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Related thread: FDA Issues Warrant to Juice Plant

I wonder if this is an intentional bio-attack on our domestic crop to facilitate increased imports from Brazil.

bump FYI

Does this mean Janet will have to stop campaigning?

Do I have this right??

ONE freepin' tree, in 1995, is the cause of murdering 600,000 Healthy trees.

Leave the victim ... er ... sick one and get rid of the healthy ones.

I get it!

NOT.

Someone in Duh 'splane this to me ... please.

I blame the manatees.

From FL's canker homepage -- I will post link:

Summary of the Justification for Removing Canker-Exposed Trees within 1900 Feet of Infected Trees

An epidemiological study is designed to track disease spread so that intelligent regulatory or other disease management options can be targeted to best advantage. Epidemiological studies conducted in both commercial and residential citrus in Florida and South America over the last 10 years have strongly reinforced the concept that removal of citrus exposed to citrus canker inoculum from infected trees is an essential component of any successful eradication program.

Inoculum of the canker pathogen is dispersed in two ways: via wind-blown rain, and by human activity that involves the transport of infected or contaminated plants, tools, clothing, etc. The removal of exposed plants is crucial for eradication because the best detection methods currently available for disease detection are always well behind the actual expression of the disease on host plants. Delays in detection are caused by slow expression of detectable disease symptoms after infection and the constraints on visual survey methods.

The most recent epidemiological study used mixed age and varieties of residential citrus, and was conducted in North Dade and South Broward Counties during 1998-99. A description of this study is being prepared for publication. The study was done in an area where canker was only recently established, where the citrus leafminer was present (a new factor in the epidemiological equation for the Western Hemisphere), and where many thousands of trees in four separate sites could be monitored to provide the data for the study. This scenario was made possible only because of the unfortunate continued spread of the disease into new areas in spite of various protocols that had been utilized previously in the program. Previous methods included hatracking exposed trees; removing all exposed trees within 125 feet; removing of all infected trees; and only infected trees as soon as possible after discovery.

Four study sites were selected based on their relative isolation from each other, the recent appearance of only a few infected trees in each area, and the absence of the disease in the surrounding citrus. At the beginning, all citrus (ca. 19,000) in the vicinity were identified and their location plotted using satellite-based global positioning technology. The disease status of each tree in the study area was then determined on a 30-day basis by a field plant pathologist. The trees infected at the outset were identified as focal trees, and presumed to be the direct or indirect source of inoculum for all subsequent disease development in the area. The data taken on each visit consisted of a determination of whether canker lesions were present or absent, host variety and age/size, lesion age, an estimate of disease severity based on percent of canopy exhibiting lesions, and location of the lesions within the canopy. Data was collected every 30 days at each of the study sites to monitor disease progress over time through the area. All trees remained in place throughout the course of the study.

The main conclusion that can be drawn from the composite data is that subsequent infections resulting from inoculum dispersal from focal trees lie within approximately 1200 feet 90% of the time, within 1900 feet 95% of the time, and within 2700 feet 99% of the time. In other words, in order to eliminate the next generation of canker infections (ones that are already established and not yet detected), the project will be successful nineteen times out of twenty if all citrus trees within 1900 feet of the infected tree(s) are removed. The program selected the 95% success level as striking a balance between taking too few and too many trees and still reaching the goal of eradication.

Prepared by Drs. Tim Schubert, Wayne Dixon, and Xiaoan Sun

Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Division of Plant Industry
PO Box 147100
Gainesville, FL 32614

Willie, I have no idea what the FDA warrant you initially mentioned in your post #1 is about. Donald, do you know?

How can government officials coming on to private property to kill citrus trees without a warrant not violate the fourth amendment against unlawful search and seizure and the fifth amendment provision agains the taking of private property without just compensation?

Despite protests from homeowners, the bill moved quickly through the House and Senate and crews expected to remove another 200,000 trees this year.

"We've got to look at the overall economic impact on our state..."

What a bunch of BS. Come onto your property and cut down your tree, healthy of not. Just look at the economic impact of whose pockets this bill lines. Better camoflauge those nice apple trees out back in the Northwest.