The emerald ash borer (Agrilus plantipenis) kills ash trees by chewing through xylem and phloem tissues as larvae.WIKIMEDIA, USDATreating wooden packing materials, such as pallets and crates, with heat or pesticides can slow the spread of insect pests such as the emerald ask borer and is economical, according to new analyses of international standards that govern such preventive treatments.
Infestation rates of bark- and wood-boring insects in wooden packing materials decreased by up to 52 percent from 2003 to 2009 after the implementation of International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures No. 15 (ISPM15) in 2005-2006, according to study that came out earlier this month (May 14) in PLOS ONE. ISPM15 mandates that all wooden packing materials that are more than 6 millimeters thick and being shipped between 70 signatory countries (including the U.S.) be debarked and then heated or fumigated with methyl bromide.
Writing in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, an international team led by investigators at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, calculated the economic benefit of the expensive preventive measure, claiming that even though ISPM15 costs about $1.50 per pallet, the practice could ...
