Market Impact: Zero Tolerance
Karnal bunt has had relatively minor impact on wheat production and poses little if any health hazard to humans or livestock. But it has adversely affected US production and distribution networks and further complicated global trade arrangements.
Is this a matter of better public relations? More pro-action on the part of the Commerce Department? Where do the worlds of science and business cross in this equation, and can they accelerate resolution of the trade questions?
Tell the audience what you think. Don't be shy, scientific exchange is important.
Zero
Tolerance
Consider the concept of zero tolerance for a disease such as Karnal bunt which causes minor losses overall and poses no threat to human or animal health. If this zero tolerance for Karnal bunt spores holds what happens to tolerances already established for such contaminants as vomitoxin (2,000 parts per billion) or aflatoxin (20 parts per billion)?
Reactions?
Robert Bowden - 06:52pm Jun 27, 1996 EDT (#1 of 18)
Kansas State University
Zero tolerance for KB is a quarantine issue. Tolerances for vomitoxin and aflatoxin are health issues. I see no obvious correlation between the two.
I think if the whole world abolished KB quarantines, we might be better off in the long run. If KB became established in an area, yield loss would be low and resistant varieties eventually could be developed. Unfortunately, this does not appear realistic.
Zero tolerance will tend to look good if you don't have KB and will always look stupid if you do have KB in your area. Countries or regions with no detected KB need to invest very little when they write KB exclusionary regulations. The burden is on the exporting country or region. The U.S. led the way on this concept, so it's hard to criticize others with zero tolerance now. In addition, the lack of KB is a valuable asset. KB-free countries or regions have a marketing advantage which is hard to resist exploiting.
If we wish to convince our foreign customers that zero tolerance is not necessary, we should lower our own zero tolerance requirements first. Personally, I am not ready to lower tolerances on wheat imported from Arizona or northwestern Mexico, for example. However, if KB becomes established in the Great Plains where I live, I will naturally change my mind. Then freedom from quarantines will look like a very good idea, indeed.
For those who criticize
the USDA quarantine plan, I'd like to know how they would deal
with the export issue. Remember that it could also affect corn or
soybean exports if transportation equipment becomes contaminated
with KB teliospores.
William Brown - 05:29pm Jun 30, 1996 EDT (#3 of 18)
In support of some of what Bob Bowen notes, please refer to Keith Kelly's symposium paper. Even though Bob notes that mycotoxins and Karnal bunt spores are not the same--even mycotoxins have tolerances.
I agree with both Keith Kelly and Bob above in noteing that Karnal bunt is not a plant pathology problem--it is really not even a quarnatine problem--it is a politiical problem.
We must be very careful in communicating that we are talking about the present of fungus spores, not disease. If this fungus could survive and prosper everywhere, why is KB not a problem all over Europe and the rest of the middle east?
There is a need to
reevaluate the zero tolerance issue and Karnal bunt as a disease.
That should be done now. It is a political problem and the
government must go back to the importing countries and convince
them that "in light of new evidence" KB is not the
villian we had painted it to be. If we do not do this while we
are the major (only?) source of wheat in the market we will have
lost our opportunity to deal from a position of power. Australia,
Argentina, the Ukraine and others are going to come back into the
world wheat market sometime soon and then we will be hard pressed
to make deals.
Robert Bowden - 02:02pm Jul 1, 1996 EDT (#4 of 18)
Kansas State University
I would like to conduct a poll. Do you think that the whole world should just forget about Karnal bunt quarantines? Please state your reasons, professional responsibilities, and your geographic location. I'd be especially interested to hear from regulatory officials outside the U.S.
I'll go first.
I now think that all KB quarantines in the world should be abolished. Karnal bunt is too insignificant a disease to justify all this effort. Almost all the risks are related to the quarantines themselves. The costs of quarantines far outweigh the benefits. This is especially true if we consider the potential disruption of commodities other than wheat (see robert ikin "Introduce Yourself" ).
However, abolition must be multilateral. Unilateral abolition would be a marketing disaster for the first brave exporter. This whole situation is much like the Cold War nuclear arms buildup. A huge waste of resources, but no one can stop it.
I am an Extension plant
pathologist in Kansas, U.S.A. where Karnal bunt is not known to
occur (at least yet).
William Brown - 04:31am Jul 2, 1996 EDT (#5 of 18)
Bob, probably Karnal bunt
will not be found in Kansas but I'll bet you a steak dinner and a
good California Merlot that KB spores will! As a extension
pathologist in Colorado who deals in everyday real world issues
KB as a disease is a whimp (Dick Smiley's words), in fact when
asked by my wheat growers research committee if they should put
breeding for resistance to KB into their program, I said no.
There are much more serious pathological problems. Few more
serious political ones.
Denis A. Gaudet - 04:04pm Jul 2, 1996 EDT (#6 of 18)
I am a Agriculture Canada
plant pathologist working on cereal bunts of wheat. I agree that
the quarantine on Karnal bunt should be removed but it is little
late in the game for that. I call it a game because the reality
is that the quarantine on Karnal bunt should have never been
placed some 15 years ago. Quarantines are often politically
motivated (witness dwarf bunt) and these lack the sound
scientific basis on which to proceed. But the US is an a mire and
it would lose credibility if it did. What is the solution? Create
a cumbersome infrastructure to limit the spread within the US?
