Protecting our economy and ecosystem: Detroit Metro Airport's battle against pests, diseases
(CBS DETROIT) - As holiday travel picks up, airport staff will be working overtime to protect us from threats. And that doesn't just include the X-rays and metal detectors. Some of our country's biggest threats can be the pests and diseases brought through luggage and cargo.
Recently, U.S. Customs and Border Protection at Detroit Metro Airport found an invasive Egyptian locust in a container coming from Italy. Bugs like that have the power to hurt the country's agriculture and cost consumers even more at the grocery store.
CBS News Detroit's Kelly Vaughen got a look behind the scenes in the basement of the airport at the agricultural lab, where so much unseen work is happening to protect our food supply.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection confiscated items passengers bring that belong to protected species, like monkey skulls and ivory tusks. They've also taken nests made from bird saliva and blood used in soup as a delicacy. Some nests cost around $2,000 but could also spread avian flu.
CBP has even taken a cryogenics container full of $150,000 worth of horse semen, which a passenger was trying to pass off as breast milk.
"We know better because we've seen this stuff before," said Jose Feliciano, Chief of Agriculture Operations for Customs and Border Protection at DTW.
Felician and his team inspect hundreds of bags every day, looking for illegal or toxic substances and for invasive species that could threaten our agriculture and natural resources, like drywall-eating giant African snails.
But some of the biggest threats are the tiniest. CBP recently found one of the most destructive bugs in the world in a bag of rice coming through the airport, a khapra beetle.
"It'll be catastrophic," said Feliciano.
The khapra beetle is the size of a pinhead and can do billions of dollars of damage to our stored grain and seed supply.
"And that translates into higher costs for imports and exports, cost to the consumer, cost of eradication, and sometimes higher taxes," said Feliciano.
Customs and border protection also inspects prohibited fruits, vegetables, and even raw meat passengers bring that pose disease risks.
While some try to sneak these banned items through, Feliciano said many are brought unintentionally, and passengers simply want a taste of home.
"When we take this stuff, we are very cognizant of the impact this can cause the person. We are taking something that is a gift, that is a piece of home," he said.
Feliciano said there is so much at stake. When you go to the store and shop without worry, that's because of the work done here by agricultural specialists.
