Regulatory Alert

To: APS U.S. Members

From: APS Public Policy Board

Subject: APHIS Karnal Bunt Regulations Amended

Date: October 7, 2003

APHIS has announced adopting as a final rule, without change, an interim rule that became effective October 3, 2002 that amended the Karnal bunt regulations by adding certain areas in Arizona and Texas to the list of regulated areas either because they were found during detection and delineating surveys to contain a bunted wheat kernel, or because they fell within the 3-mile-wide buffer zone around fields or areas affected with Karnal bunt. The interim rule also removed certain individual fields and other areas in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas from the list of regulated areas, either because detection and delineating surveys showed them to be free of Karnal bunt, or because they had not been used to produce Karnal bunt host crops within the last 5 years, or because they had been used to produce Karnal bunt host crops in 1 or more years following initial regulation and the crops have been tested and found free of Karnal bunt. The interim rule was necessary to help prevent the spread of Karnal bunt into noninfected areas of the United States and to relieve restrictions that are no longer warranted.

Complete information can be found at http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/14mar20010800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2003/03-24874.htm