Lesson 3: Evaluating and Selecting Options

Topic 3: Evaluate Impacts of Measures

You must be aware that any phytosanitary actions may have far-reaching impacts. This topic will help you begin to think about all of the impacts your actions could have.

Objective:

Be able to identify the types of impacts associated with phytosanitary measures.

After evaluating a measure’s efficacy and feasibility, you must then determine the consequences of adopting the measure. That means identifying the direct and indirect impacts. It is important to remember that there may be both positive and negative impacts.

Some important impacts to consider include the following:

Social and environmental impacts. Even if a measure is very effective against a pest, it may not be desirable if its impacts on society and the environment are negative. For example, methyl bromide fumigation is a highly effective, relatively inexpensive measure that can be used against various pests. However, it depletes the ozone and is toxic to humans.
Efficacy against other quarantine pests. Often, a commodity is vulnerable to multiple pests. For example, a pest-free area and irradiation might be feasible against a particular fruit fly. If there are other pests of concern associated with the commodity, then irradiation might be the better choice.
Impact on trade. All factors being equal, countries have an obligation to choose the measure with the least impact on trade.
Impact on existing regulations. Comparing proposed mitigations to existing requirements will tell you whether an established regulation can be easily modified or must be completely changed.

Also remember that the distribution of impacts is another important consideration in evaluating measures. A measure should not negatively impact one trading partner more than the other.

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