Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS): 
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) 
agency that provides standardization, grad- 
ing, and market news services for certain 
commodities, such as fruits, vegetables, 
livestock, poultry, and seed. 
Agricultural Quarantine and Inspection 
(AQI): An Animal and Plant Health 
Inspection Service (APHIS) safeguarding 
program designed to prevent the introduc- 
tion of harmful plant and animal pests and 
diseases, such as noxious weeds, insects, 
fungi, and parasites, into the United States. 
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service 
(APHIS): The USDA agency that protects 
American agriculture by providing leader- 
ship in ensuring the health and care of ani- 
mals and plants. 
Area freedom: An international trade policy 
that allows distinct areas within a country or 
region that are free of a specified plant pest 
or disease to export related commodities 
even if the rest of the country remains 
quarantined. 
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC): 
An international organization established in 
1989 to promote open trade and economic 
cooperation in the Pacific Rim. 
Asian longhorned beetle (Anoplophora 
glabripennis): A destructive insect pest that 
kills hardwood trees. The beetle bores into 
healthy hardwoods, feeds on living tree 
tissue during the fall and winter, and 
emerges through a hole about the size of 
a dime during the spring. The boring 
eventually kills the tree. 
Biological control: Control methods that 
use predators, parasites, and pathogens— 
instead of chemicals or cultural practices — 
to combat plant pests. 
Biotechnology: The application of biological 
science to manipulate deoxyribonucleic acid 
(DNA) to improve old organisms or create 
new ones, such as plants with better disease 
resistance, crop yield, and nutrition. 
Bioterrorism: The use of living agents, such 
as a manmade or natural disease pathogens, 
to attack people, animals, and plants. 
Bluetongue: A serious viral disease in ani- 
mals characterized by swelling and slough- 
ing, especially about the mouth and tongue. 
Boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis 
Boheman): A serious insect pest that feeds 
on cotton. APHIS has been working to 
eradicate this pest from the United States 
since 1978. 
Botany: The study of plants. 
Center for Veterinary Biologics (CVB): This 
APHIS Veterinary Services unit implements 
the provisions of the Virus-Serum—Toxin Act 
to assure that pure, safe, potent, and effective 
veterinary biologics are available for the 
diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of 
animal diseases. CVB is located in Ames, IA. 
Citrus canker: A highly contagious disease 
of citrus caused by the bacterium 
Xanthomonas axonopodis pathovar citri. 
This bacterium causes dieback, defoliation, 
severely blemished fruit, reduced fruit 
quality, and premature fruit drop. 
Classical swine fever (CSF): A highly 
contagious, deadly disease of swine, also 
known as hog cholera. 
Closing the Los Angeles Area Marketplace 
Pathway (CLAMP): A program created to 
reduce the amount of agricultural goods 
smuggled into major international ports 
located in California. 
