The Kansas agricultural law has their state covered from pest infestation coming from other states since 1907 and that includes the recent Mediterranean fruit fly plague in California, even if the latter did not pose a threat of going out of their territory. The pestilence was not in the marketing fruit growing part of California when this happened, so transporting of maggot infested fruits into Kansas was not expected. The flies will not be able to inflict any harm should they reach the state because they would be dead even before they could start damaging.
It will be a miracle to find a single Mediterranean fruit fly that has outlived the Kansas winter. The US has had other pestering made by Mediterranean fruit flies in the past and this incident in California was not the first. Florida experienced it in 1929, 1930, 1956, 1958 and 1963 and so did Texas and California in 1966 and 1975 and 1976, respectively. The usual remedy in the past includes a combination of Malathion insecticide, traps, inducement and release of sterile male insects.
A national reminder was given regarding the mutual recognition with the United States Department of Agriculture which relays the items on the agreed plan to be followed by the state and its officials in the event of these emergencies. More personnel are being summoned to trap the insects for eradication in accordance to a calamity federal rule currently in place. Annihilation techniques included catching in identified areas that have been affected and nearby areas, releasing of sterile male flies to lessen the population and aerosol spraying of Malathion to exterminate the population.
The government has a means of weighing the benefits versus the dangers of segregation if ever it will be thought as the next resort. The program they are looking for should be financially possible and potent and fast enough to exterminate the insects before they start spreading. There needs to be a public hearing before a country wide or statewide quarantine can be established. Any fruit that will be exported from the state should undergo fumigation, be treated with cold as specified and have certification for both processes or be certified as being grown from an unaffected area.
The Kansas plant pest act states that it is illegal for anyone to violate the terms of a federal quarantine and the state can prosecute persons who bring quarantined articles into the state in violation of the quarantine. Any pest damaging to Kansas is being screened by the entomology division. The pests out of state that are unhealthy are the ones entomologist strive to catch and the list includes gypsy moth, Japanese beetle, soybean cyst nematode and witch weed which al all not found in Kansas.
Other states should also be alert about the pests that could come from Kansas. All Kansas corn and sorghum grain should be antisepticised before entering California because Kansas has cases of European corn borers and California does not. Kansas apples need curing prior to transport to California because of the incidences of plumb curculio and apple maggot. All states have regulations designed to keep pests from moving from one area to another, as do other countries which require the Kansas state board of agriculture to certify grain shipments from Kansas free from certain pests before they can be exported.