DON^T HELP HITCHHIKERS 



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The international spread of insects, plant dis- 

 eases, and other plant pests is greater today 

 than ever, because travel and trade has increased 

 greatly in recent years. These pests often hide 

 in innocent-looking fruits, vegetables, bulbs, and 

 seeds. 



Plant pests now cost Americans approximately 

 $7 billion a year in damage to crops and orna- 

 mental plants. Many of these pests- -including 

 insects, mites, snails, nematodes, and plant 

 diseases — are not native to America bu,t have 

 "hitchhiked" to this country from abroad. 



Before the end of the 19th century, it became 

 apparent that quarantines were needed to prevent 

 this worldwide spread of plant pests. Most major 

 European countries and many in Asia enacted 

 plant quarantines before 1900. 



U.S. Enacts Plant Quarantine 



In 1912 Congress passed the Plant Quarantine 

 Act. It gave the Secretary of Agriculture authority 

 to issue quarantines, establish inspection pro- 

 cedures, apply treatments to remove pest hazards 

 when plants are imported, and restrict or pro- 

 hibit plant imports when no such treatments are 

 available. Since 1912, only 30 significant insect 

 pests of foreign origin are on record as having 

 become established in the United States. 



How "Bugs" Travel 



Plant pests often travel with people. The early 

 colonists brought lice on their bodies, weevils in 

 grain they carried for feed and seed, and plant 

 diseases on shrubs which they brought along to 

 make the new country look a little more like 

 home. Once on this continent these pests spread 

 rapidly, producing millions of offspring that 

 swept across the new land. 



A number of plant diseases and insects, such as 

 stem rust fungus and hessian fly, two enemies of 

 small grains that caused wheatless days in the 

 United States during World War I, came to this 

 country before 1800. During the 19th century, 

 pests continued to come --in passenger baggage, 

 cargo, nursery stock, and shipments of grain. 

 During the 58 years prior to 1912, it has been 

 estimated, at least 92 species of economically 

 important insects were introduced into this 

 country. These include such damaging ones as 

 the horn fly, asparagus beetle, gypsy moth, San 

 Jose scale, European red mite, greenbug, Argen- 

 tine ant, boll weevil, European corn borer, and 

 the alfalfa weevil. 



This sharp reduction in the number of pest in- 

 vaders has occurred despite a huge increase in 

 international travel and trade during the past 

 half-century. Ocean travel increased greatly, and 

 the air age arrived. Airplanes now bring over 

 4 million persons to the United States from 

 abroad annually, modern jets spanning the ocean 

 in a matter of a few hours. Pests that would 

 have died during longer ocean voyages now may 

 arrive in this country healthy and ready to 

 attack crops and shrubs. 



The Problem Today 



Commercial shipments move through a system 

 of permits and treatments that remove the danger 

 of pest introduction. Plant materials brought by 

 tourists present an entirely different problem. 

 In order to minimize inconvenience to travelers. 

 Plant Quarantine and Customs officers cooperate 

 in baggage inspection. During the 1960-61 fiscal 

 year, they inspected nearly 23 million pieces of 

 incoming baggage --an average of one inspection 

 every 1 and 1/2 seconds around the clock. More 

 than 32 3,000 lots of prohibited plant material 

 were seized, or an average of one lot every 90 

 seconds. 



