produce from Mexico, the
contacted PPQ Western Regional normally runs from October 10 future looks bright, thanks to the
Director Jim Reynolds to explore through June 15. As of March 27, dedication and determination of
the notion of having PPQ officers PPQ officers had completed 66 progressive employees in two
become certified to grade imported gradings. PPQ Officer Arsenio USDA agencies working in San
tomatoes. Mendoza, who leads his colleagues Francisco, CA. You may leave your
“AMS, in cooperation with with 16 tomato gradings under his heart in San Francisco, but
APHIS and State cooperators, has belt, boasts, “It’s all in the way you tomatoes—well, they just have a
worked out a system for export look at them. Tomato grading gives way of passing right on through—
certification of apples and pears officers a chance to do something inspected and graded, that is. ♦
over the last 15 years,” says
different. In fact, it’s quite inter¬
esting work."
6/Inside APHIS May/June 1996
New England Employees Collaborate on Aquaculture
In January 1996, employees agenda. Plans are for the course to ing cattle or writing down ear tag
from APHIS units in New England run 2 days, to include an overview numbers. On the other hand, PPQ
met at the VS area office in Sutton, of both the aquaculture industry and VS employees would need
MA, to discuss the agency’s role in worldwide and New England some training before, for example,
aquaculture and how they might aquaculture, and to cover topics they could inspect dogs and cats at
collaborate on this and other such as diet, husbandry, and airports. Some field inspections
projects in the area. Bill Smith, water quality of fish and shellfish. would require that employees have
area veterinarian in charge of New Local Extension employees will both on-the-job and classroom
England, hosted the meeting. discuss how APHIS can help. cross training before they could
Organizers included Patty Douglass, During the January meeting, perform highly technical tasks.”
PPQ; Clem Dussault, REAC; and participants also identified some Other cooperative areas in¬
John Coakley, OPD. areas where unit cooperation could cluded riding together and shad¬
“In Connecticut, the aquacul¬ ease the burden on any one unit owing assignments for on-the-job
ture industry is large, making up and improve customer service. At training and familiarizing them¬
about 10 percent of all farm the airports in Connecticut and selves with each other and their
crops,” says Coakley. “Oyster Rhode Island, for example, PPQ respective programs.
farming is big here, and Maine has and REAC could share personnel “We hope to keep building on
a large salmonid industry. Service to perform airport inspections of our solid beginning at future
to aquaculture is part of the VS dogs and cats. PPQ employees meetings, Coakley says. “The
strategic plan, and ADC routinely learned that VS has a contract vision launch workshops at
helps farmers with aquaculture veterinarian who travels to Maine Newburgh, NY, and Boston, MA, in
predators. We wanted to explore to inspect animals. AVIC Smith April and May will provide us with
how we could better serve this suggested that while there she further occasions to explore one-
emerging industry as one APHIS.” could perform inspection duties at APHIS opportunities. Then in
At the initial meeting, the group PPQ border ports when needed. June, we are planning a followup
decided to develop and present a “The group divided cross meeting in Sutton, MA, to include
course entitled “Introduction to utilization into tasks that could be more APHIS employees.
Aquaculture" this summer to all accomplished with no training, “By the time we offer our
interested New England employees. some training, or a lot of training,” aquaculture course this summer,
A smaller group including veteri¬ Coakley explains. “In the area of New England employees from
narians Noreen Roche, Lech no training were such tasks as APHIS units will have met and
Szkudlarek, Steve Ellis, and OPD’s needing a second person from exchanged ideas on several occa¬
Coakley met again to develop a draft another unit to assist with bleed¬ sions,” Coakley says. ♦
APHIS PHOTO BY TRACEY JACOBSON
Employees at the first one-APHIS meeting in the VS office in Sutton, MA, are
(standing, from left) Lech Szkudlarek (VS, CT), Jennifer Lynch (ADC, MA), Jan Puzas
(REAC, CT), Asia Elsbree (OPD, MD), Patty Douglas (PPQ, CT), John Coakley (OPD,
CT), Bill Smith (VS, MA), Terry Goodman (PPQ, CT), Laura Henze (ADC, MA), Clem
Dussault (REAC, VT), Steve Ellis (VS, ME), Noreen Roche (VS, Rl). Seated, from left,
Thomas Furbush (VS, MA), Robert Brady (VS,MA), Dave Kluesener (VS, NH).
