Feb. 14, 2022

The United States has suspended avocado imports from Mexico as a result of a U.S. plant security inspector in Mexico was threatened, The Associated Press reported.

The suspension began Saturday after the inspector was threatened in Michoacán, the one Mexican state approved to export avocados to the United States. 

“U.S. health authorities … made the decision after one of their officials, who was carrying out inspections in Uruapan, Michoacán, received a threatening message on his official cellphone,” Mexico’s Agriculture Department wrote, based on The Associated Press.

The U.S. inspects Mexican avocados to verify they don’t carry illnesses over the border that would damage U.S. crops. The inspectors work for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services.

It’s unclear how lengthy the suspension may final. The U.S. Embassy confirmed the ban on imports, saying on Twitter, “We are working with the Mexican government to guarantee security conditions that would allow our personnel in Michoacán to resume operations,” The Associated Press mentioned.

Mexico promotes avocados and guacamole for the Super Bowl, however the avocados used for that Sunday sport had been shipped earlier than the suspension.

Avocado growers in Mexico have been focused by drug cartels. After the same incident in 2019, the United States advised Mexico it would droop the import program if inspectors’ security couldn’t be ensured, The Associated Press mentioned.

On Monday, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador mentioned the suspension was a conspiracy towards Mexico by political and financial pursuits, The Associated Press reported.

“In all of this there are also a lot of political interests and political interests, there is competition; they don’t want Mexican avocados to get into the United States, right, because it would rule in the United States because of its quality,” López Obrador mentioned.

“There are other countries that are interested in selling avocados, as in the case of other farm products, so they lobby, they look for senators, professional public (relations) people and agencies, to put up obstacles.”

About 90% of avocado imports to the U.S. come from Mexico, the Associated Press mentioned, with the U.S. rising about half the avocados it consumes

The Avocado Institute of Mexico says that U.S. per capita consumption of avocados elevated from 1.5 kilos to 7.5 kilos from 1998 to 2017.

The post U.S. Suspends Avocado Imports From Mexico appeared first on Healthy and Slim Life.

Feb. 8, 2022

Mexico has changed China because the “dominant source” of fentanyl and artificial opioids coming into the United States, a brand new authorities report says.

From 2014 till 2019, most pure fentanyl that U.S. authorities seized got here from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), mentioned the report from the Commission on Combating Synthetic Opioid Trafficking.

“Since then, the dominant source of illegally sourced fentanyl has been Mexico,” the report says. “The drug is manufactured in illegal laboratories there using precursors from Asia — mainly the PRC — and is trafficked principally by land into the United States.”

Fentanyl is smuggled throughout the U.S.-Mexico border in packages, autos, and on individuals, the report says. Because the drug is so highly effective, “It is difficult to interdict given that just a small physical amount of this potent drug is enough to satisfy U.S. demand, making it highly profitable for traffickers and dealers,” the report says.

Fentanyl is a robust artificial opioid that’s prescribed to deal with extreme ache. However, folks misuse it due to its capacity to supply a potent excessive and emotions of euphoria.

The fee is a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers, consultants and officers from federal departments and companies.

In a troubling be aware, the report mentioned Mexican drug cartels generally manufacture the drug in counterfeit tablets with model names similar to Adderall and Xanax, which means some individuals who eat fentanyl usually are not initially in search of it.

About 100,000 Americans overdosed and died throughout a latest 12-month interval, principally due to fentanyl and comparable artificial medication, says a letter included with the report from U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and U.S. Rep. David Trone of Maryland.

“The overdose crisis in the United States claims more lives each year than firearms, suicide, homicide, or motor vehicle crashes. This is one of our most-pressing national security, law enforcement, and public health challenges, and we must do more as a nation and a government to protect our most precious resource ― American lives,” the letter says.

The report makes suggestions for the U.S. to scale back the movement of fentanyl.

• Elevate the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy within the Executive Office to a cabinet-level place.
• Disrupt drug provide by way of focused oversight and enforcement, similar to providing federal grants to regulation enforcement companies to swiftly examine drug overdoses.
• Use public well being companies to teach the general public and scale back demand.
• Collaborate with international locations concerned within the manufacturing and distribution of artificial opioids.
• Improve surveillance and knowledge evaluation to permit for more-timely and interventions.

The Commission on Combating Synthetic Opioid Trafficking is a bipartisan group of lawmakers and officers from federal departments and companies.

In 2017, then-President Trump declare the opioid disaster a nationwide emergency.

The post Mexico Major Source of Fentanyl Entering U.S., Report Says appeared first on Healthy and Slim Life.