Evaluating Threats To Us Plant Health

Pest risk assessment methodology; The role of IICA's agricultural health program in PRA.

In this report, we assess the unmitigated pest risk potential of importing Eucalyptus logs and chips from South America into the United States. To do this, we estimated the likelihood and consequences of introducing representative insects and pathogens of concern. Nineteen individual pest risk assessments were prepared, eleven dealing with insects and eight with pathogens. The selected organisms were representative examples of insects and pathogens found on the foliage, on the bark, in the bark, and in the wood of Eucalyptus spp. Among the insects and pathogens assessed, eight were rated a high risk potential: purple moth (Sarsina violescens), scolytid bark and ambrosia beetles (Scolytopsis brasiliensis, Xyleborus retusus, Xyleborus biconicus, Xyleborus spp.), carpenterworm (Chilecomadia valdiviana) on Eucalyptus nitens, round-headed wood borers (Chydarteres striatus, Retrachyderes thoracicus, Trachyderes spp., Steirastoma breve, Stenodontes spinibarbis), eucalyptus longhorned borer (Phoracantha semipunctata), Botryosphaeria cankers (Botryosphaeria dothidea, Botryosphaeria obtusa, Botryosphaeria ribi), Ceratocystis canker (Ceratocystis fimbriata), and pink disease (Erythricium salmonicolor). A moderate pest risk potential was assigned to eleven other organisms or groups of organisms: eucalypt weevils (Gonipterus spp.), carpenterworm (Chilecomadia valdiviana) on two Eucalyptus species other than E. nitens, platypodid ambrosia beetle (Megaplatypus parasulcatus), yellow phorancantha borer (Phoracantha recurva), subterranean termites (Coptotermes spp., Heterotermes spp.), foliar diseases (Aulographina eucalypti, Cryptosporiopsis eucalypti, Cylindrocladium spp., Phaeophleospora spp., Mycosphaerella spp.), eucalyptus rust (Puccinia psidii), Cryphonectria canker (Cryphonectria cubensis), Cytospora cankers (Cytospora eucalypticola, Cytospora eucalyptina), Coniothyrium canker (Coniothyrium zuluense), and root and stem rots (Armillaria spp., Phellinus spp., Ganoderma sp., Gymnopilus spectabilis). For those organisms of concern that are associated with logs and chips of South American Eucalyptus spp., specific phytosanitary measures may be required to ensure the quarantine safety of proposed importations.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine was asked to articulate a 5-year strategic vision for international health security programs and provide findings and recommendations on how to optimize the impact of the Department of Defense (DOD) Biological Threat Reduction Program (BTRP) in fulfilling its biosafety and biosecurity mission. Because BTRP is just one of several U.S. government programs conducting international health security engagement, both the strategic vision and the success of the program rely on coordinating actions with the U.S. government as a whole and with its international partners. This report provides several recommendations for optimizing BTRP success in its current mission and the wider-looking strategic vision it proposes.

Climate change poses many challenges that affect society and the natural world. With these challenges, however, come opportunities to respond. By taking steps to adapt to and mitigate climate change, the risks to society and the impacts of continued climate change can be lessened. The National Climate Assessment, coordinated by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, is a mandated report intended to inform response decisions. Required to be developed every four years, these reports provide the most comprehensive and up-to-date evaluation of climate change impacts available for the United States, making them a unique and important climate change document. The draft Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4) report reviewed here addresses a wide range of topics of high importance to the United States and society more broadly, extending from human health and community well-being, to the built environment, to businesses and economies, to ecosystems and natural resources. This report evaluates the draft NCA4 to determine if it meets the requirements of the federal mandate, whether it provides accurate information grounded in the scientific literature, and whether it effectively communicates climate science, impacts, and responses for general audiences including the public, decision makers, and other stakeholders.

Incineration has been used widely for waste disposal, including household, hazardous, and medical wasteâ€"but there is increasing public concern over the benefits of combusting the waste versus the health risk from pollutants emitted during combustion. Waste Incineration and Public Health informs the emerging debate with the most up-to-date information available on incineration, pollution, and human healthâ€"along with expert conclusions and recommendations for further research and improvement of such areas as risk communication. The committee provides details on: Processes involved in incineration and how contaminants are released. Environmental dynamics of contaminants and routes of human exposure. Tools and approaches for assessing possible human health effects. Scientific concerns pertinent to future regulatory actions. The book also examines some of the social, psychological, and economic factors that affect the communities where incineration takes place and addresses the problem of uncertainty and variation in predicting the health effects of incineration processes.