PPB Activities

Midyear Report 2001

The participation of the APS Headquarters staff with the NPPB members has helped make the Board operation much more efficient and greatly facilitated communication of Board activities to Council, Executive Committee, or other portions of APS membership. A letter of appreciation and certificate were sent to outgoing Board Members Larry Stowell and Don Mathre.

Several Board Members participated in a meeting at Headquarters in October 2000. The committee, chaired by John Sherwood, made several suggestions for reorganizing the NPPB. This document was shared with Council and explained by Sherwood at a Council conference call. A monthly NPPB conference call was suggested by this committee and has been held on the second Friday of each month at 11:00 Eastern Time. The Board is excited about the possibility of improving the structure of NPPB and developing closer working relations with APS Officers and thus Council.

Funding for Plant-associated Microbial Genomics continues as a high priority for NPPB. A draft of a document that included a list of fungi and bacteria was prepared for justification of the genomics program with the help of several APS committees. A list of a few microbes will be submitted through USDA to DOE for their Sequencing Marathon Month 2. Eversole Associates was requested to submit a proposal for professional assistance with guiding a funding proposal through Congress.  John Sherwood will present this to Council at midyear. NPPB will sponsor a session at Salt Lake on funding for Plant Associated Microbial Genomics.

Jim Cook wrote a Phytonews article on the NPPB sponsored session at New Orleans on the EPA rule on Plant Incorporated Protectants. This rule was finalized during the last days of the Clinton Administration but it is now one of several "finalized rules" currently held up from publication in the Federal Register by the Bush Administration. NPPB is following the rule, will comment on areas where input was requested, and continue to insist that this rule does not make scientific sense.

Two legislative alerts were sent over the last year to US APS members urging them to write letters to their legislators to assure that the IFAFS grant program remained in the budget. A news capsule was sent thanking members for their support even if there is no direct evidence that our letters had an effect on retaining the funding.

John Sherwood has attended several CoFarm meetings including a National Academy of Sciences reception to show appreciation for the funding of plant biotechnology funding. Sue Tolin continues to have involvement with CoFarm and is writing an expanded version of our biotechnology statement. John Sherwood passed to OPAE the desire by CoFarm develop a list of exceptional contribution of plant pathology to science over the recent past.

A statement in support of biotechnology research in Italy was written that included the OPAE Biotechnology sentence approved by APS. President Slack signed the statement and transmitted it. Personal letters were sent by Headquarters to each APS member in Italy to explain our position as one of freedom for scientific endeavors. The APS statement was recognized by a couple of international journals and three letters of appreciation were received from Italian scientists.

APS was asked to endorse a statement to the Bush Transition Team to bring Harmful Invasive Species to their attention. President Slack approved the endorsement and APS was listed along with a list of scientific societies as the statement was widely distributed in Washington.

Sue Tolin attended a Harvard meeting on the Precautionary Principle. Issues surrounding this principle have been on the NPPB agenda for several years. Tolin also continues to follow the APHIS Safeguarding report as it is implemented.

Steve Nelson attended the AACC meeting where a session was held on GMO Detection. He shared AACC information on the latest in approved detection technology for GMOs in grain.

NPPB nominated Chuck Curtis and Paul Gellebeau for positions on the EPA on Pesticide Program Dialogue Committee.

NPPB learned that the Weed Science Society had a Weed Awareness Week in Washington. We recommend that OPAE explore the possibility of a Disease of the Month or some such emphasis in DC.

There are a number of Federal Register items about which responses are planned. The Midyear NPPB will meet in Washington DC on 26 and 27April. Your comments and suggestions for the Board are welcome.

Executive Summary

Highlights of National Plant Pathology Board (NPPB) Meeting
June 12-13, 2000

In response to NPPB's suggestion, APS along with 10 other scientific societies, challenged the EPA's proposed rule that called plant disease resistance genes "pesticides".  As a result of this challenge, EPA has backed off from this terminology.  The National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, then commissioned a report on this and other items related to the use of biotechnology.  This report will be discussed at the APS annual meeting in New Orleans in a session chaired by Jim Cook, a member of NPPB.

NPPB members interviewed public affairs officers of a number of scientific societies, including the American Microbiological Society, the American Society of Plant Physiologists, and the tri-societies of Agronomy, Crop Science and Soil Science to learn of their activities in the areas of education and lobbying of agencies of the Federal Government, including Congress.  Without exception, these people all felt that a Washington "presence" was valuable to the members of the scientific societies that they represented.

Two members of the NPPB were invited to participate in a briefing session of the State Department regarding biotechnology and its potential uses in less-developed countries.

The potential for APS to be of value to anti-terrorism activities was discussed with Randall Murch, a plant pathologist, who works for the FBI and Department of Defense.  The potential for introduction of foreign pathogens that could cause great havoc in the production and marketing of some of our major crops is considered to be a real possibility.  Plant Disease Diagnostic labs run by many departments and government agencies may be able to play a role in early detection of any such introductions. The NPPB will maintain contacts with Dr. Murch to develop additional information as to how plant pathologists can be of assistance in this effort.

© Copyright 2001 by
The American Phytopathological Society