84 



Chapter A — The Application of Decisionmaking Methods 1 117 



This "pwesumption of enterabiluy" is not 

 mandated by the Plant Pest Act* or by other 

 controlling legislation; it is apparently a policy 

 choice to favor unburdened trade. That choice 

 may itself be the result of wei^iing the overall 

 risks and benefits of a more restrictive presump- 

 tion of exclusion. However, OTA. has not discov- 

 ered any evident national weighing of these risks 

 and benefits. The weighing process appears to 

 occur in difficult new cases, one at a time, at high 

 levels of the Department of Agriculture. 



[Ijn cx)ntroveisial trade matters, top manage- 

 ment outside of APHIS may "weigh" the biolog- 

 ical p)osition against the economic or other 

 positions, and the short-term decision made by 

 non-biologists may in some instances prevail 

 regardless of the probability of long-term adverse 

 consequences. (25) 



The presmnpaon of enterability has real conse- 

 quences. In the recently proposed imponanon of 

 Siberian timber to West Coast sawmills (box 

 4-B), for example, several critics pointed out that 

 aphis's starting assumption was that the impor- 

 tation would occur. The agency initially stressed 

 the rights of the importers to proceed rather than 

 the biological issues (7). Indeed, it allowed them 

 to bring in a small shipment of logs, without a 

 formal pest risk analysis or enviroimiental assess- 

 ment, that was found later to carry pests. It took 

 pressure from academic scientists and mem- 

 bers of Congress to stop APHIS from allowing 

 further shipments without a conqnehensive risk 

 analysis (14). 



For a proposed inqKirtation of pine (Pinus spp.) 

 wood chips from Hondtiras into Oregon, APHIS 

 did not require a formal assessment of the 

 potential risk, despite serious warnings from an 

 Oregon State University entomologist (37). The 

 agency would not delay the imports unless risk 

 was first proven; expert opinion was insufficient 

 to overcome the presumption of enterability (66). 



The agency's willingness to accept imanalyzed 

 risks is coirqxjimded by the low level of effort 

 USDA devotes to researching where risky species 

 are likely to come frt)m and to prtMctively 

 regulate so as to prevent problems before diey 

 arise. The relatively short list of foreign weeds 

 prohibited tmder the Federal Noxious Weed Act 

 represents one example (ch. 6) (41). Another is 

 the recent Asian gypsy moth infestation in Pacific 

 Northwest ports, which necessitated a S 14 million 

 to $20 million emergency eradication p r ogiam 

 (box 4-B). The moth arrived via cargo ships on 

 which eggs had been Laid while in Far East ports. 

 Ships are one of the most obvious pathways for 

 new pest introductions because of their size and 

 frequency of anivaL Yet APHIS had not proac- 

 tively analyzed the Asian gypsy moth risks nor 

 taken steps to prevent the infestadons. In the 

 words of a former California Department of 

 Agriculture official discussing overall U.S. quar- 

 antine policy, "ignorance is viewed as a rela- 

 tively low-level risk compared to the benefits of 

 open trade and other societal needs" (62). 



For the iteins discussed above — unprocessed 

 wood, packing materials, containers from high 

 risk areas, etc. — APHIS lacks specific regula- 

 tions. The agency assumes the items are suitable 

 for impon unless agricultural port inspectors 

 detea a problenL APHIS treats all plants in a 

 similar manner, including nursery stock, seeds, 

 and bulbs, under regulations known as Quaran- 

 tine 37. Such foreign plants are enterable with a 

 permit if they are not listed in these regulations, 

 that is, on the "dirty" list of plants known to cany 

 important pests or diseases in their countries of 

 origin. (Quarantine 56, which covers imported 

 fruits and vegetables for consumption, is an 

 exception to APHIS' overall assimiption of enter- 

 ability (25). Under this quarantine, pest risk 

 assessments have judged listed articles "clean" 

 and, thus, able to be imported with a peimit. 



» Feiaai Plam Pat Act (19J7), as snoukd O U.S.CA. 147» a seq.) 



