A New Spotlight On Bugs

Frequent travellers to and from the Pacific islands should by now be familiar with quarantine rules as efforts continue to educate the general public on these aspects.

The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) actively promotes awareness in this area. It has launched a new educational inflight quarantine video for the Pacific Community's 22 member countries.

SPC assistant director-general Jimmie Rodgers said the video along with brochures outlining quarantine procedures tell travellers what kinds of products they can be carrying or which can be dangerous to the country they are going into. Fresh fruits and flowers are not allowed into most countries. Honey, rice, seeds, nuts, live animals and pet food are also prohibited.

Among the list of restricted items which must be declared are dairy and poultry products, dried fruits and vegetables, biscuit, cakes, confectioneries, cooked, frozen and uncooked food items among other things.

The launch coincided with the holiday season in which a lot of travelling was expected and which heightened the need for awareness of quarantine risk items.

The in-flight quarantine video highlights the rich biodiversity of the Pacific and emphasises its relative pest-free status. Travellers are asked to prevent the spread of new pests and diseases.

This educational programme is nothing new, said Rodgers.

It is a follow-up to previous successful campaigns on quarantine awareness. We are only continuing the education process. We have actually seen a very good response from the public.

For instance, we have received information from the New Zealand quarantine service that following a campaign we did in New Zealand in December 2002, there has been a 90 percent drop in the intervention of forbidden things going into New Zealand. "That's the kind of impact it has. And it shows the potential that if people know the right information, they will do the right thing." Also launched were brochures targetted at foreign diplomats relocating to the Pacific.

There is often a mistaken assumption that foreign diplomats baggage are exempt from quarantine inspection. "The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and Optional Protocols empowers national quarantine officials to conduct an inspection if there's strong grounds to believe that there may be quarantine items in the baggage," said Rodgers. The brochures and inflight videos will be distributed to major airlines and entry points in the 22 islands countries.