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BANR Reports
 | Review of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plan Health Inspection Service Response to Petitions to Reclassify the Light Brown Apple Moth as a Non-Actionable Pest: A Letter Report (2009)
The light brown apple moth, a native of Australia discovered in California in 2006, is a moth that eats many kinds of plants. In 2007 in a pre-emptive effort against potential damage the moth might cause, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) classified the moth as an "actionable quarantine-significant pest" and implemented a program of quarantine restrictions and eradication. However, several petitions were submitted by members of the public seeking to reclassify the moth as a non-actionable pest against which no action should be taken.
This letter report from the National Research Council evaluates APHIS response to those petitions. The committee determined that APHIS' response did meet the minimal requirements to support its classification of the light brown apple moth as a quarantine-significant pest; however, the response was imprecise in its references to the scientific literature on the moth and unclear in its economic analysis. Additionally, APHIS missed an opportunity to share relevant information, explain its decisions, and reduce public concerns surrounding measures taken to control the light brown apple moth.
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