see also: in August 2007 News Releases:   Border Patrol Agents Seize Drugs at California Checkpoint   Palm Beach, Fla. Welcomes New Tool in Fighting Terror Weapons   Drug Seizure Activity at Border Ports Remains Brisk; El Paso CBP Nabs More Than 2 Tons of Pot   Yuma Border Agents Help Local Police Track 3 Fleeing Burglary Scene   CBP Officers at Laredo, Texas Entry Seize Almost $6 Million in Drugs in Two Seizures   Suspected Smuggling Lookouts Captured in Desert   1st Director of U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Northwest Retires ...more on cbp.gov:   CBP News Releases   Press Officers

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Los Angeles - The U.S. avoided the introduction of a dangerous new pest when alert CBP agriculture specialists at Los Angeles International Airport recently intercepted mealy bugs as well as two other foreign pests that hitched rides on imported plants and fresh cut flowers.

The mealy bug attacks plants, especially citrus trees.

“These pests have never been seen in the Continental United States,” said Director of Los Angeles Field Operations for Customs and Border Protection Kevin Weeks. “CBP agriculture specialists provide a significant service to our country by protecting our borders from not only threats to our agriculture, but also from chemical and biological terrorism.”

On July 19, a LAX CBP agriculture specialist examined a shipment of 242 pounds of plantain leaves and fernaldina from Guatemala. Plantain is a type of banana generally used in cooking. Fernaldia, commonly named loroco, is a species of flower used in Central American cooking. During inspection the agriculture specialist discovered an insect pest on the loroco leaves.

The importer, a Commerce, Calif., food distributor, was given the choice of destroying the shipment or exporting it back to Guatemala. Opting for destruction, the shipment was destroyed under CBP supervision on July 25. On August 1, an entomologist confirmed to CBP that the insect was a mealy bug, discovered for the first time in the Continental U.S.

CBP’s Area Port Director for LAX Kevin McAleenan said, “I commend the vigilance of our agriculture specialists. If these bugs infested mainland America’s crops the cost to the U.S. economy would be in the billions of dollars.”

Two more pests were also intercepted by LAX CBP agriculture specialists on July 19. The Pseudococcus eucalypticus, an insect that attacks a wide variety of plants, such as Myrtles, and Contarinia or Diptera, commonly called gall midge, which have been known to attack young crop plants causing widespread damage. Both shipments of fresh cut flowers arrived from Australia.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control, and protection of our Nation's borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.