International Plant

Biosecurity Regimes

Alan MacLeod

Pest Risk Analyst

What is Fera?

•A science agency of DEFRA which provides the UK’s food and environment sectors with expert scientific advice, regulatory services, applied research facilities and emergency responsiveness

Areas of Responsibility &

Science Themes

• Research

scientific excellence, innovation and impact

• Regulation

policy, inspectorate and National Reference

Laboratory functions

• Response

advice, guidance and emergency/contingency

response contributing to national resilience

Plant Health

and Crop

Security

Environmental

Risk

Wildlife

Management Food Safety

Pesticide Usage

Biorefining

Operator Exposure

Pesticide Fate

Environmental Risk

Ecotoxicology Usage Surveys

Wildlife Poisoning

Natural products

Ecochemistry Nano

materials

Risk Assessment

Environmental Risk

Badgers and Tb

Bird Strike Control

NonNative Species

Secretariat

Rabies in Wildlife

Vaccine Deployment

Wildl ife Damage

Control Methods

Fertility Control

Welfare

Bird Radar

Wind Farm EIA

Disease Dynamics

Invasive Species

Population Monitoring

Eradication Programmes

Wildlife Management

Proficiency testing

Food Authenticity

Food Contaminants

Environmental Contaminants

Pesticides

Veterinary medicines

Packaging

Testing Standards

Mycotoxins National

Reference Laboratory

Chemical residues

Food Safety

Contingency Response

Policy

Plant health and Seeds

Inspections

Bee Disease

Pest Risk Analysis

Diagnosis and

Taxonomy

Containment and

Eradication

Seed Listing and

marketing

Pollinator Research

National reference laboratory

Phytopthera

Plant Clinic

National Bee Unit

Plant Breeders

Rights

Plant Health & Crop Security

The York facility

Government

Agencies

e.g. Fera.

POSITION IN THE SCIENCE SECTOR

Blue Sky Science:

• Global Challenges

• Discoveries

• Emergent

technologies

End User:

• Government

• Industry

• International

Consumers

solving practical problems rather than

acquiring knowledge for knowledge's sake

Upstream

Research

Downstream

Research

Translational

Research

International Plant

Biosecurity Regimes

Alan MacLeod

Pest Risk Analyst

Outline

• Origins & early history

• International agreements

IPPC

- pest risk analysis

WTO

• Regional partnerships

• The EU

First legislation • 17th Century Europe, noticed “wheat

blast” was much worse in areas with

common barberry (Berberis vulgaris) in

field hedges

• 1660 - Rouen, France, law requiring the destruction of B. vulgaris bushes in wheat growing areas

• 200 years later B. vulgaris shown to be an alternate host of Puccinia graminis – the pathogen responsible for “wheat blast” – later called black stem rust

Individuals

• 18th Century - Carl Linnaeus

suggested the need for quarantine at

a time when plants were carried all

over the world without restrictions

• 1807 Isaac Benedict Prevost (Swiss)

experimentally demonstrated plant

diseases were caused by micro-

organisms.

• 25 years ahead of the first experimental

proof that animal diseases were caused

by pathogens

Potato blight

• 1840’s Irish potato famine - millions starved,

millions emigrated – gave birth / real stimulus

to plant pathology as a new science

• Primary factor was over reliance on a single

potato variety particularly susceptible to the

pathogen Phytophthora infestans responsible

for potato blight

• Also occurred in the Netherlands and

elsewhere in Europe at the time but not so

serious

Phylloxera vastatrix

• 1862 Monsieur Borty, French wine merchant, imported US vines into the Rhône for hybridization to his vineyards - but roots were infested

• Nth. American grape varieties tolerant to hemipteran pest - forms galls on their roots and leaves

• But in Europe, pest spread to European varieties and allowed secondary pathogens to infest the plants, ultimately killing the vines

• 1865-1875 spread and devastated Fr. wine industry

• 1877 International Phylloxera Congress, Lausanne

• 1878 Countries met to agree to take common action – signed the “Convention Concerning Measures to be taken against Phlloxera vastatrix”, Berne Sept 1878

Convention on the measures

against Phlloxera vastatrix,

17th Sept 1878

• The first international agreement to prevent the

spread of a plant pest

• Germany – Prussia

• Austro-Hungary

• Spain

• France

• Italy

• Portugal

• Swiss Confederation

Europe 1880

http://www.hicleones.com

Subsequent International

agreements

• 1878 Convention revised in 1881 to include definitions

• 1890 - at the International Congress of Agriculture and Forestry was a call for an International Phytopathological Committee

• Similar calls at other international meetings

• 1903 a special international committee for plant diseases was formed at the Seventh International Agricultural Congress (non-government)

• 1905 - governments agree to form the International Institute of Agriculture (IIA) in Rome

• Remit included plant diseases

1914 International Conference

Three aims of British delegation

1. Plants from a nursery, traded internationally, should

be officially inspected and found free from important

diseases and have an official certificate of health

and that it should not be necessary for every

consignment to be inspected

2. Health certificate should specify the diseases for

which an examination had taken place

3. Consignments with health certificates should not be

delayed at border frontiers for inspection

1914 International Conference

• Countries signing up were required to:

