Egg finds spark early check call

All imported used cars should be inspected for pests such as the gypsy moth at foreign ports, say forest-owners and environmentalists.

Quarantine officers have found two sets of gypsy moth eggs on vehicles imported from Japan in the past month.

Eggs were found at Port Nelson last Friday and an inspector found eggs at Lyttelton, near Christchurch, late last month.

The gypsy moth, which is already in the North Island, poses a multimillion-dollar threat to forestry and horticulture.

Forest Owners Association chief executive Rob McLagan said yesterday that every imported used vehicle should be inspected at its port of origin for pests.

Only about 40 per cent of vehicles entering New Zealand were checked in this way at present, he said.

"We would strongly recommend that MAF [Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry] introduce that as their standard policy and that importers should carry the cost."

Mr McLagan said if the Asian gypsy moth became established it would have "a very serious effect on our forest industry".

"And it's not only commercial forestry that will be affected.

"These pests are not fussy about what they eat ... it will also be the parks and the reserves and private gardens."

If the moth was to become established in New Zealand, damage to forests and the costs of eradication or containment could run into hundreds of millions of dollars, he said.

The Government is spending tens of millions of dollars on controversial spraying campaigns to eliminate the gypsy moth from Hamilton, where a single moth was found, and the painted apple moth from Auckland.

Mr McLagan said recent finds of gypsy moth eggs showed that New Zealand MAF inspectors were doing a good job.

However, inspecting vehicles at their point of origin would provide another line of defence against pests.

Forest and Bird biosecurity spokesman Geoff Keey said allowing used vehicles to arrive unchecked was in essence a subsidy to importers.

Taxpayers, rather than importers, were bearing the cost of battling the moth.

"And it's not just the gypsy moth. All sorts of pests can come in on used cars as they have so many nooks and crannies where they can hide."

In recent times exotic mosquitoes had also come in on imported used vehicles, he said.

MAF forest biosecurity director Peter Thomson said that although 40 per cent of used vehicles were checked overseas, the ministry was confident local checks were sufficient to find any pests piggybacking into the country.

"The fact that we are finding these [gypsy moth] eggs in New Zealand shows the system is working," he said.

But Green MP Ian Ewen-Street said importing used vehicles, machinery and tyres that had not been inspected overseas exposed New Zealand to unnecessary risks.

"The present situation, where half of used cars are inspected here and the other half at the overseas source, is a disaster waiting to happen."

- NZPA