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Trade Deals Like NAFTA Threaten U.S. Food Safety, Borders, Importing pests/disease



TOPIC: Trade Deals Like NAFTA Threatening U.S. Food Safety, Borders -
Importing pests/disease without local predators/controls - International
food trade, risks 

For your info - P. Dines

--- FORWARD ---

From: Rich Winkel, INTERNET:rich@pencil
Organization: PACH
Sender: owner-imap@CHUMBLY.MATH.MISSOURI.EDU
To: Patricia Dines, 73652,1202
Date: Sat, Jun 7, 1997, 4:29 PM
Subject: Trade Deals Like NAFTA Threatening U.S. Food Safety

/** headlines: 191.0 **/
** Topic: Report Highlights Lax Inspections At U.S. Border **
** Written  9:15 PM  Jun  5, 1997 by econet in cdp:headlines **
/* Written 7:04 AM  Jun  3, 1997 by dwiehoff@iatp.org in trade.strategy */
/* ---------- "trd-str Teamsters on New GAO Study:" ---------- */

From: dwiehoff@iatp.org (Dale Wiehoff)
Subject: trd-str Teamsters on New GAO Study:
        Trade Deals Like NAFTA Threatening  U.S.  Food Safety (fwd)

 FORWARDED MESSAGE from  (PUREFOOD@SMTP {Purefood@aol.com})
 ---------------------
 Subj:    Teamsters on New GAO Study:
 Trade Deals Like NAFTA Threatening U.S.  Food Safety
 Date:    97-05-29
 From:    AOL News

Report Highlights Lax Inspections at U.S. Border

 WASHINGTON, May 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Food safety in the United States is
 threatened by the explosion of foreign-grown produce entering the country
 under trade deals like NAFTA, the General Accounting Office says in a new
 study.

 The increase in foreign-grown food is causing federal inspectors to take
 dangerous shortcuts while handling imported plants and produce.

 "This report is more proof that NAFTA is putting working families at
 risk," said Teamsters General President Ron Carey. "Because of pressure
 from NAFTA to keep freight moving, food safety is suffering."

 The GAO documents that the amount of foreign-grown produce and plants
 entering the United States has skyrocketed because of NAFTA and other
trade
 deals.  At the same time, the GAO found that the Animal Plant Health
 Inspection Service (APHIS), the agency responsible for examining produce
 and plants entering the United States, is being pushed to speed up the
 flow of imported cargo because of pressure to fulfill the terms of trade
 agreements.

 At the Mexican border crossing with the heaviest passenger vehicle volume,
 inspectors only examined 0.1 percent of incoming cars and trucks. This is
 far below the APHIS' already low target of 2 percent.

 The study, Improvements Needed to Minimize Threat of Foreign Pests and
 Diseases,  found that despite efforts to beef up enforcement, inspectors
 are overworked and their examinations often are hasty and ineffective.

 In some cases, there are not enough inspectors to monitor all border
 points-of-entry.  Inspectors at the three busiest ports in the United
 States admitted in the report that they could not be confident that their
 examinations were "adequate" to identify dangerous pests and disease.

 In other instances, GAO investigators witnessed federal inspectors
 allowing the shippers themselves to select which parts of the cargo to be
 examined.  This practice "reduces the credibility of the inspection,"
 according to the GAO.

 The most common inspection shortcut was the practice of "tailgate
 inspections," examining only the cargo stored near doors and openings of
 vehicles.  A study by APHIS itself found that 60 percent of pests are
 missed in tailgate inspections.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
Dale Wiehoff                                    Tel: 612-870-0453
Executive Director                              Fax: 612-870-4846          
    
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy      Ext: 612-870-3401
2105 First Avenue South                         Email: dwiehoff@iatp.org
Minneapolis, MN 55404 USA                       URL:
http://www.iatp.org/iatp

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** End of text from cdp:headlines **

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