[APWG] NEWS: Updated USDA Regulations Effective June 27 Will Help Stem the Tide of Harmful Non-Native Plants and Pests

[Olivia Kwong]

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/updated-usda-regulations-effective-june-27-will-help-stem-the-tide-of-harmful-non-native-plants-and-pests-123912249.html

Updated USDA Regulations Effective June 27 Will Help Stem the Tide of 
Harmful Non-Native Plants and Pests
Revised rules will help prevent future infestations of non-native invasive 
insects, diseases, and plants

ARLINGTON, Va., June 15, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. 
Department of Agriculture (USDA) has finalized changes to regulations 
governing international trade in plants used in gardening and landscape 
design, which will go into effect on June 27, 2011. The Nature Conservancy 
has encouraged the USDA to revise these antiquated regulations to improve 
the ongoing efforts by the Department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection 
Service (APHIS) to prevent potentially invasive plants and pests from 
entering the country. As was recently discussed in a controversial article 
in the June 9th edition of Nature magazine, the threat of invasive species 
is easily -- and wrongly -- confused as the incrimination of all 
non-native species. In fact, the regulations finalized by USDA-APHIS have 
put in place new systems that allow imported materials to be judged by 
their invasiveness potential, not simply by their non-native status.

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