Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We published an interim rule on August 25, 2006, amending the foreign quarantine and user fee regulations by removing the exemptions from inspection for imported fruits and vegetables grown in Canada and the exemptions from user fees for commercial vessels, commercial trucks, commercial railroad cars, commercial aircraft, and international air passengers entering the United States from Canada. That interim rule had an effective date of November 24, 2006. Subsequently, we published a notice announcing the delay of the effective date of the removal of the user fee exemption for international air passengers until January 1, 2007, and the effective date for the remaining provisions of the rule, including the removal of the exemption from user fees for commercial vessels, commercial trucks, commercial railroad cars, and commercial aircraft entering the United States from Canada, until March 1, 2007. We are now further delaying the effective date of the removal of the exemption from user fees for commercial trucks and railroad cars from Canada until June 1, 2007. We are making this change to allow additional time for us to conclude discussions with the Government of Canada regarding risks, inspections, and costs associated with land-border traffic entering the United States from Canada.

We are reopening the comment period for a draft environmental assessment prepared with respect to a petition from Syngenta Seeds, Inc., seeking a determination of nonregulated status for corn rootworm- resistant corn derived from a transformation event designated as MIR604. This action will allow interested persons additional time to prepare and submit comments on the draft environmental assessment.

We are correcting an error in our proposed rule to amend the regulations for importing animals and animal products by adding the Mexican State of Nayarit to the list of regions considered free of classical swine fever (CSF). We would also add Nayarit to the list of CSF-free regions whose exports of live swine, pork, and pork products to the United States must meet certain certification requirements to ensure their freedom from CSF. The proposed rule was published in the Federal Register on January 31, 2007 (72 FR 4463-4467, Docket No. APHIS 2006-0104).

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to initiate an information collection associated with the Voluntary Bovine Johne's Disease Control Program.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to request an extension of approval of an information collection in support of the Animal Welfare Act regulations for inspection, licensing, and procurement of animals.

We are amending the pine shoot beetle regulations by adding the entire State of Iowa and two counties, Morris and Somerset, in New Jersey to the list of quarantined areas. We are taking this action following the detection of pine shoot beetle in these areas. This action is necessary to prevent the spread of pine shoot beetle, a pest of pine trees, into noninfested areas of the United States.

We are advising the public that an environmental assessment has been prepared for a proposed field release involving a transgenic safflower line that has been genetically engineered to express, within the seeds, a carp growth hormone fused to an Arabidopsis oleosin. The purpose of this field release is to obtain a seed increase of material harvested in Chile for future use as a supplement in aquaculture meal. We are making the environmental assessment available to the public for review and comment.

We are advising the public that we are making available for review and comment three documents related to the National Animal Identification System: A Draft User Guide, a Program Standards and Technical Reference document, and a technical specification document for the animal tracking databases.

We are proposing to amend the regulations for importing animals and animal products by adding the Mexican State of Nayarit to the list of regions considered free of classical swine fever (CSF). We are proposing this action at the request of the Mexican Government and the State of Nayarit, and after conducting a risk evaluation that indicates that Nayarit is free of this disease. We are also proposing to add Nayarit to the list of CSF-affected regions whose exports of live swine, pork, and pork products to the United States must meet certain certification requirements to ensure their freedom from CSF. These actions would relieve certain CSF-related restrictions on the importation into the United States of pork, pork products, live swine, and swine semen from Nayarit while continuing to protect against the introduction of this disease into the United States.

We are proposing to amend the Virus-Serum-Toxin Act regulations concerning testing for avian lymphoid leukosis in veterinary biologics to specify that the test is for the detection of extraneous replicating avian leukosis virus; require such testing to be conducted using a procedure that will detect extraneous replicating avian leukosis virus and that is acceptable to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service; require firms to develop a procedure to test for lymphoid leukosis virus contamination in the case of vaccine virus cytopathic to chick embryo cell cultures; and specify the equivalent inoculum dose of vaccine to be used when testing certain specified chicken vaccines for lymphoid leukosis virus. These proposed changes would update the testing for lymphoid leukosis virus contamination by prescribing a test procedure that increases the probability of detecting atypical lymphoid leukosis viruses such as those recently found in a contaminated vaccine.

We are amending the Oriental fruit fly regulations by adding the Santa Ana area of Orange County, CA, to the list of quarantined areas and restricting the interstate movement of regulated articles from that area. In addition, we are removing a portion of San Bernardino County, CA, from the list of quarantined areas and removing restrictions on the interstate movement of regulated articles from that area. These actions are necessary to prevent the artificial spread of Oriental fruit fly to noninfested areas of the United States and to remove restrictions that are no longer necessary on the interstate movement of regulated articles from areas where Oriental fruit fly has been eradicated.

In an interim rule published in the Federal Register on August 1, 2006, we amended the citrus canker regulations to list the entire State of Florida as a quarantined area for citrus canker and to amend the requirements for the movement of regulated articles from Florida now that the eradication of citrus canker in Florida is no longer being carried out as an objective. We also amended the regulations to allow regulated articles that would not otherwise be eligible for interstate movement to be moved to a port for immediate export. In this amendment, we are clarifying that, if citrus canker is found in any grove during the preharvest inspection or afterward, fruit from that grove will be ineligible to move interstate for that entire shipping season.

