Re: legislation?

As of 3 weeks ago, the San Francisco office was not allowing ANY plants or seeds
without phytosanitary certificates.  I only had 6 rhizomes of some Zingiberaceae, but
fortunately had cleaned them up good, labeled them all and obtained phytos from the
Thai agriculture people in Bangkok before I left.  Another lady behind me had brought
in a few seeds and was denied.   I asked about the so-called rule of 12 and the
inspector told me that was simply the number that they used to use as a rule of thumb
as to how many they would inspect "while you wait" versus leaving them for the
regular office hours inspection.  He said that all imports of plant material are
required to have phytosanitary certificates from the country of origin, and that they
had expanded it to include seeds a few months ago.

I certainly agree with Marge that the "white list" concept would cripple the
introduction of new plant material and is completely unreasonable.

> I am not certain what the status of the 12 plants for personal use
> that one used to be able to bring back from a trip abroad without a
> lot of paperwork.


Dave Skinner - skinnerd@nettally.com
Le Jardin Ombragé, Tallahassee, Florida, USA
  Main Website  http://www.nettally.com/skinnerd/ombrage.html
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Marge Talt" <mtalt@HORT.NET>
To: <shadegardens@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU>
Sent: Monday, August 05, 2002 1:17 AM
Subject: Re: [SG] legislation?


> Anelle,
>
> I think you're referring to the proposed "white list", as opposed to
> the current black list for known noxious weeds.  The current listing
> of known bad guys works just fine.  There are very well established
> guidelines for adding and removing plants from this list.
>
> The white list has not yet been implemented, but it is among the
> proposals that are on the table and will be considered in the future.
>  Consideration is being mandated by the Plant Protection Act and
> recommendations by the rather biased group of "stakeholders" that
> were assembled to suggest legislation to "protect" our native plants.
>
> I have nothing against protecting what little native ecosystems we
> have left; I do not think a white list is the way to go about it.
>
> It is being pushed hard by the native only crowd, whose more rabid
> elements would like to see all "exotic" plants removed from the
> landscape.  This is a very vocal and well-organized group who have
> been working toward their goals for a number of years.
>
> It is not a viable concept, really, because it would be physically
> and financially impossible for our government to trial all known and
> unknown plants for every ecosystem in this country, even if there
> were a proven scientific method of determining which plants might
> become invasive in any given area - which there is not.  This means
> that, should it become law, there would be a complete stop to new
> plant introductions and Lord only knows what would happen to the sale
> and exchange of plants internationally or even nationally.
>
> I am totally opposed to the white list concept for the above reasons
> and urge all of you who care about horticulture to give it careful
> consideration and if you find you are also opposed, write to USDA
> about it, your legislators and the Secretary of Agriculture.
>
> You can import plants that are not on the Federal noxious weed list;
> not CITES protected nor on the list of plants that you can't import
> but aren't weeds (all Rubus, for instance).
>
> I am not certain what the status of the 12 plants for personal use
> that one used to be able to bring back from a trip abroad without a
> lot of paperwork.
>
> All nurseries and importers of plants must obtain a phytosanitary
> certificate from the country of origin. There are also import permits
> to deal with...
>
> Also, as of last January, all seeds imported into the US must be
> accompanied by a phyto. certificate...one seed; one packet or
> thousands of seeds.  This is also not a good plan for many reasons I
> won't go into here.  There is a possibility that USDA APHIS may
> reconsider this if they get enough feedback from the public about it,
> but getting people to write a letter is not an easy task...
>
> Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
> mtalt@hort.net
> Editor:  Gardening in Shade
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> ----------
> > From: Anelle Kloski <akloski@JPS.NET>
> >
> > Was it on this list a while back that there was discussion of
> > legislation being considered about not importing plants without a
> period
> > of evaluation?  If anyone remembers this, can you tell me what
> happened
> > to all this?
> >
> > Anelle
>
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