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From:
James Fischer <[log in to unmask]>
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Date:
Sat, 29 Sep 2007 23:46:54 -0400
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>> "Huh?  Is it too much to ask that our "nature" not be polluted with 
>> invasive, exotic pests, diseases, and pathogens from other ecosystems

>> on the other side of the planet?"  [James Fischer]

> But who would you ask?  [Steve Nobel]

Those who are paid excellent salaries to protect the 
biosecurity of the US, the folks at USDA-APHIS.

I've never asked them for much, I've only asked that
the "Animal Health Inspection Service" (which is 
what "APHIS" stands for) take their name seriously,
and start doing some actual gosh-darned INSPECTIONS
of the health of animals.  In short, I expect them
to START doing their freakin' jobs, nothing more.

> And by the way, how long have you been asking?

Since childhood, if you must ask - the tree in which 
I had build my tree house and the surrounding woods 
were being devastated by Gypsy Moths.  

As applied, to bees, since 2002 when the push to allow 
uninspected imports of live bees became "serious", due 
to the creation of the World Trade Organization.  
This resulted in a number of postings here on Bee-L, 
and a series of articles, mostly in "Bee Culture, many 
picked up and syndicated by other periodicals, like 
these: 
http://bee-quick.com/reprints/apis_bc.pdf
http://bee-quick.com/reprints/bioterrorism.pdf
http://bee-quick.com/reprints/dragnet.pdf
http://bee-quick.com/reprints/no_name.pdf
http://bee-quick.com/reprints/regs.pdf
http://bee-quick.com/reprints/serial_killer.pdf
http://bee-quick.com/reprints/bee_trade.pdf

And most recently, these: 
http://bee-quick.com/reprints/fourth.pdf
http://bee-quick.com/reprints/practical.pdf
http://bee-quick.com/reprints/world.pdf
http://bee-quick.com/reprints/reads.pdf
http://bee-quick.com/reprints/happens.pdf
http://bee-quick.com/reprints/udunno.pdf

I could go on, but I think you get the idea.
I think I've made myself pretty clear.  :)

> How much control do you really think you are
> going to get? 

Well, I'm encouraged, as there appears to even
be some over-reaction to the point of being 
over-cautious, for example, this: 
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/state/ny-libees185379658sep18,0,758269
3.story
and this: 
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/09/11/ap4107018.html
 
Just a tad over-the-top, given the weak nature of the
evidence at hand, but what the heck - anything to get
the discussion started.

> Maybe we should ask nature.

You don't really need to ask - all you need do is to stand 
next to a beekeeper who HAD a 3000 hive operation, but 
now has less than 1000 hives.  You can stand next to him 
and watch the hives slowly die.  Nature speaks loudly.

> Try it, Jim.  Go out and hug a tree and ask nature
> what too much is. 

Funny, I already did that back when I was a kid.
I loved my tree and my treehouse.  I even took the 
care to learn how to "lash" ropes, so I could avoid 
sinking any nails into my tree.  It died anyway.  
Apparently, the "Gypsy Moth" alone was too much for 
my favorite tree.  Again, I did not need to "ask", 
all I had to do was watch all my efforts to save 
my tree fail.

> Jeez it gets complicated.

Yeah, it is a "rear guard defensive action".  
It is an opportunity to do nothing but eventually 
fail, no matter how hard you try.  
Not a task for the weak of stomach, or weak of will.
A thankless task, one with a statistical certainty 
of eventual and relentless loss of ground.

But we (the USA) haven't even tried.

If we beekeepers were somehow able to "sell" the idea that live 
animals like bees are not "goods", but are ummm, live creatures 
that need extensive inspection, the rest of "trade" would be 
pretty easy to subject to fumigation, irradiation, and other 
mass-production sterilization techniques that eliminate exotic 
invasives without harming the goods.

Its not rocket science at all, and other countries have done 
it for years.  Australia itself is one of the "best" examples 
of how due diligence can be performed on imports.  
New Zealand is another.

> I know I'm going to get fried.

Sorry to disappoint, but you flinched over nothing.

 

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