Plant Quarantine regulations and enforcement procedures place 

 no more restrictions on travel or commerce than are considered 

 essential t o prevent the entry and spread of de struct ive pests. 

 Products are prohibited entry into the United States only when 

 their importation would represent a danger of pest introduction 

 and no satisfactory method of treatment is available to eliminate 

 the pest involved. The quarantines are kept under constant review 

 and are promptly modified to take advantage of newly developed 

 treatments and to meet changes in pest conditions throughout the 

 world. 



The inspection and certification of American- grown agricultural 

 products for exportation has an important bearing on the maintenance 

 of foreign markets for our farm products. Most countrie s will 

 permit the importation of agricultural products only if properly 

 certified as meeting their plant quarantine import requirements. 

 Hence, it is essential that our export certification service be of a 

 high standard so that importing countries will continue to accept 

 certified U. S. products with confidence. 



In FY 1962 nearly 39,000 export certificates were issued for plants 

 and plant products covering shipments destined to 154 different 

 countries. The United States exported harvested crops equal to the 

 production from 1 out of every 5 acres. Export s included more 

 than half of the wheat, dried edible peas, rice, and hops grown in 

 this country; about one-third of the cotton, soybeans, tobacco, and 

 driedprunes; nearly one-fourth of the rye and raisins; and one-fifth 

 of the barley and cottonseed. 



International travel reached a newpeak inFY 1962, with 173 million 

 entries t h r ou gh U. S. ports. T he trend in foreign travel during 

 recent years is illustrated by the fact that this represents an 

 increase of 50 million entries in the past 7 years. 



The dan ger of pest introduction resulting from this volume of 

 travel is reflected by the greater number of destructive pests that 

 arrived at our ports of entry inFY 1962. Pest interceptions totaled 

 33,033 - an average of 1 every 16 minutes during the year. Many 

 of the world's most destructive insects, plant diseases, nematodes, 

 mites, and snails were prevented entry by P I ant Quarantine 

 Inspectors. 



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