May/June 1996 Inside APHIS/7
Longest Running Medfly Project to Close in June This Year
By Doug Hendrix, Media Officer, Cooperative Medfly Project
In June, Cooperative Medfly
Project employees will finish a
final-phase survey for Mediterra¬
nean fruit flies in the Los Angeles,
CA, basin. If they find no flies—
and every indication is that they
will not—the longest running
Medfly program in USDA history
will come to a close. After 4 1/2
years of battling infestations of this
agricultural pest, about 400
employees will go to new jobs or
return to former ones. They leave
behind a legacy of innovation and
team approaches that were re¬
sponsible for the accomplishment
of their goals.
The project, which began in
October 1991, was made up of
employees in APHIS, the California
Department of Food and Agricul¬
ture (CDFA), and local county
APHIS PHOTO
agricultural offices. Their job was Assistant program director John Stewart (center) demonstrates the fruit¬
to keep the Medfly from becoming tracking system in Ventura County to officials from Japan. PPQ’s Mike
established in California. It was no Shannon (Operational Support) is on the extreme left.
easy task. Medflies have spread
throughout subtropical regions of expertise or to provide continuity. A Basin-Wide Approach
the world from Africa and thrive on So in late 1993, PPQ management Californians know that the
more than 250 fruits, nuts, and decided to detail Federal PPQ Medfly’s threat to California’s
vegetables. officers to the Project for long-term overall economy is real. U.C.
California has been plagued by assignments." Berkeley economist Jerry Siebert
repeated introductions of the pest The year 1993 proved to be an found that if key foreign trade
since 1975. State/Federal authori¬ interesting time for the Cooperative partners were to embargo California’s
ties have always eradicated the Medfly Project. More than 400 wild produce because of the Medfly, the
outbreaks, mostly by using Medflies were discovered in the immediate costs would be a
malathion bait applied from the Los Angeles basin. Large infesta¬ decrease in the Gross State Product
ground or from the air and follow¬ tions were discovered in the San of $1.4 billion and the elimination
ing up these applications with the Fernando and San Gabriel Valleys, of at least 14,000 jobs. Related
release of sterilized flies around fly east and south central Los Ange¬ industries such as trucking, pack¬
detection sites. les, and northern Orange County. ing, food processing, retail, and
“The approach for the last 20 “It was apparent that we had a shipping would also be affected.
years has been to trap for intro¬ fly outbreak that was mushroom¬ With the State’s largest industry
ductions and, once they were ing and that could get entirely out at stake. Project officials elected to
discovered, to put eradication of control," says Meyer. “We knew follow the recommendations of the
programs in place,” said Fred we needed a different approach to international panel. On March 1,
Meyer, senior operational support eradicate outbreaks from the Los 1994, the project initiated its
officer with PPQ’s Western Region. Angeles basin.” basin-wide sterile insect treatment
“These programs consisted of rapid (SIT) program.
response by State and Federal International Panel “The SIT stragegy was to treat
personnel and a request for “In October of 1993, we con¬ all known infested areas in the
emergency funding. In theory, vened an International Science basin with enough sterile Medflies
emergency programs are short in Advisoiy Panel in Los Angeles to long enough to eradicate the fly
duration, so personnel detailed to assess Medfly eradication activities from these areas and to flood
these activities return to their in southern California,” says noninfested areas with sterile
regular job assignments after a Meyer. "Renowned entomologists Medflies, to prevent new introduc¬
short time. In reality, many of the from aground the globe attended. tions from becoming established,”
programs last a long time. A common theme expressed by says Meyer.
“We had a constant flux of these experts was that we should “The program was designed to
short-term workers continually deal with the Los Angeles basin as blanket most of the Los Angeles
circulating through the eradication one entire unit. Always before, we basin with sterile Medflies and to
programs," Meyer continues. had geared eradication activities span at least two periods when the
“These people were not at the around individual fly-detection population of the insects could be
programs long enough to acquire sites.” expected to be at its lowest level,
8/Inside APHIS May/June 1996