Reflections on the North American Plant Protection Organization
	Dr. Javier Trujillo Arriaga NAPPO Executive Committee Chair, 2008-2009 As we recall, the Independent Evaluation was done at the end of 2007. This evaluation was centered in four main areas within NAPPO: its mission and strategic goals; performance and effectiveness; governance and organizational structure, as well as its funding. In this evaluation, within the mission and strategic goals most important aspects, NAPPO has been widely recognized for its leadership within the region and worldwide.
NAPPO’s mission is clearly supported by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and more recently by the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SSP) signed by Canada, United States and Mexico. Regarding this role, NAPPO develops phytosanitary standards to protect the North American region; provides a forum for technical assistance for relevant phytosanitary issues to the region; facilitates agricultural trade by using and applying phytosanitary standards; provides a dynamic and practical mechanism for conflict resolution in regional trade; among others. As for NAPPO’s performance and effectiveness, the evaluation indicated that NAPPO is widely recognized as a leader organization with a predominant role in developing regional phytosanitary standards. Experts from the three countries join efforts to develop these standards based on technical-scientific principles which benefit the commercial and economic development. Many of these regional standards have served as the bases to develop international standards which we are aware are applied worldwide. In terms of the governance and organizational structure, the evaluation determined that the organizational structure works very well. NAPPO operates needless to say, thanks to the people that participate with effort and dedication in all the tasks, making NAPPO an exemplary work environment. NAPPO has faced the challenges of an ever changing world, and because its objectives has been to coordinate the efforts among Canada, the United States and Mexico to protect their plant resources from the entry, establishment and spread of regulated plant pest while facilitating intra/interregional trade. One of the pillars, within any worldwide economy, is agricultural production. Therefore, the strategic objectives applied from now on will be a critical factor in trading products at the national and international level. The results from the independent evaluation clearly stated that NAPPO has a great opportunity that we should take advantage of in order to take up what we have done so far and improve it, helping us to define our strategic objectives, creating actions which allow us to grow and strengthen NAPPO; but most importantly, that would allow us to face the demands of international trade. A renewed strategic plan allows NAPPO to improve previous achievements and to develop strategies and future actions in order to get ready for the increased challenges of plant protection in the twenty-first century. Many technical panels have also worked in regional standards that include issues related to the environment, a sign that NAPPO is in the vanguard in worldwide issues, as it is also in the search for new alternatives for environmentally friendly quarantine treatments, such as irradiation. Today, we have a great opportunity to learn more about these relevant issues, since a workshop on “Irradiation as a post-harvest phytosanitary treatment” will be offered during the 32nd NAPPO Annual Meeting. International experts will share their knowledge and expertise on this important subject. The results from the NAPPO independent evaluation and the proposed strategic plan will also be presented during the meeting; therefore, it is an excellent opportunity for those involved in the NAPPO work to provide input and comments and together build upon the Regional Plant Protection Organization that we want for the future. I invite you to attend this very important meeting for Mexico, where, aside from the working meetings, Guadalajara looks forward to greeting you with its traditional hospitality, diverse cultural, gastronomic and recreational attractions, clear proof of the Mexican heritage. Return to Index
32nd NAPPO Annual Meeting

The NAPPO Annual Meeting will be held in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico from October 20 – 24, 2008. Guadalajara which is known worldwide for its traditional hospitality, a wide variety of cultural and recreational attractions and delicious cuisine. Guadalajara represents Mexican culture with its folklore, the renowned Mariachi, handcrafts, tequila and the popular sport, charreria.

Guadalajara’s International Airport “Miguel Hidalgo” connects major cities in Mexico and the United States including Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Apart from the fruitful discussions between the industry and the government, reports from NAPPO Panels and IPPC activities, an interesting symposium on Irradiation as a Post harvest Phytosanitary Treatment will be held on Thursday, October 23. The symposium will emphasize the commercial application of the technology as well as research and development needs aimed at optimizing and expanding the use of the technology.

