Comment from Gregory Weston

The proposed regulation should not be adopted for the following reasons: 1. There is no finding of a public benefit for importing female squash flowers. At the absolute best, there might be a slight decrease in price. 2. In contrast to the very small theoretic benefit, the risk to domestic agriculture is enormous. The consequences of the introduction of new insect pests would include reduced crop yields, fruit-fly-borne animal and plant diseases, increased pesticide economic costs, and increased pesticide health costs. 3. The proposal would impose an additional cost on the United States government for enforcing compliance with the regulation. 4. There is no provision for importers and farmers to pay a bond that would compensate domestic farmers for the harm that failure to abide by the procedures would entail.