ARTICLE
TITLE

Phytosanitary irradiation: An overview

SUMMARY

This special issue of Florida Entomologist presents the accomplishments of the Coordinated Research Project (CRP): “Development of Generic Irradiation Doses for Quarantine Treatments” of the Joint Food and Agricultural Organization/International Atomic Energy Agency Programme on Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture. The overarching objective was to develop generic phytosanitary irradiation (PI) treatments for groups of regulated phytosanitary pest species. Generic treatments are applicable to groups of regulated pest species although directly relevant research has been done on only a fraction of them. Good research practices were instilled in the participants to avoid problems that occurred with previous research, such as inadequate dosimetry, use of artificial infestation techniques without comparison to real-world situations, poor performance by the non-irradiated controls, and lack of large-scale confirmatory testing. New data was generated on 34 species in 10 families of insects, 3 families of mites and 1 family of snails. Several large-scale confirmatory tests were done supporting PI doses with the high degree of confidence necessary to gain regulatory approval of the treatments. Several new generic doses are supported by these articles, including generic doses for Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies), Pseudococcidae (mealybugs), and Curculionidae (weevils). ResumenEsta publicación especial de la Florida Entomologist presenta los logros del Proyecto Coordinado de Investigación (PCI): “Desarrollo de Dosis Genéricas de Irradiación para Tratamientos de Cuarentena” del Programa Junto de la Organización de Alimentos y Agricultura/ Organismo Internacional de la Energía Atómica sobre las Técnicas Nucleares en la Alimentación y la Agricultura. El objetivo fundamental fue desarrollar tratamientos genéricos fitosanitarios de irradiación (FI) para grupos de especies de plagas fitosanitarias regulados. Los tratamientos genéricos son aplicables a los grupos de especies de plagas reguladas aunque las investigaciones específicas pertinentes se ha hecho solamente para una fracción de ellos. Se inculcaron las buenas prácticas de investigación en los participantes para evitar los problemas que se produjeron con la investigación previa, como la dosimetría inadecuada, el uso de técnicas de infestación artificial y sin comparación con situaciones del mundo real, los malos resultados de los controles no irradiados, y la falta de una escala mayor de pruebas de confirmación. Se generaron nuevos datos sobre 34 especies en 10 familias de insectos, 3 familias de ácaros y una familia de caracol. Se realizaron varias pruebas confirmatorias a mayor escala que apoyaron la dosis FI con el alto grado de confianza necesario para obtener la aprobación reglamentaria de los tratamientos. Varias nuevas dosis genéricas son apoyadas por estos artículos, incluyendo las dosis genéricas para los Lepidoptera (mariposas y polillas), Pseudococcidae (cochinillas), y Curculionidae (gorgojos).

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