More details on NAPPO’s Annual Meeting website

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Faces of NAPPO - Grains Panel

Andrew Dawson

Andrew is currently the Senior Commodity Specialist in the Grains and Oilseeds Section at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, responsible for developing policy and inspection programs for the import, export and domestic movement of Canadian grains, oilseeds and pulse crops. Following the completion of his Bachelor of Science in Agriculture Degree at the University of Guelph in 1997 he worked as an agronomist for a grain and crop input company in Southwestern Ontario. Andrew joined the CFIA in 2001 and previously worked in the fertilizer regulations section and operations coordination division. Andrew is currently the Chairperson of the NAPPO Grains Panel, working on harmonizing phytosanitary grain standards between the NAPPO member countries.

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Matt Royer

Dr. Matt Royer graduated with a PhD in Plant Pathology from Pennsylvania State University in 1982. After graduation, he began a career with the United States Department of Agriculture, first with the Foreign Disease - Weed Science Research Unit of the USDA Agricultural Research Service, in Frederick, Maryland. After six years, he moved on to the USDA, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. While with APHIS, he led plant pest risk analyses that included the development of an IPPC standard, oversaw plant pest permits and environmental assessments for biological control, oversaw a national system for identifying plant pests intercepted at ports-of-entry, oversaw the National Plant Germplasm Quarantine Center, established the Center for Plant Health Science and Technology in Raleigh, North Carolina. In his current position, he serves on the APHIS-PPQ Emergency and Domestic Programs staff, as Director of Pest Detection. He has two sons, resides in Frederick, Maryland, with his wife and two border collies, and is an avid bicyclist.

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Alejandra Elizalde

Alejandra is an Agronomist specialized in Agricultural Parasitology from the Chapingo Autonomous University. She also has some specialized training in Pest Risk Analysis (PRA) and Agricultural Biosecurity at Massey University in New Zealand, USDA-APHIS-CPHST, United States and at AQIS in Australia. Since 1993 she has had several positions within the Plant Health Directorate: Chief of the PRA Department, Deputy Director for Phytosanitary Reference, Deputy Director for Harmonization and International Evaluation. She has also been a thesis advisor for 18 undergraduate theses related to quarantine pests and PRA. Alejandra has been an active NAPPO member since 1999, with the Pest Risk Analysis and Grains Panels and recently with the Invasive Species Panel.

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Abel Lopez

Jose Abel is an Agronomist specialized in Agricultural Parasitology from the Autonomous University of Chapingo, Mexico (1996). He obtained a Masters degree in Entomology and Mites at the Graduate School of Mexico (1999).

From 2000-2002, he was responsible for the Microbiology Laboratory in the Natural Resources Commission working on seed pathology and plant pathogen fungi for forest and greenhouse plantlets. At the beginning of 2003, he joined the Plant Health Directorate as Chief of Technical Supervision for the Central-Pacific Region in the Fruit Fly Directorate. He was responsible for the fruit fly campaign in nine states of the country. And three specific projects to establish fruit fly low prevalence areas. Since August 2007, he is the Deputy Director for Harmonization and International Evaluation in the SAGARPA Plant Health General Directorate, Mexico.

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Annual Meeting Panel

October 19, 2008
Guadalajara, Mexico

Executive Committee

October 20, 2008
Guadalajara, Mexico

Steve Cote, Senior Plant Health Standards Officer for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, will be on parental leave until November 24, 2008. Vivian Brownell will be replacing Steve while he is away and has been appointed by Canada as a new member of the Working Group.

Vivian will also be working with the Accreditation, Annual Meeting, and Standards Panels. Her contact information is available on our website: www.nappo.org or http://www.nappo.org/officers_e.htm.

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Staff
Vivian Brownell

Technical Consultation amongst Regional Plant Protection Organization (TC of RPPO's)

Left to right front row: David Nowell, FAO; Sarah Olembo, African Union Commission-Ethiopia; Nico van Opstal, EPPO-France; Steve Ashby, UK. Back Row left to right: Andrew Yamanea, (PPPO); Jean Gerard Mezui M'ella, (IAPSC); Yongfan Piao, APPPC- Thailand; Hesham Abuelnaga, APHIS; Sidney Suma, PPPO-Fiji Islands; Ian McDonell, NAPPO-Canada; Ana Peralta, COSAVE-Paraguay & Plutarco Echegoyen, OIRSA-El Salvador.

