News
Montreal Gazette - Imported fruit can harbour terrorists
Published: 30 April 2011
(Chemistry professor Joe Schwarcz): "Do you have any fruits or vegetables?" the U.S. customs agent asked. "Only my apple a day," I semi-jokingly replied. "I never go anywhere without it." "Well," came the serious reply, "you'll be going without it today!" Foreign apples, I was told, cannot be taken into the United States. Do Americans have some irrational fear of apples somehow being used by terrorists, I wondered?
In a sense, yes. But the fear isn't irrational. The "terrorists," however, are not of the human variety. They're innocent-looking little bugs. But they strike terror into the hearts of farmers. And their eggs can stow away aboard fruit鈥�"