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effort. Countries with limited forest resources are able to 

 obtain logs for modification into a variety of finished 

 products. However, the technology is not yet available to 

 assure that these logs can be delivered pest-free. For this 

 reason, the importation of raw logs poses serious biological 

 threats to the receiving country - not only forest pests, 

 but also agricultural pests that may utilize the logs for 

 passive dispersal across the globe. A careful review of the 

 three U.S. Department of Agriculture documents mentioned 

 above will disclose many potentially dangerous organisms 

 capable of being transported on raw logs (see also Ohmart, 

 1982; Goheen, 1992; Goheen and Tkacz, 1993). 



The hazard consists of the likelihood of known or potential 

 pest species being transported on or in the logs . 

 Theoretically, the logs could be treated to eliminate all 

 pests - insects and diseases alive. Presently, the 

 technology is not available for mass treatment of logs and 

 keeping them pest-free until they are modified by milling 

 in the importing country. 



Debarking has been suggested as a sanitation method but it 

 merely reduces the number of organisms, it does not 

 eliminate them completely. Surface spray has been suggested 

 as well. These too are effective - up to a point but do not ' 

 eliminate organisms living in the wood. Further, there may 

 be associated health hazards in working with treated logs. 



