The strained negotiations between Japan and USA with the most destructive disease of apples and pears, called "Fire blight"

Fire blight has been known as the most destructive disease of apples and pears for over 200 years. The disease is caused by the bacterium Erwinia amylovora, which is capable of infecting blossoms, fruits, vegetative shoots, woody tissues, and rootstock crowns. The disease was restricted to North America. It spread to the West with the settlers and by the early 1900s it established itself as a serious threat in all areas where apples and particularly pears were grown. Outside North America, fire blight was first reported in New Zealand in 1919. The next report was in England in 1957. The disease has spread through much of Europe and the Mediterranean areas, causing serious losses to pome fruits and rosaceous ornamentals. In countries where the pathogen has not yet been found, strict quarantines have been established against the import of plant materials that may harbor it. Controlling fire blight is difficult, expensive, and not totally effective. Still now fire blight is spreading over the world except for Japan and East Asia. Streptmycin is used for the pest control. But, streptmycin-resistant strains of E. amylovora have developed in the USA, reducing the effectiveness of streptmycin. The annual losses due to fire blight, together with the costs of controlling it in the USA are estimated at over $ 100 million. This paper focuses on the strained negotiations between Japan and the USA concerning the quarantine methods against the apple disease "Fire blight" within the WTO framework. Japan had interdicted importing apples from the USA until 1993 because of fire blight. In 1994 Japan removed the ban on importing two kinds of apples from the USA submitting to the strong pressure imposed by that country. Since then Japan and the USA negotiated about the quarantine methods against the apple disease within the WTO framework. After many negotiations Japan has been defeated in the WTO dicisions last summer. However, I have a serious doubt whether Japanese Government has decided on wise quarantine methods against the apple disease "Fire blight".