[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 92 (Thursday, June 20, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1126]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         CITRUS TRISTEZA VIRUS

                                 ______


                            HON. FRANK RIGGS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 19, 1996

  Mr. RIGGS. Mr. Speaker, northern California, with its benign 
temperature, is home to many agricultural products, including grapes, 
stone fruits, vegetables, and citrus. California has 275,000 acres in 
citrus groves. Roughly 30,000 to 35,000 people are employed in the 
citrus industry, which means ontree revenues of $546.3 million for the 
State of California. However, if the brown citrus aphid intrudes into 
our groves, everything we worked so hard for will be lost.
  The brown citrus aphid is the carrier for the citrus tristeza virus 
or CTV. CTV is a very destructive disease that has already killed over 
40 million trees worldwide and is projected to destroy 180 million 
citrus trees on citrus tristeza virus-sensitive sour orange rootstock 
in the United States, Mexico, the Caribbean, and other parts of North 
America. If there is even one strain of the CTV in the rootstock, it 
will debilitate the trees and will produce extremely low quantities of 
fruit. If the quantity of citrus decreases, it means millions of 
dollars in revenue lost for the State of California.
  My colleagues in Arizona, Flordia, Louisiana, and Texas share 
California's understanding of the importance of the threat presented by 
the brown citrus aphid. If not controlled, the disease will escalate 
and will affect the U.S. citrus industry, possibly eliminating the 
United States as a major supplier of fresh fruit and juice concentrate 
in the world.
  Congress has already made a commitment to fight the citrus tristeza 
virus in the fiscal year 1996 and fiscal year 1997 Agricultural 
appropriations bills with a $500,000 special research grant. However, I 
believe more needs to be done. The farm bill, passed earlier this year, 
created a $3 million cooperative national research initiative to 
control the citrus tristeza virus and the brown citrus aphid. The 
program would entail new research and develop technologies needed to 
manage the disease, provide environmentally and energy-efficient 
control measures, and reduce the economic losses due to the diseases 
caused by the CTV. Unfortunately it was not possible to fund the 
research initiative in this year's appropriations bill. However, if 
additional monies become available to the committee, I will work to 
ensure that the CTV research initiative is given strong consideration 
for funding.

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