UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

 AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH SERVICE 

 PLANT QUARANTINE DIVISION 

 WASHINGTON 25, D. C. 



SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES, PLANT QUARANTINE DIVISION 



Fiscal Year 1961 



The Plant Quarantine Division has primary responsibility for pre- 

 venting the entry of dangerous plant pests into the United States 

 and the spread of pests from overseas U. S. areas to other parts 

 of the country. The Division also has responsibility for certifying 

 domestic plants and plant products to meet the import requirements 

 of foreign countries. These responsibilities are met by inspection 

 staffs at t h e major ports of entry where Division inspectors work 

 in cooperation with Customs and other government agencies in the 

 examination of pertinent articles and their carrying vehicles. 



With a continuing increase in international tr ave I and commerce 

 comes a corresponding increase in the danger of pest entry. This 

 year there were well over 160 million entries o f people into the 

 United States from foreign countries. When this figure is augraented 

 by t h e number of people who traveled from Hawaii, Puerto Rico, 

 and the American Virgin Islands to the continental United States, 

 and were thus subject t o plant quarantine inspection, the sum 

 approximate s the total population of the country. This is the 

 equivalent of every person in the United States leaving the country 

 and then returning. To this must be added the number of planes, 

 trains, automobiles, and ships required for their transportation, 

 and which also bring the many thousands of importations of both 

 agricultural and nonagricultural cargoes that regularly bring plant 

 pests to our shores and borders. 



Nearly all plant pests intercepted at ports of entry arrive in one 

 of three ways: (1) in unauthorized plant m at e r i a I in passengers' 

 baggage, (2)in commercial importations of plants and plant products, 

 and (3) with miscellaneous nonagricultural cargo. Of these three, 

 passengers' baggage represents the greatest threat. In this fiscal 

 year atotal of 22,7 13,663 pieces of baggage receivedplant quarantine 

 clearance. 



With the entry of baggage increasing significantly each year, it has 

 become clear that some effective measures need be developed to 

 supplement inspection. In the belief that pest-carrying articles 

 brought in by t r av e I e r s could be materially reduced by a better 

 informedpublic,a number of measures have beentakento accomplish 

 that purpose, including the following: 



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