US biosecurity and homeland security

Reading through a US story about federal farm programmes, (hat tip: Parapundit) I came across the following comment on biosecurity issues from democrat politician Dennis Cardoza:

After the Sept. 11 attacks, screening duties were taken away from the Department of Agriculture and given to the new Department of Homeland Security.

But Rep. Dennis Cardoza, a California Democrat, says Homeland Security inspectors weren’t really focused on things like infiltrating insect species.

“The transfer to Homeland Security was a disaster,” he says. “Homeland Security was only looking for two-legged terrorists, not six-legged terrorists. The management of the program under the new department has been abysmal.”

This farm bill would give inspection duties back to USDA.

Here in New Zealand, there are also concerns that due to underfunding, Biosecurity NZ is not being pro-active enough in containing introduced pests such as Didymo algae and the Varroa bea mite.

Biosecurity issues are a major concern from a labour conservation perspective, because the containment or illumination of introduced pests and diseases absorbs considerable amounts of government resources that could be spent in other areas like promoting labour saving technology or improving transport infrastructure.

Robots at the pump

Filling your own tank at the petrol station, is not usually a big issue, but it can be a real pain if you spill fuel over your best suit or dress on the way to a pressing engagement.

However, a group in inventors in the Netherlands has come with a design for a robotic service pump, that saves you the trouble of getting your hands dirty.

The idea for the design apparently came from seeing robots used in robotic milking systems. The Netherlands is incidently, is one of the world’s biggest users of robotic milking technology.