APS REGULATORY ALERT E-MAIL

TO: U.S. APS Members
FROM: APS Public Policy Board
SUBJECT: Regulatory Alert - Upcoming Deadline Reminder

To all U.S. APS Members:

The President signed into law the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107_188) on June 12, 2002. Title II of Public Law 107 188, ``Enhancing Controls on Dangerous Biological Agents and Toxins'' (sections 201 through 231), provides for the regulation of certain biological agents and toxins by the Department of Health and Human Services (subtitle A, sections 201_204) and the Department of Agriculture (subtitle B, sections 211_213), and provides for interagency coordination between the two departments regarding overlap agents and toxins (subtitle C, section 221). Subtitle D (section 231) provides for criminal penalties regarding certain biological agents and toxins. In subtitle B (which is cited as the ``Agricultural Bioterrorism Protection Act of 2002,'' referred to below as the Act ), section 212(a) provides, in part, that the Secretary of Agriculture (the Secretary) must establish by regulation a list of each biological agent and each toxin that she determines has the potential to pose a severe threat to animal or plant health, or to animal or plant products. The Act further requires (under section 213(b)) that all persons in possession of any listed biological agent or toxin must, within 60 days of the publication of that interim rule, notify the Secretary of such possession; the Act provides that the interim rule establishing the list must also furnish written guidance on the manner in which the required notice is to be provided.

The initial lists of biological agents and toxins required under section 212(a)(1) of the Act are located in 7 CFR 331.2 and 9 CFR 121.2. The Act requires that these lists be reviewed and republished biennially, or more often as needed, and revised as necessary. The list of nine biological agents and toxins provided in 7 CFR 331.2 was compiled by APHIS' Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) program. The listed agents and toxins are viruses, bacteria, or fungi that can pose a severe threat to a number of important crops, including potatoes, rice, soybeans, corn, citrus, and stone fruit. PPQ staff, after internal discussions and a review of several existing or proposed lists of plant pathogens that potentially pose a severe threat to plant health or plant products, requested input from USDA's Agricultural Research Service, Forest Service, and Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, and consulted with the American Phytopathological Society. The resulting list of agents and toxins identified as potentially posing a severe threat to plant health or plant products is as follows:

Liberobacter africanus, Liberobacter asiaticus

Peronosclerospora philippinensis

Phakopsora pachyrhizi

Plum pox potyvirus

Ralstonia solanacearum Race 3

Sclerophthora rayssiae var. zeae

Synchytrium endobioticum

Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzicola

Xylella fastidiosa (citrus variegated chlorosis strain)

The PDF file for the Federal Register: August 12, 2002 (Volume 67, Number 155), Page 52383-52389, can be found at http://www.apsnet.org/members/ppb/RegulatoryAlerts/FEDREG8-12-02.pdf