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CBP Ensures that Mother's Day Flowers are Pest Free
CBP Ensures that Mother's Day Flowers are Pest Free
With Mother's Day approaching, the importations of flowers increases dramatically. Customs and Border Protection Agriculture Specialists at the Luis Muņoz Marin (LMM) International Airport are working full drive inspecting plants and flowers that will be gifts to our love ones this weekend.
The LMM International Airport was among the five U.S. Ports that received the highest volume of imported flowers during the week prior to Mothers Day in 2007. The others being Miami, Los Angeles, JFK and Laredo. This adds up to a lot of flower to inspect.
These beautiful plants and flowers may appear to be harmless; however, there could be hidden threats that could seriously affect our agriculture, our natural resources and our economy. The CBP Agriculture Specialists and the CBP Officers at U.S. ports of entry and international mail facilities target, detect, intercept, and thereby prevent the entry of these potential threats before they have a chance to do any harm.
Over 11,000 boxes of flowers have been processed during the last week at the LMM Airport.
The flowers of choice have been roses and pompons for this season. The most common type of pest detected by the CBP Agriculture Specialist in San Juan during this week inspections are caterpillars that destroys crops and fruits. Infested plants are either treated prior to release or destroyed.
"CBP Agriculture Specialist are trained to detect these minuscule insects that can harm our environment", said Marcelino Borges, Director Field Operations. "We want to make sure that bouquets' are pest free prior to releasing to importers."
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