Scientific Opinion on a technical file submitted by the US Authorities to support a request to list a new option among the EU import requirements for wood of Agrilus planipennis host plants

This document presents the scientific opinion of the Panel on Plant Health on the technical file submitted by the US Authorities to support a request to list a new option among the EU import requirements for wood of Agrilus planipennis host plants. The option under consideration is a heat treatment at 60 °C for 60 min to eliminate possible infestations of the wood by the emerald ash borer (EAB). The experiments leading the US Authorities to propose this option are presented in a scientific peer reviewed publication, Myers et al. (2009). The analysis of the aggregated data published by Myers et al. (2009) and based on a Probit regression model showed that the proposed treatment cannot guarantee a control level of 99 % or higher. The analysis of the individual data either from the original measurements or from a corrected dataset, using a Probit regression model, showed that it is likely to observe one live EAB out of an infestation of 100 after the proposed heat treatment of 60 °C/60 min. To ensure a control level of 99 % the temperature of the heat treatment of 60 min should be higher than 70 °C. Results obtained with a Poisson log linear model based on individual data showed that the estimated probability that one insect or more per m2 survive the proposed heat treatment was higher than 0.6 and that there is a 0.1 probability that three insects or more per m2 survive the proposed heat treatment. Based on these results, the Panel concludes that A. planipennis is likely to survive the proposed heat treatment of 60 °C/60 min with a low uncertainty, and that the alternative option proposed in the technical file submitted by the US Authorities for wood does not guarantee the wood to be free of A. planipennis.