Introduction to plant health and quarantine.

Abstract

This chapter briefly describes plant health and quarantine as a discipline and as a business, emphasizing the need for quarantine in the midst of risks of pest and weed introduction through trade.

Integrating drivers influencing the detection of plant pests carried in the international cut flower trade

“…In principle, the economics of inspections as a mechanism for controlling invasive species are straightforward. Inspections for pests should optimally be set to the level at which the marginal cost of inspection is equal to the expected marginal damage costs avoided by pest detection, and the various interception and control strategies that inspection supports (Southey, 1979;Ebbels, 2003;Ashby et al, 2005). When the infestation of the imported material reaches a given level in which detection has no effect on damage avoided, there is also a threshold interception rate beyond which it is optimal to not inspect but to charge an import tariff equal to the expected damage of pest imports (McAusland and Costello, 2004).…”

Quarantine and Biosecurity

“…Ebbels (2003) further described that as a branch of applied biology, with an endless variety of problems and circumstances that have to be dealt with, quarantine can involve almost any branch of science. Within each of the key science disciplines biosecurity is reliant on many different specialists.…”

The role of regulatory mechanisms for control of plant diseases and food security—case studies from potato production in Britain

“…To achieve this-based on the powers given in the "Destructive Insects Act, 1877" and the subsequent "Destructive Insects and Pests Act" in 1907-the foundations and basic principles of a plant health system in Britain were set, including, for example, the inspection and notification system, the listing of quarantine species and the powers to destroy infested crops (Ebbels 2003). Under the Act a series of Orders affecting potatoes were issued dealing more specifically with the control of certain diseases (e.g.…”

“…In 1912 the first Wart Disease of Potatoes Order was issued, followed by the first Seed Potatoes Order in 1918. Several updates of the Wart Disease Order followed and a Seeds Act of 1920 made the certification of seed potatoes almost compulsory (Ebbels 2003). The aim of these policies was to prevent further spread by containing the disease in declared 'Infected Areas' in which planting of non-immune varieties was prohibited through the Wart Disease Order and to make sure that growers could get immune varieties in the seed potato market.…”

“…In Europe, the development of plant protection policies has been closely linked to potatoes (Ebbels 2003) due to the economic importance of the crop and the wide range of pests that affect them. In the 19th century the Irish potato famine, caused by Phytophthora infestans, set a telling example of the devastating effects and far reaching consequences a plant disease could have (Bourke 1964).…”