Invasive Pest Coalition Calls on Governor to Sign Huffman/Laird Bills ASAP
July 29th, 2010Business Wire, Sept 22, 2008
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — With the final passage of the state budget, California’s agricultural industry is urging the Governor to sign two bills important to the effective control of invasive pests and providing additional measures to protect public health.
“Signing these bills into law will be an important step in the state’s ability to continue to effectively and rapidly control damaging invasive pest species in this state while protecting the public and keeping them informed,” says Ted Batkin, co-chairman of the Invasive Pest Coalition, a broad-based group of agricultural organizations formed to address the issue of invasive pests.
Batkin, who not only is chairman of the IPC but is also president of the California Citrus Research Board, is currently battling a particularly damaging insect known as Asian citrus psyllid which was recently detected in San Diego County and is threatening the state’s important citrus crop.
According to the IPC, today’s global society is facing new and serious challenges from invasive pests and diseases that affect our health, our environment and our economy. In 2004, Cornell University researchers estimated that invasive pests cost the United States economy almost $250 billion per year. The United States Department of Agriculture and the California Department of Food and Agriculture are working diligently to control the current onslaught of invasive pests in this state which threaten our health, crops, native plant species and waterways, like the citrus psyllid, zebra and quagga mussels, West Nile virus, oriental fruit fly and light brown apple moth. However, the public has reasonable concerns about the transparency of the government’s control and eradication strategies which must be addressed.
Satisfactorily addressing these public concerns and increasing the transparency of control and eradication strategies is why the IPC strongly supports AB 2765 by Assemblyman Jared Huffman (D – 6th District) and AB 2763 by Assemblyman John Laird (D – 27th District).
The Huffman bill provides public input and disclosure of ingredients used to control or eradicate invasive pests while protecting the rapid response needed when an invasive pest has been introduced which threatens crops and the state’s natural resources. Huffman’s bill would also mandate the government conduct a public hearing to consider all alternatives if aerial applications are being considered as an eradication strategy as well as seek an evaluation of the public health and environmental impacts from health and environmental protection agencies. The bill also would require public notice to list the active ingredient and inert material in the pest control formulation to the extent the disclosure is permitted by law or voluntarily provided by the chemical’s manufacturer.
Assemblyman Laird’s bill establishes a public process for advance planning and preparation of invasive pest responses
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