Samoas

Of major importance to this new proposal is confirmation from Samoan authorities that the taro is pest free.

Consignments of taro for export to American Samoa following packing, inspection and certification require a phytosanitary certificate.

Taro imports to the territory were stopped last year due to an unidentified disease affecting taro in some parts of Samoa's Upolu.

At a meeting last week in Apia, Fuiavailili Egon Keil asked American Samoa to step up inspections of cargo and travelers transiting American Samoa to Samoa

Fuiavailili said it was his understanding that American Samoa only inspected cargo whose final destination was Pago Pago, but he said this needed to change.

As a researcher who has studied these phenomena in Samoans since 1976, Stephen McGarvey contributed extensive data on temporal trends to both reports and helped to write the diabetes paper. He also sees in the global data some of the same patterns he's seen play out in the Samoan islands.