Seed Health Initiative
A seed health initiative proposal would provide for the accreditation of seed laboratories and seed companies to perform seed health laboratory and field testing to provide supporting documentation for issuing phytosanitary certificates. This concept of a laboratory accreditation system has merit, but several concerns must be met. First, a chain of custody for samples, including who, when, and how they are drawn, transported, and submitted should be established. Public laboratories should also receive accreditation with consideration given to cost, loss of public laboratory resources for working on minor crops and approval vs. accreditation. APHIS should maintain oversight authority over accredited laboratories. Consideration needs to be given to the types of laboratories that should be accredited, including concerns about conflicts of interest associated with private laboratories belonging to seed companies.
Finally, the availability of test data for plant pest officials’ inclusion in the National Agricultural Pest Information System database should be addressed.