Richard Ivess (IPPC Secretariat Coordinator) welcomed delegates to Rome for the 20^th Technical Consultation Among Regional Plant Protection Organizations. He noted that he had been involved since the first meeting and that given his imminent departure from the Secretariat, this would be his last meeting.

He outlined the difficult situation facing the Secretariat as a result of the resignation of key Secretariat staff.

This newsletter article deals only with one of many agenda items.

Current RPPO activity:

°Africa (IAPSC) is concerned about exchanges of vegetatively propagated planting materials in Africa. The

particular issue touched on cassava germplasm materials that were being introduced via aid relief programs

rather than the appropriate NPPO. The result has been the entry of some serious quarantine pests. There is

also ongoing work in the region on support programs for small-scale farmers, who are not up to date on

international trade rules and standards.

°Asia and Pacific (APPPC) reported three new draft standards undergoing consultation: Guidelines for the

Exterior Cleanliness of Containers, Guidelines for Protection against South American Leaf Blight of Rubber and

Guidance on Land Border Plant Quarantine. There are a number of capacity building projects underway.

°Central America (OIRSA) has studied the current situation of diagnostic laboratories in the OIRSA region, to

check which were adequate for analysis of plant pests. In cooperation with the Consejo Agropecuario

Centroamericano (CAC) OIRSA has worked to prepare a project to strengthen plant quarantine at the borders

of the region, including airport entry points.

°In the case of COSAVE (Southern Cone) countries, the standard, Guidelines to establish the list of the main

regulated pests for the COSAVE region is under review. In addition COSAVE had organized a seminar on the

impact of international standards on family growers.

°The European and Mediterranean (EPPO) highlighted the progress made in their strategic plan over the last

year. There is a strong emphasis on PRA work and EPPO is both conducting PRAs, as well as reviewing national

PRAs from its Members. There is also much activity in support of diagnostics

°North America (NAPPO) reported on the recommendations of the independent evaluation of NAPPO which was

conducted in 2007. There is strong public and private support for NAPPO’s activities both within the region and

internationally. NAPPO’s performance and effectiveness has been demonstrated by the fact that various

regional standards were used as the basis for ISPMs.

°The Pacific (PPPO) is discussing the issue of when a new pest outbreak becomes an emergency and when it is

just an incursion. In some countries the regional and national plant protection organizations and industry had

developed its own contingency plan.

(The Andean and the Caribbean regional representatives were unable to attend.)

Source: Ian McDonell
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Surveillance and eradication program for cactus moth in Mexico

Cactus moth larvae (Cactoblastis cactorum)

The cactus moth (Cactoblastis cactorum Berg.) is an insect that has been used as a biological control organism for cactus Opuntia spp., with an amazing success in several countries of the world. It was introduced to control invasive cactus species in Australia, giving excellent results, eliminating the Opuntia species in approximately 25 million hectares. As a result of this success, C. cactorum was introduced to other countries where some Opuntia species were considered as invasive weeds (South Africa in 1933, Hawaii in 1950, the West Indies in 1960). However, since the deliberate introduction of this insect to the Caribbean, some Opuntia native populations have been affected, since it was also introduced to the Islands of Nevis, Monserrat, Antigua, Haiti, Bahamas and Virgin Islands. The insect was detected in Florida in 1989, and spread to South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama. If it spreads to the south-western United States (Texas, Arizona and New Mexico), vast Opuntia populated areas will be threatened, including the possible spread into Mexico.

In Mexico, the cactus industry creates over 842,374 tons of forage, fruit and cactus for human consumption with an approximate annual production value of $1,600 million pesos (US $160 million), which represents a source of foreign currency for the country and the economic support for thousands of people in the most impoverished rural areas of the country.

Therefore, the cactus moth is considered of quarantine importance and its establishment in Mexico would be devastating due the socio-economic importance of this crop and its negative impact in arid areas where wild cactus is a key component of the ecosystem. Consequently, since 2002 the Plant Health Directorate implemented a campaign targeted to the prevention, timely detection and eradication of this insect outbreak.

