Lemons Caught In a Squeeze

Incident Pits Security vs. Free Flow of Trade

Ricardo Martin, co-owner of Pampa Store, a fruit export company based in Buenos Aires, wants to be compensated for the lemons he lost. (Fabricio Di Dio For The Washington Post)

Who would accuse innocent fruit of harboring weapons of mass destruction?

That is one of many questions surrounding the incineration last month of about 1 million Argentine lemons, which the U.S. Coast Guard intercepted aboard a New Jersey-bound container ship after an anonymous e-mail alleged that they were laced with a biological agent.

The allegation triggered the biggest test to date of the readiness of U.S. ports to cope with terrorist threats, but has also prompted unease about whether the country's hair-trigger response might affect the flow of trade.

The Coast Guard interdicted the ship, carrying the $70,000 worth of lemons and millions of dollars worth of other goods as well, and held it 11 miles offshore for a week. The five containers holding the lemons were frozen to dampen the spread of any potential toxins, and examined to see whether they were leaking anything dangerous. The tests were negative, but once the ship was allowed to dock, U.S. officials ordered the lemons destroyed -- both as a final precaution and because the fruit at that point was ruined anyway.

A month later, the incident has left a sour taste. Argentine officials feel slighted at the way they were kept out of the loop, critics are second-guessing the Coast Guard's actions, and the businessmen involved -- who were feuding over the shipment already -- are pointing fingers at each other over who sent the e-mail.

Ricardo Martin, the Buenos Aires fruit exporter who shipped the lemons to a buyer in Montreal, is expecting compensation for what he says are crippling losses to his small company. Along with many others familiar with the case, he wonders about the broader implications for global commerce in a post-Sept. 11 world.

"You know, this could be a new way to harm your competitors," Martin said. "I know that someone is bringing in [goods] at a lower price, I'm just going to start saying, 'Watch out, there's something bad with these containers,' and have them stopped."

Beyond Martin's complaints, there is debate about the way a plethora of federal, state and local agencies reacted -- or as some contend, overreacted -- in one of the first incidents of this kind.

The shipping industry, as well as some of the officials involved, question why the Coast Guard kept the ship at sea for a week, delaying delivery of millions of dollars worth of other merchandise. In Argentina, where the press has dubbed the case "Lemon-gate," government officials are indignant they weren't informed about the alleged threat until media reports of a Coast Guard news conference on Aug. 6.

Shouldn't they be notified at once, they ask, of allegations that biological weapons are being deployed from their nation's ports?