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Pineapple Pest Debuts At Long Beach, L.A. Ports

LOS ANGELES (CBS/AP) — Southern California, meet the latest pest to threaten our local ports.

Federal agriculture inspectors at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have found a destructive pest in a shipment of pineapples that's never been seen before in the United States.

The U.S. Customers and Border Protection said Wednesday that the variety of leafhopper found late last month from Costa Rica can cause severe damage to such crops as grapes, potatoes, soybeans and corn.

The insect was the second first-in-the-nation pest that inspectors at the Southern California port complex have found in the last two months. Crews there found a type of aphid in late June.

(TM and © Copyright 2010 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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