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Sherman Oaks, Calif., October 1, 2002..."We are profoundly alarmed at the apparent dismissive arrogance of the Spanish authorities. How can we trust these same officials to implement needed improvements in the import regime for their citrus entering the U.S. and remedy the Medfly infestation that currently plagues Spain?" asked Mike Wootton, Vice President of Sunkist Growers, the 6,000-member California and Arizona citrus marketing cooperative. Wootton was responding to statements made by Samuel Juarez, Minister-Counselor of agriculture, fisheries and food at the Spanish Embassy in Washington, D.C. Juarez was quoted in a September 30 article in the Sacramento Bee titled "Spanish orange stirs a dispute." "The Spanish are apparently still in denial that their fruit has a big problem, namely multiple findings of live medfly larvae last fall in Spanish clementines at locations around the US and from various Spanish shippers," said Wootton. "Incredibly, Minister Juarez refers to the pest finds in Spanish fruit as 'alleged' and 'uncertain' and refers to their discovery by 'non-experts'. Those 'non-experts' included trained inspectors of APHIS and of multiple state departments of agriculture, including the California Department of Food and Agriculture. "Minister Juarez dismisses the concerns of Sunkist Growers and others as 'protectionism' and 'discrimination', noting a 17-year history of Spanish fruit entering the USA 'without any problem until now.' That 17-year history of Spanish fruit entering the US marketplace -- without competitive objection from Sunkist or other US producers -- could also be evidence that the current concerns are based, not on 'protectionism and discrimination', but on documented evidence their fruit is infested with a extremely destructive exotic pest -- the Mediterranean fruit fly," Wootton suggests. The attitude of the Spanish government, as evidenced by the comments of Minister Juarez, gravely concerns Sunkist Growers and the US producers of 250 other Medfly-vulnerable commodities. "After all," says Wootton, "this is the same Spanish government that the US Department of Agriculture says is responsible for devising a Medfly eradication program in Spain -- a critical part of the plan to reduce the likelihood of another pest importation." The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) barred shipment of imported Spanish clementines last December after Mediterranean fruit fly larvae were found in the imported Spanish fruit in four states, including California. Now USDA is proposing new regulations that would allow Spanish clementines back into the country -- rules that American producers say are fatally flawed and dangerous to the economic health of American producers. # # # Sunkist Growers is a grower-owned citrus marketing cooperative comprised of 6,000 citrus growers in California and Arizona.
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