Thanks to this preventive program, the insect was detected early on Isla Mujeres, Quintana Roo, Mexico, on August 2006. Consequently, SENASICA, through the Plant Health Directorate, in collaboration with the Quintana Roo Plant Health State Committee, the SAGARPA delegation, the Forestry National Commission (CONAFOR) and the Ministry of Rural and Indian Development for the State Government established a Surveillance and Eradication Program for cactus moth in the State of Quintana Roo. This program is supported by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), through research and development, workshops and experts like Dr. Helmuth Zimmerman. The following activities were implemented within the framework of this program:

o     s A trapping route with pheromones was set on Isla Mujeres and wild cactus plants were eliminated leaving only
     27 sentinel cactus, which are easily accessible plants without any surrounding weeds. These plants are
     checked daily in order to detect egg-sticks.

o     s The residential census for homes with cactus plants in their backyards was concluded throughout Isla Mujeres,
    with the following results: 1980 households participated in the census, 235 with cactus, 36 households with
   Opuntia dillenii (pest’s favourite host) and 34 households with unidentified ornamental Opuntias. A second
   census was concluded on the island to detect possible omissions of Cactaceae from the first census and to
   efficiently eliminate possible host cactus plants.

o s The backyard removal of Opuntias on Isla Mujeres was concluded. A mechanism to exchange Opuntias for

other type of ornamental plants was established, mainly palm species provided by CONAFOR.

Later on and as a result of the surveillance efforts, the pest was detected on Isla Contoy, Q. Roo, on May 2007. With the support from Isla Contoy National Park, eradication actions were established to eliminate the insect from the island. No adults or egg masses have been found in the last 7 months. As part of the eradication strategy on April 2008, sterile moths were released on the island. Releases will continue for the upcoming months until the pest is eradicated.

It is important to mention that since 2006, the USDA and SAGARPA joined efforts in a Cooperative Program to fight Cactoblastis cactorum. To support these efforts, transfer of funds from SAGARPA to USDA was made through the North American Plant Protection Organization (NAPPO), which has played an important role in the technical and administrative coordination of this work.

Through this cooperative program, research to validate the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) was concluded by ARS-USDA in 2006 and a specific pheromone was developed. Also, a barrier has been established to protect the southwestern part of the United States and Mexico from C. cactorum infestations. Technical assistance and technology transfer from ARS-USDA to SAGARPA, with the help from APHIS-PPQ, included trap and pheromone delivery, monitoring evaluation and surveillance and strategic recommendations. Contacts were established and protocols developed to deliver and release sterile moths in Mexico. During the first week of March 2008, the release of sterile moths from the USDA laboratory in Tifton, Georgia, was started on Isla Convoy. The impact of this technique is being evaluated by Drs. Jim Carpenter and Stephen Hight from ARS-USDA, through mating studies, evaluation of longevity of released sterile insects and impact on the pest population.

As a result of these efforts, there have not been any adult captures on Isla Mujeres for the last 17 months. No egg-sticks have been collected for the last 20.5 months. Therefore, the Plant Health Directorate has initiated the official eradication recognition for this pest outbreak. This is the first example of C. cactorum eradication in the world.

By: Hector Manuel Sanchez Anguiano

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Lower case in glossaries

We receive many comments and even suggested corrections to the usage of the lower case for terms in the Definitions section of NAPPO standards, e.g. 'containment facility' - all in lower case.

According to the inquiry department of the RAE (Real Academia Española).

"Each dictionary or glossary sets the format for their entries (lower or upper case, bold, Roman...). Even the Diccionario académico used to write their entries in upper case in their first editions but now uses lower case.

This is a special lexicographical convention that is not subject to orthographical rules and which sets the usage of lower case at the beginning of a paragraph."

index_e.html) One of the objectives of this tutorial is to standardize terminological rules for glossaries and data bank.. Section 3.4.3 “Creating multilingual records, under Methodology for Creating Terminology Records list some commonly accepted guidelines for recording terms:

Enter terms in singular unless the plural is required to properly designate the concept.
Enter terms in lowercase, except when uppercase is required in order for the term to be correct.
Enter terms without elements in parentheses unless they are required in order for the term to be correct (avoid indicating subject fields or optional words in parentheses).

This way the user can clearly see how the term should be written in the body of the Standard. If the term is written using capital letters, this may cause some confusion.

Fuente: Nedelka Marín-Martínez

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