Study scrutinizes U.S. plant screening

The U.S. government’s approach to invasive plant screening is less effective than systems set up in Australia and New Zealand, according to a study released in February by the Nature Conservancy and University of Florida. Researchers looked at the regulatory weed risk assessment (WRA) system in Australia and New Zealand.

“The WRA system can be used to test all new plants proposed for import and determine whether or not a plant should be allowed entry into a country in under 24 hours,” said Doria Gordon, associate director of science for the Nature Conservancy’s Florida chapter and lead author of the research paper. “Under the current U.S. law, few species are tested and the process can take up to eight weeks.”

Fewer than 100 non-parasitic plants are currently blocked from entering the United States. Other new plants are allowed immediate entry into the country. In 2005, more than 2.6 billion individual plants were imported into the U.S.

Each year the United States spends $120 billion to control invasive species. Invasive plants represent $34 billion of that expense, and the number continues to increase, the Nature Conservancy reported.

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For more: The Nature Conservancy, (701) 841-5300; www.nature.org.

June 2008