- establish an official inspection service for

businesses marketing plants

- issue health certificates to plants that passed

inspections

- control plant movements

- organise a service to suppress dangerous diseases

- establish one or more institutes for research so that

government could access scientific and technical

advice

National Plant Protection

Organizations

• NPPO - Assess risk

- Develop / implement phytosanitary regulations

- Improve detection / diagnosis

- organise quarantine

- collect and provide information

- Identify research needs

Post 2nd World War

• Before war ended were discussions on

creating new body

• Nov. 1951 the International Plant Protection

Convention (IPPC) agreed and adopted

during FAO Conference in Rome

• 75 original signatories including UK

Countries in IPPC

0

40

80

120

160

200

1875 1900 1925 1950 1975 2000 2025

Year

No

. co

un

trie

s

pre IPPC IPPC

The IPPC

• Multilateral treaty for

international cooperation

in plant protection

177 contracting parties

From Albania to Zambia

• A standard setting

organization

The IPPC

• Aims to

Protect plant life

Prevent the introduction and spread of plant

pests (includes diseases)

Ensure safe trade

• Achieves this by

Following agreed principles

• Necessity, transparency, non-discriminatory

Setting standards (guidelines)

ISPMs

Need more than Standards

• ISPM 11 tells you what to do but not how to

do it or where to obtain the data needed, e.g.

“Documented pathways for the pest to enter

new areas should be noted…” (2.2.1)

“Climatic modelling systems may be used…”

(2.2.2.2)

“There are analytical techniques which can

be used in consultation with experts in

economics….” (2.3.2.3)

Pest Risk Analysis

• The process of evaluating biological or other

scientific and economic evidence to

determine whether an organism is a pest,

whether it should be regulated, and the

strength of any phytosanitary measures to

be taken against it - Glossary of phytosanitary terms,

ISPM No. 5

What is PRA?

• Science-based process that provides

rationale for implementing phytosanitary

measures for a specified area

• Systematic approach to decide if a pest

should be managed using legislation

Pathway model

Time

Pest p

reva

lence

Origin Widely distributed

in PRA area

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Events for Entry 1

2

3

4

5

6

Events

for

Establishment

Source: Adapted from a diagram by Bob Griffin, USDA APHIS PERAL

Inspection Detection

﹜

Commission on Phytosanitary

Measures (FAO, IPPC)

Overlapping international

agreements

• The IPPC considers international trade in a

plant protection agreement

• WTO aims to stimulate trade but realises

there are trade risks and recognises the

“basic right to protect.. plant life and health”

• WTO SPS Agreement considers plant

protection in a trade agreement

SPS Agreement on the Application

of Phytosanitary Measures (WTO, 1994)

“Members shall ensure that their phytosanitary

measures are based on

an assessment of the risks to plant health

taking into account

risk assessment techniques developed by

the relevant international organisations"

WTO Trade disputes

Japan – USA, apple varieties

New Zealand – Australia, apples fire blight

Increasing numbers of pathways

Source: WTO data

http://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch5en/conc5en/worldexports.html

Increasing numbers of

pathways

• UK imports of cut flowers

• 1991 50,475 tonnes

• 1998 102,884 tonnes

• 2003 217,304 tonnes

• Sources of cut flowers include: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Dominica, France, Germany, Guatemala, Hungary, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kuwait, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Togo, USA, Zimbabwe

Complementary relationships

between agreements

Regional Plant Protection

Organizations Abbrevn.

Full name

Region

APPPC

Asia and Pacific Plant Protection Commission

Asia & Pacific

CAN

Comunidad Andina

South America I

COSAVE

Comité regional de sanidad vegetal para el Cono Sur

South America II

CPPC

Caribbean Plant Protection Commission

Caribbean

EPPO

European and Mediterranean Plant Protection

Organization

Europe &

Mediterranean

IAPSC

Interafrican Phytosanitary Council

Africa

NAPPO

North American Plant Protection Organization

North America

NEPPO

Near East Plant Protection Organization

Middle East

OIRSA

Organismo internacional regional de sanidad

agropecuaria

Central America

PPPO Pacific

Pacific Plant Protection Organization

Regional Plant Protection

Organizations

RPPO Aims

• To promote exchange and synthesis of information

• To facilitate collaboration

• To support NPPOs in the region

- technical justification of phytosanitary measures

- develop sustainable and effective plant protection

practices

- harmonize phytosanitary methods and

procedures

Recommends – does not regulate

The influence of the European

Community

• Single market created in 1993

• Removal of internal borders (except for higher risk

plants, e.g. propagating material)

• Consequence = Third Country plants imported to UK

can travel freely within EC once cleared UK customs

e.g. UK has responsibility to check Citrus perhaps bound for

Spain

• Most recent PH directive is 2000/29/EC

• Updated periodically

• EFSA has commitment to provide objective & independent science based advice

• … shall provide scientific opinions on … matters relating to … plant health

European Food Safety

Authority

EFSA core values & guiding

principles

• Risk assessment separated from risk

management

• Independence

– experts declare interests and whether they

work for government

• Scientific excellence

• Transparency and openness

Framework for decision

making Policy makers

Science experts Public / stakeholders learning

See: MacLeod et al. (2010) Food Security 2, 49-70 also Mills et al., (2011) Phil Trans R Soc 366 2035-2044

Example

Asian long horn

beetle

Establishment

• Host distribution in Europe

e.g. Acer campestre - source: http://www.euforgen.org/distribution_maps.html

Establishment

• Distribution in China - Accumulated temp.

• Degree days above 10oC

Generation time

4+ or not possible 4 years 3 years 2 years 1 year Years for development

Removing

infested

tree in USA

Jaws!

The Food & Environment Research Agency