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Network The newsletter for the NPDN First Detector Community |
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January-February 2007 |
Volume 4, Number 1 | |
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Phone:
(352) 392-3631 ext
254 Fax: (352)
392-6532 E-mail: We’re on the
Web!
Click hereif you would like to receive the newsletter via email, or to submit articles for inclusion in the next edition. Published by the Southern Plant Diagnostic Network (SPDN) All Rights Reserved
Editor: Carrie L. Harmon
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Online
Offerings NPDN National Meeting a Success! Minutes, posters, and abstracts will soon be available for the first ever NPDN National Meeting held January 28-31, 2007 at the Wyndham Orlando Resort in Orlando, Florida. Links to the program, minutes, and meeting information will be available at: http://www.npdn.org/, under "Meeting Information". Comment on Your Involvement in the NPDN! The National Plant Diagnostic Network is currently undergoing external review. If you have comments or suggestions, please send them to the appropriate review team member (read the letter from the review team). Training Update - workshops, events, and training information can all be found in this month's Training Supplement. Be one of the first to take a tour of the online First Detector Crop Biosecurity training!
Gerry Snyder, Kansas State University, and Howard Beck, University of
Florida, were on hand at the NPDN National Meeting at the Wyndham
Orlando Resort January 28 - 31, 2007. They demonstrated several
features of the on-line training program, answered questions, and even
had a "test drive" for several of the modules. If you are interested in
"test driving" the new system, please contact Gerry (gsnyder@ksu.edu)
or Howard (hwb@ufl.edu) if you have any questions. Pest and Pathogen News
EPA Authorizes Critical Uses of Methyl Bromide for 2007 (News Brief) Contact: John Millett, (202) 564-4355 / millett.john@epa.gov (Washington, D.C. - Dec. 12, 2006) In accordance with the Clean Air Act and Montreal Protocol, EPA has issued final methyl bromide production and import critical use exemptions for 2007. EPA also authorized uses that qualify for the 2007 critical use exemption. The exemptions for continued production and import of methyl bromide will honor the U.S. commitment to obtain methyl bromide for American farmers, in a manner consistent with the Montreal Protocol, while protecting the ozone layer. This action is authorizing 6,230,655 kilograms (6,230.7 metric tonnes, or 24.4 percent of baseline) of methyl bromide for approved critical uses during 2007, such as strawberry and tomato production, as well as commodity fumigation. The United States originally requested an amount equivalent to 29 percent of historic 1991 baseline consumption. A total of 26.4 percent of baseline, or 6,749,060 kilograms (6,749 metric tonnes), was authorized at the 17th Meeting of the Parties in Dakar, Senegal, in December 2005. The authorized amount was adjusted was to account for the increased use of alternatives among methyl bromide users. Allowance decisions for 2008 were made at 18th Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol in New Delhi, India during Oct. 30-Nov. 3, 2006. For 2008, the U.S. request was revised to 23 percent of baseline, and a total of 21 percent was authorized. EPA is beginning the notice-and-comment rulemaking process for the 2008 calendar year. More information on the final rule: http://www.epa.gov/ozone/mbr. Permits Need help diagnosing a select agent? If you can extract the DNA according to an NPDN SOP, you can ship the DNA without worry. Want to know more about regulations regarding shipment of samples? Contact Carrie Harmon. Training Opportunities/Meetings Mark Your Calendar! The Sixth International IPM Symposium, "Transcending Boundaries," will be held in Portland, Oregon March 24-26, 2009 at the Portland Convention Center. The Fifth IPM Symposium, held in 2006, attracted more than 650 research, education, government, industry and environmental and health professionals from 23 countries for three days of presentations, networking and organizational meetings on key pest management issues. For up-to-date information on the Symposium, visit website: http://www.ipmcenters.org/ipmsymposium09/. SPDN Invasive Arthropod Workshop Clemson, SC May 7-9, 2007. The SPDN will host an intensive diagnostic training on invasive or limited distribution arthropod pests of concern to the southern region http://conference.ifas.ufl.edu/arthropod/ . Important information on other invasive species programs, interactions between regulatory and the NPDN, and other details relating to invasives will also be presented. A workshop on real-time PCR for applied plant pathologists will be held at the University of Kentucky on 23-25 Jan 2007 and again on 27 Feb – 1 Mar 2007. Participants will execute and interpret four real-time PCR experiments, extract DNA, and run a gel. Topics include theory of real-time PCR, experimental controls, PCR inhibition, use of PCR kits, licensing, minimizing sample contamination, and troubleshooting. For more information, contact Paul Vincelli (pvincell@uky.edu). |