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2-14-2003 |
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STATE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE INVESTIGATING POSSIBLE INTRODUCTION
OF FOREIGN PLANT PEST The West Virginia Department of Agriculture received notice today from USDA, Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service, Plant Protection & Quarantine, that geranium shipments which originated in Kenya have been transshipped to four locations in West Virginia and numerous locations in other states. These plants may be infested with Ralstonia solanacearum race3 biovar 2 (southern bacterial wilt), a foreign plant pest that poses a serious threat to potatoes and other solanaceous crops. WVDA and USDA personnel are in the process of quarantining the four receiving facilities and taking samples to determine if the organism is present and further action is warranted. According to Agriculture Commissioner Gus R. Douglass, "If plants are found that originated from either of the suspect greenhouses in Michigan or New Hampshire, they will be quarantined and samples taken for subsequent testing by USDA-approved facilities. We will then follow an aggressive plan for eliminating this serious threat to our food supply and our economy.
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©2001, 2002 West Virginia Department of Agriculture, All Rights Reserved |
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