Government Mistakes
Spread Wheat Disease

PHOENIX —(AP)— Wheat growers in Arizona have been trying to cope with a federal quarantine of their crop for three years, and the government just made their hardship worse.

The quarantine restricting the shipment of Arizona wheat was imposed after Karnal bunt was found in some of that state's fields. The fungus is not harmful to humans, but it can reduce yield and give wheat a fishy odor.

The quarantine was bad enough. Now the state's wheat industry has learned that, as a result of the government testing program, seeds carrying Karnal bunt spores may have gone to fields free of the fungus.

An embarrassed Arizona Department of Agriculture said Thursday that its lab since October has improperly tested some 232 tons of wheat seeds, potentially fouling fields in southern Arizona.

``We are not pleased that our staff apparently misused filtering equipment and we are working to ensure this is an isolated incident,'' said Sheldon R. Jones, the department's director.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which mandated the quarantine, is now scrambling to figure out where the seeds were planted. Farmers are being warned their spring harvest could face stringent testing and analysis.

The federal agency supplied the filters, but mislabeled them, said Lloyd Brown, spokesman for the Arizona agriculture department.

Larry Jarnagian, president of the Arizona Wheat Growers Association, said the mistake demonstrates the mismanagement of a program that has also quarantined some wheat in California, New Mexico and Texas, costing millions of dollars.

``It's really depressing, frustrating and confusing,'' he said. ``They impose this quarantine and they can't even do the test properly. Where's the credibility?''

The USDA said Friday it's investigating the mistake and whether the agency itself was responsible for mislabeling the filters. The agency also said the Arizona lab will face an internal review of its procedures.

Since the Arizona quarantine was imposed in 1996, it has been gradually scaled back from the entire state to just two counties, said USDA spokesman Larry Hawkins.