The case for maintaining phytosanitary inspections with DHS
Lee Frankel of the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas offers this paper, titled THE CASE FOR MAINTAINING PHYTOSANTIARY INSPECTIONS WITH CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION, that offers a contrary view on the Fresh Talk poll this week. Although out polled 6 to zero so far, Frankel says that there are plenty of reasons to keep AQI/border inspection with the Department of Homeland Security.
Here is one argument from the paper:
Training for front line port officials regarding phytosanitary inspections has significantly increased since transfer of inspection function to CBP:
Before the transfer of phytosanitary inspections to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) three years ago, the front line CBP Officers dealing with travelers and commercial carriers received only two hours of training regarding the threat to the United States economy posed by damaging, invasive species. Since that time, training for the CBP Officers handling inspections of the traveling public included 16 hours of basic training and a 4 hour practical exercise course. CBP Officers also receive an additional 8-24 hours of pathway specific agriculture procedures training to help them make better referrals to CBP Agriculture Specialists. It is likely that this point of emphasis during training for new officers will be reduced in the future if CBP is no longer responsible for inspections. Currently CBP Agriculture Specialists (over 2,000) receive 10 weeks of training at the USDA Professional Development Training Center in Frederick, Md. CBP Officers (18,000) act as a force multiplier and refer inspections to the CBP Agriculture Specialists.
posted by Tom Karst @ 6:56 PM
1 Comments:
All this post 9-11 training could well have been done under USDA. The picture is not quite FPAA paints it. This is the same Republican oriented organization that was against COOL for weird reasons; from a Tucson Weekly item FPAA is quoted, "Lee Frankel is president of the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas, a Nogales-based trade group representing Mexican farmers and importers. "Ultimately, U.S. growers hope to play up different stereotypes of foreign countries," he says. "But virtually all the produce exported from Mexico meets the same standards as domestically grown produce."
Frankel says tightened labeling requirements would only raise retail prices, and incur greater monitoring costs for the government, which already spot-checks produce entering the country. Indeed, the GAO estimates that a labeling program could cost as much as $56 million annually, and be difficult to enforce."
Why the sudden change in GEO performances? The organization is a big friend of Sen. McCain and the current administration. "Port shopping" what a stupid, typical fear mongering phrase that is as well as being ridiculous. Last I checked Nogales was far from any ports of call. It'd plain here that this organization is in pay-back mode and kicking out the propaganda in support of old friends both in the USDA which doesn't want APHIS back because life is easier without it, and DHS which wants to control the entire turf without expertise. Guns and ammo do not mix with fruits and vegetable. Who are these people kidding with this PR tripe. They certainly do not have the safety of consumers in mind. Wait till the elections are over and then maybe this huge mistake can be fixed. The FPAA has shown its true colors as a mouth piece for the administration here.
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