Global trade not so good for trees - Clippings - Brief Article

American Forests, Wntr, 2002

The increase in global trade and travel is having a detrimental effect on the nation's forests. The American Phytopathelogical Society, the world's largest organization of plant health scientists, is preparing a "most wanted" list of diseases that threaten U.S. agriculture and forestry.

"We have always been vulnerable to diseases from other countries," says Larry Madden, an Ohio State University plant pathologist. "But with increasing world trade and more people traveling, the threat has increased substantially in recent years.

Among the examples cited: sudden oak death, now ravaging California's trees by the thousands, and citrus canker, wreaking havoc on Florida despite $200 million spent to control it. Trade regulations can help slow the spread of disease, but the World Trade Organization requires valid scientific evidence before it can impose restrictions.