We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has received a petition from Syngenta Seeds, Inc., seeking a determination of nonregulated status for corn rootworm- resistant corn derived from a transformation event designated as MIR604. The petition has been submitted in accordance with our regulations concerning the introduction of certain genetically engineered organisms and products. In accordance with those regulations, we are soliciting comments on whether this corn presents a plant pest risk. We are also making available for public comment a draft environmental assessment for the proposed determination of nonregulated status.

We are adopting as a final rule, without change, an interim rule that amended the Mediterranean fruit fly regulations by removing portions of Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and Santa Clara Counties, CA, from the list of quarantined areas and by removing restrictions on the interstate movement of regulated articles from those areas. The interim rule was necessary to relieve restrictions that were no longer needed to prevent the spread of the Mediterranean fruit fly into noninfested areas of the United States.

We are extending the submission period for our notice that requests information from interested persons regarding potential sites for the production of sterile fruit flies or alternates sources of those flies. This action will allow interested persons additional time to prepare and submit information.

We are proposing to amend the regulations to add that portion of the Patagonia region of Argentina located south of latitude 42[deg] south (Patagonia South) to the list of regions considered free of rinderpest and foot-and-mouth disease (FMD). We are taking this action because we have determined that Patagonia South is free of rinderpest and FMD. We are also proposing to add that region to the list of regions that are subject to certain import restrictions on meat and meat products because of their proximity to or trading relationships with rinderpest-or FMD-affected countries. These actions would update the disease status of Patagonia South with regard to rinderpest and FMD while continuing to protect the United States from an introduction of those diseases by providing additional requirements for any meat and meat products imported into the United States from Patagonia South.

We are advising the public that a pest risk assessment and an environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact have been prepared by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service relative to a request to allow the interstate movement of garbage from Hawaii to a landfill in the State of Washington. The pest risk assessment evaluates the risks associated with the interstate movement of garbage from Hawaii to Washington. The environmental assessment examines the potential environmental effects associated with moving garbage interstate from Hawaii to Washington, subject to certain pest risk mitigation measures and documents our review and analysis of the environmental impacts associated with, and alternatives to, the action. Based on its finding of no significant impact, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has determined that an environmental impact statement need not be prepared.

We are giving notice of a meeting of the General Conference Committee of the National Poultry Improvement Plan.

We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service intends to prepare an environmental impact statement relative to the proposed use of genetically engineered fruit flies and pink bollworm in certain plant pest control programs. This notice identifies potential issues and alternatives that will be studied in the environmental impact statement, requests public comment to further delineate the scope of the issues and alternatives, and provides notice of public meetings.

We are proposing to amend the brucellosis regulations in order to facilitate research to be conducted on brucellosis-exposed or infected animals. Under the current regulations, such research could adversely affect a State's brucellosis classification. For example, the criteria for achieving and maintaining Class Free status provide that all cattle herds in the State or area must be released from quarantine and remain free of brucellosis for 12 consecutive months. Because the current definition of herd includes animals held in a research facility, a State could lose its Class Free status by allowing such research. By providing an exception for brucellosis-exposed or infected animals held within federally approved research facilities, this proposed rule would enable the initiation of necessary brucellosis research in Class Free States.

We are advising the public of our decision to extend a determination of nonregulated status to a rice line developed by Bayer CropScience, which has been genetically engineered to be tolerant to the herbicide glufosinate. Therefore, APHIS no longer considers the rice line to be a regulated article under Agency regulations governing the introduction of certain genetically engineered organisms. Our decision is based on our evaluation of data submitted by Bayer CropScience in its request for an extension of a determination of nonregulated status, an analysis of other scientific data, and comments received from the public in response to a previous notice and preliminary determination. This notice also announces the availability of our written determination, final environmental assessment, and our finding of no significant impact.

We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is exploring options for the construction of a multispecies exotic fruit fly facility and/or the privatization of sterile fly production to provide backup capacity for our sterile fruit fly programs and emergency needs. APHIS recognizes the need to maintain a backup for sterile fruit fly production to respond to emergency outbreaks when they occur, and to ensure current preventive release programs in California, Florida, and Texas remain effective. In this notice, we are soliciting the submission of information from interested persons regarding potential sites for the production of sterile fruit flies or alternate sources of those flies.

We are amending the Karnal bunt regulations to remove certain areas or fields in Maricopa and Pinal Counties, AZ, and Archer, Baylor, Knox, McCulloch, San Saba, Throckmorton, and Young Counties, TX, from the list of regulated areas based on our determination that those fields or areas meet our criteria for release from regulation. This action is necessary to relieve restrictions that are no longer necessary.

We are proposing to amend the fruits and vegetables regulations to allow the importation into the continental United States of mangoes from India under certain conditions. As a condition of entry, the mangoes would have to undergo irradiation treatment and be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate with additional declarations providing specific information regarding the treatment and inspection of the mangoes and the orchards in which they were grown. In addition, the mangoes would be subject to inspection at the port of first arrival. This action would allow for the importation of mangoes from India into the continental United States while continuing to provide protection against the introduction of quarantine pests.