May 15, 2001. Copyright 2001. Graphic News. All rights reserved.

Fresh menace threatens BritainÕs farmers

LONDON, May 15, Graphic News: Just as struggling British farmers thought the countryÕs foot-and-mouth epidemic was under control, a new threat is lurking -- the Colorado beetle, feared for its ability to munch through whole potato fields in a night.

The Agriculture Ministry has put Britain on alert for the beetles, issuing guidelines for dealing with the distinctive yellow-and-black striped pests.

A ministry spokesman said the effects of climate change could see the area of the UK in which the beetle could survive doubling with East Anglia and the South East becoming new breeding grounds for the 8-10mm-long insects.

ÒPeople travelling from the European mainland should check cars and luggage,Ó a ministry spokeswoman said on Tuesday. ÒA breeding colony of beetles could be established by a single female beetle escaping detention.Ó

The Colorado beetle, or Leptinotarsa decemlineata, is classed as Òa notifiable quarantine pest,Ó whose introduction is prohibited under EC regulations. 

The beetle was eradicated in Britain in 1977, but in recent years Colorado beetles have been intercepted on a wide range of plant produce -- including parsley from Italy, salad produce from France and Spain and on potatoes from a number of other countries.

Warning posters will appear outside police stations, especially in potato growing areas of Lincolnshire, Yorkshire and Lancashire in central and northern England.

MAFF warns: ÒAnyone who thinks they have found a Colorado beetle, alive or dead, should put it in a sealed container and take it to the nearest police station or local Maff office, together with any packaging material in which it was found.Ó

In addition to the black and yellow striped beetles, officials are urging farmers to be on the look out for potato leaves that have been roughly torn and stripped away or stained by the beetlesÕ oily-black excrement; other signs include orange-brown larvae, or grubs, which have legs and can move around on potato crops

Almost three months after foot-and-mouth disease broke out in Britain the government has gradually begun lifting restrictions on areas affected. Farmers have been hit hard by the disease as more than 2,653,000 animals have been slaughtered since February 20 to try to contain the epidemic.
/ENDS
Sources: Reuters, MAFF