Sounds like more fodder for the regulators.
Cynthia L. Ash - 02:20pm Jul 3, 1996 EDT (#7 of 18)
Director of Scientific Services
Thanks for your comments
Denis. I'm curious about the political nature of dwarf bunt. Can
you give us a synopsis on that situation?
Mike Ottman - 08:05pm Jul 3, 1996 EDT (#8 of 18)
University of Arizona
I am an Extension
Agronomist for the University of Arizona. The problem with zero
tolerance for Karnal bunt spores is you can never be sure where
the spores came from, especially at low levels. As I recall from
elementary plant pathology, the presence of spores does not
necessarily mean that the disease is present. A susceptible host
and favorable environmental conditions are also required. I am
not insinuating that Karnal bunt does not exist in Arizona, only
that the zero tolerance is dangerous for non-infected states and
for fields or farmers in the quarantine area that are not
infected with Karnal bunt. Karnal bunt spores could conceivably
"contaminate" any grain sample and result in
unintended, serious consequences.
Don Mathre - 10:59am Jul 4, 1996 EDT (#9 of 18)
This is Don Mathre and
I'm going to respond to Cynthia's question about the politics of
dwarf bunt quarantines. As a prelude, I have written a chapter
for the Ann Rev of Phytopath on the Biology and Politics of Dwarf
Bunt which will appear in the next issue of Annual Reviews in
Sept. Check that for the details, but in brief, the same type of
situation with karnal bunt existed years ago with dwarf bunt in
that the USA shipped tons of wheat to China between 1940-1960 or
thereabouts, much of it from the west coast that very likely
carried high loads of dwarf bunt spores, Yet, no dwarf bunt
developed in China probably because they don't have the climate
to support development of the disease. The same may be true of
karnal bunt though we see to have less data on the environmental
effects than we have on dwarf bunt. I believe it would be best if
all quarantines on both of these bunt pathogens were eliminated
because of the fact that they can either be easily controlled, eg
Dividend seed treatment for dwarf bunt, that they are restricted
environmentally, or that they are such unimportant pathogens from
a disease-loss aspect.
Randy Clear - 11:31am Jul 5, 1996 EDT (#10 of 18)
I'm sure that we all
agree that KB is a political disease more than a plant disease.
The solution therefore lies in the political arena. At present, I
would be surprised if the countries without KB will be anxious to
see changes in the quarantine status of the disease. Competing
exporting countries see it as a marketing advantage and importers
as a bargaining tool and, to be fair, as one less risk to take.
The last item may be addressed by the scientific community, the
first two by the politicians. In my opinion, it will be a while
before the importance of KB is based entirely on its effects as a
pathogen.
Gerald Holmes - 10:13pm Jul 5, 1996 EDT (#11 of 18)
Univ. Calif. Coop. Ext. Imperial Co.
As an extension plant pathologist in Imperial Co., Calif. I would vote yes for abolishing all KB quarantines. Regulatory agencies just finished sampling nearly 115,000 acreas of wheat without detecting a single teliospore. 3 railcar samples were found to be positive, but no one knows why. Growers in Imperial Valley can't understand why they are quarantined for a nonexistent, minor disease. Our State Senators our having similar difficulties. At a Senate hearing this week where I testified, Senators made it clear to all present that while we spend millions of taxpayer dollars chasing phantom spores, farmers are not paying their bills and numerous allied industries are suffering or collapsing.
One way to convince the world that KB is unimportant is to find it everywhere; either as bunted kernels or introduced teliospores. This year's experience in the southwest tells me that in many areas this disease will likely go undetected if no one is looking for it ("Seek and ye shall find"). How many other places in the world are there that may have occasional minor outbreaks of the disease that go undetected? Until wheat producing areas of the world do exhaustive surveys like those currently occurring in the southwest U.S., they do not know if the disease is present in their locale. And until similar detection methods are used by all we are comparing apples to oranges.
Unfortunately, we're not
fighting against lack of knowledge, we're fighting what has
always been fought--man's nature. It's a tough battle to win,
especially when we can hardly throw the first stone.
Byrd Curtis - 02:42pm Jul 7, 1996 EDT (#12 of 18)
Several respondents in
this symposium have agreed that Karnal bunt is a political
problem and that the quarantine imposed by APHIS should be
abolished. We are not going to convince APHIS to abolish the
quarantine without some high powered pressure from the public and
Congress. APHIS is a huge and very expensive bureaucracy that
receives much support as a result of "scare" tactics
such as the Karnal bunt issue. The question is, how can we
properly inform the public and Congress about this anomaly of our
regulatory system. Perhaps a start would be for the biological
scientific societies to begin an education campaign to include
letter writing, etc. to Congressional members, newspapers,
magazines, and radio talk show hosts (Rush Limbaugh might
appreciate getting into this one), Also, CAST, the Scientific
Society of Scientific Societies should be encouraged to address
this problem. Just think what amount of useful research could be
done with the wasted dollars spent on useless quarantine
programs. I would like to hear from others about ideas on how we
can fight such issues as those represented by the Karnal bunt
quarantine situation.
