Was it really an eradication that the MDA Ordered?

Updated April 2, 2005

What the MDA proposed to do under that order does not sound like an eradication. In fact what he proposed to do was what is sometimes called a repression and control. The preamble of Act 72 states "AN ACT to prevent . . .the spread within the state, of all serious insect pests and to provide for their repression and control . ." and Section 5 of that act gives the Department of Agriculture the power to enter upon premises and to cause any trees likely to be attacked which are growing within 3,000 feet of where the dangerous insect has been found, to be treated with approved remedies, or if this is not feasible, to be destroyed. That sounds very much like what the MDA ordered in the Determination, however, we think he may have chosen to call it an eradication and pretend like it was covered under Act 189 so he could ignore some of the provisions of Act 72. Either he made a mistake or he didn't know that there was a difference between "eradication" and "repression and control." In either case he certainly should fix his mistake.