David B Lord

Florida's Citrus Canker Epidemic David B Lord

This is the only book that presents the full story of the epidemic and the failed attempt to eradicate the disease from Florida. Florida declared war on citrus canker, a bacterial disease, and spent 1.3 billion dollars and destroyed 16.5 million trees, between 1995 to 2006. In the end, the disease won. It is still present in Florida. The book describes the prior attempts at eradication, the opposition to the program and legal issues. Finally, the epidemiology research leading to the implementation of a highly aggressive program (1900-ft policy) where every citrus tree within 1900-ft of an infected tree, is thoroughly reviewed. It is determined that the Florida Department of Agriculture mislead the residents of Florida into believing that the program was based on a field study in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was not true and the true origins of the 1900-ft policy are revealed in this book. The "Pieces of the Puzzle" come together at the end, with a new explanation of the origins of the 1900-ft policy and the pattern of the outbreak as it developed.