Jack Riesselman - 04:18pm Jul 9, 1996 EDT (#13 of 18)
Its evident that most of
the scientific community agrees that zero tolerance, eradication
etc relative to KB is not practical. But, in searching though
symposium papers and comments we have not heard anything from the
regulatory people, basically APHIS. Since they have set the
agenda, I'd like to hear their justification.
Juliet Windes - 02:03pm Jul 10, 1996 EDT (#14 of 18)
University of Idaho
University of Idaho, Aberdeen, Research Support Scientist - Plant Pathologist in wheat breeding program.
In response to Bob
Bowden: I agree, forget zero tolerance and eradication. How do we
move on while allowing the US to 'save face'in the polical arena?
And how do we get the focus off wasting the millions of dollars
on eradication? We need to concentrate on understanding the
biology of the fungus, developing control measures, and
incorporating host resistance into locally adapted varieties.
Face it, contaminated seed has been planted in several areas of
the country outside of the original quarantined areas. Whether or
not it shows up in this years' harvest may be irrelevant. The
next few years may play a different scene. We need not panic -
due to the low (initial?) physical (not political) damage
estimates and lack of toxic effects to humans and livestock.
Let's use this as a model to develop a COORDINATED research
effort that reflects the true potential biological impact.
Perhaps this is a simplistic and naive hope.
Byrd Curtis - 10:46am Jul 11, 1996 EDT (#15 of 18)
For Juliet Windes
Your idea on promoting
more basic research on Karnal bunt is laudible and is in
concurrence with my similar ideas of 10 years ago when it was
obvious that someday KB would reach the US. One might look at
another approach in that many other pest problems are much more
important in terms of potential damage and and are much more
deserving of attention than KB. To take the focus off cost of
eradication and other measures relative to KB plays right into
the hands of APHIS. Allowing such quarantine measures insures the
continuation of that expensive bureaucracy. What we really need
is to reduce the size and cost of that regulatory organization
and put the savings into needful research on the major serious
pests. KB damage potential (outside the market realm which should
be attacked via education) is insignificant compared to many
pests of our food crops.
Gayle Jesperson - 02:12pm Jul 15, 1996 EDT (#16 of 18)
A few more comments on dwarf bunt, in response to messages from Cynthia Ash and Don Mathre. I agree that both karnal and dwarf bunt are political issues, more than real threats to crop production. I have some experience with dwarf bunt in the north Okanagan valley of BC, where I am an extension Plant Pathologist with the BC Ministry of Agriculture. It is a very devastating disease for producers in that area. I have seen fields with up to 50% of the heads bunted in a bunt-favorable year. The local flour mill rejects on average about 1/3 of the local crop every year due to dwarf bunt contamination. It has gotten to the point that winter wheat is no longer a crop option. In Canada we do not have Dividend as a solution (although I agree it works like magic). There are not registered seed treatments here that have any impact. Essentially no control available.
Dwarf bunt was also a political issue in the media earlier this year. (Feb). U.S. Agriculture secretary Dan Glickman claimed that Canadian wheat shipments to China were carrying dwarf bunt, while he was in China on trade talks. This is not correct, as only wheat from the prairie provinces is exported, and no dwarf bunt has ever been found on the prairies. The climate is not suitable there. This is a good example of the political nature of such disputes -- even to the point of falsely denigrating the exports of a close trading partner such as Canada. I believe the Canadian Agriculture Minister had some strong comments in return, which I will not repeat here!
Gayle Jesperson. Kelowna,
BC Canada
David Hole - 01:33pm Jul 26, 1996 EDT (#17 of 18)
For Gayle,
50% bunted heads is a
pretty devastating level even if only one year out of 5 or 10.
With good sources of genetic resistance available, why hasn't it
been incorporated into cultivars. In Utah, there would be
essentially no dryland wheat production without genetic
resistance. Most of the dryland farmers are on the edge of
profitability and even using Dividend isn't possible due to cost.
Dan Biggerstaff - 11:28pm Jul 30, 1996 EDT (#18 of 18)
Western Plant Breeders
To Gayle Jesperson:
You are correct in saying that dwarf bunt, the disease, does not occur on the Canadian prairies. You are also correct in saying the spring wheat exported form the prairies does not carry dwarf bunt, the disease.
However, it is not correct to say that Canadian cargoes do not have traces of TCK teliospores. If all cargoes loaded in Vancouver, BC, are subjected to extensive microscopic inspection, TCK teliospores will be found! All export elevators in the US and Canada have traces of TCK teliospores in them from time to time.
If the above statement is incorrect, I ask that a TCK expert correct me.
Also Gayle, I share your view that it was inappropriate for our USDA to complain about phytosanitary issues while they were busy creating the present Karnal bunt imbroglio.
© Copyright 1996 by the American Phytopathological Society