Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service September 21, 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We are amending the gypsy moth regulations by adding areas in Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Ohio, and Virginia to the list of generally infested areas based on the detection of infestations of gypsy moth in those areas. As a result of this action, the interstate movement of regulated articles from those areas is restricted. This action is necessary to prevent the artificial spread of the gypsy moth to noninfested areas of the United States.

We are proposing to amend the list of regulated articles in our domestic fruit fly quarantine regulations. The regulations currently indicate that smooth-skinned lemons (all varieties of Citrus limon) harvested for packing by commercial packinghouses are not regulated articles for Mediterranean fruit fly. We are proposing to amend the regulations to designate all yellow lemons as regulated articles. This proposed change is based on research indicating that, under certain conditions, yellow lemons are a host for Mediterranean fruit fly. As a result of this proposed action, yellow lemons produced in an area quarantined for Mediterranean fruit fly would be subject to certain interstate movement restrictions in order to prevent the spread of that pest into uninfested areas of the United States.