Siberian Seed
CRAIG HOLLINGSWORTH (chollingsworth@coopext.umass.edu)
Fri, 14 Jan 1994 10:00:10 -0500 (EST)
Forwarded message:
> From daemon Fri Jan 14 09:44:03 1994
> Date: Fri, 14 Jan 1994 09:44:02 -0500
> From: Mail Delivery Subsystem <MAILER-DAEMON>
> e
>
> --JAA27068.758558642/titan.ucs.umass.edu
>
) by titan.ucs.umass.edu (8.6.4/8.6.4) id JAA27063; Fri, 14 Jan 1994 09:43:59 -0500
> Fromm: CRAIG HOLLINGSWORTH <thrips>
> >
> > Thee following message arrived this week.---------- Forwarded message ----------
> > Date: Wed, 12 Jan 94 15:05:52 +0800
> > From: "Victor Ya.Kuzevanov" <vic@bogard.irkutsk.su>
> > To: hydro@Hawg.Stanford.EDU
> > Subject: Look for seeds
> >
> > Dear friends, Subscribers of Hydroponics!
> >
> > May I ask you to send me small samples of different american seeds
> > (flowers, vegetables, ornamental, tropical, etc) to be planted
> > in Siberian region near famous Lake Baikal at the territory of
> > Irkutsk Botanic Garden. We are going to establish new exposition
> > of the plants from all over the world for further introduction in
> > Siberia.
> > Also, I'm looking for addresses of Seed Companies or persons
> > interested in seed exchange.
> > Thank you in advance,
> >
> > Victor
> >
> > Dr.Victor Ya.Kuzevanov, Director
> > Botanic Garden of the Irkutsk State University
> > Koltsov Street, 93
> > P.O.Box 1457, Irkutsk
> > 664039, RUSSIA
> >
> > Phone: 7-(3952)-435836
> > Fax: 7-095-4202106(International) or 7-3952-332238(Local)
> > Telex: 231511 PTB SU Attention IGU KUZEVANOV
> > Email: vic@bogard.irkutsk.su
> >
> > IWe understand the good intentiions of Dr. Ya.Kuzevanov, I THINK THAT THIS
> IS ABBAD IDEA.. In the United States, our most important insect, disease and
> weed pests have been imported from foreign countries. Chestnut blight, Dutch
> Elm Disease, Japanese Beetle, European Corn Borer, Potato Late Blight and
> Gypsy Moth havve been brought to this country unintentionally (or intentionally)
> and have caused significant crop loss and have resulted in millions of pounds
> of PESTICIDE used to control them.
> This year, a new strain of fusarium was imported on basil SEED from Italy. It
> has since established itself in the soil, requiring more PESTICIDE use to
> control it as well as the loss of the basil crop for farmers in Massachsuetts,
> Florida, California and Colorado (where, up to now this strain has been identi-
> fied.
>
> In this country, we have the USDA Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service
> (APHIS) to inspect imported seed. This system ain't perfect (see above), but
> it does catch an awful lot of stuff that should not be entering the country.
> It does our agriculture NO GOOD when people smuggle the "interesting" plant
> variety when they visit abroad. The system completely fall apart when plant
> parts are mailed, as APHIS has no inspection system for the mails.
>
> I have some respect for our inspection system, and serve APHIS as a pest
> survey coordinator in Massachusetts (recently we have been concerned with
> new bark beetles and the hemlock woolly adelgid - an import that is
> spreading through the Northeastern States, killing hemlock trees). If I
> respect our work to keep pests out, I should also respect the needs of other
> countries to keep our AMERICAN (and now, our "naturallized") pests out of
> other countries.
>
> I am particularly wary of the term "seed exchange". Now that we have
> electronic communications, we have the ability to accelerate the rate
> of pest movement throughout the world. As many people have discussed the
> misuse of modern technology, especially in the context of bioenginerring
> and pesticides, shouldn't we also be concerned that this amazing
> electronic communication can be misused by encouraging the movement of pests?
> >
> --
> CRAIG HOLLINGSWORTH
> INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT SPECIALIST
> DEPARTMENT OF ENTOMOLOGY
> BOX 30210 PHONE: (413)545-1055
> UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS FAX: (413)545-5858
> AMHERST MA 01003-0210 Email: chollingsworth@coopext.umass.edu
>
> --JAA27068.758558642/titan.ucs.umass.edu--
>
>
--
CRAIG HOLLINGSWORTH
INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT SPECIALIST
DEPARTMENT OF ENTOMOLOGY
BOX 30210 PHONE: (413)545-1055
UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS FAX: (413)545-5858
AMHERST MA 01003-0210 Email: chollingsworth@coopext.umass.edu