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Import of plant from USA
michael adams wrote:
correction:subsitute "Brasier" for 2 instances of "Brewer"* "Mike Lyle" wrote in message ... (I hope you're using QuoteFix or something: my "interleaved" reply may otherwise be a bit inconvenient to follow.) I'm not one to fly into mindless conniptions about sudden oak death,[...etc...] I meant that. as has Professor Brasier of Forest Research and Imperial College. He reckons "We don't move large numbers of animals around the world for disease reasons, and we shouldn't do it for plants either." That's a very strange claim to make, IMO. a) Why should anyone want to move large numbers of animals around the world anyway ? Well, people do. E.g., live exports of lamb to the Middle East. I may be wrong, but I believe some of these come from as far afield as NZ. The main reasons why large numbers of animals aren't moved around the world is surely because of economics, practicality, and lack of demand. Certainly since the decline in zoos and circuses in Europe. So - b) Which particular species and breeds of animals is Professor Brasier suggesting are prevented from being moved around the world in large numbers for disease reasons? To the best of my inexpert knowledge, _all_ species are subject to strict import controls in _all_ developed nations with maritime frontiers. In the case of species thought likely to carry rabies, for example, these measures can be positively draconian. It's maybe worth bearing in mind that Professor Brewer*'s livelihood depends, among other things on convincing people of all these dangers. As professionals like himself are uniquely positioned to adjudicate on such matters should the need ever arise. Well, yes, to a point. I doubt if many microbiologists' livelihoods depend significantly on scaring people unnecessarily: that's generally the province of the more irresponsible journalists. I think once again of MRSA and MMR. ... Brasier, as I mentioned in another post, has just presented a paper on the subject at a DEFRA-backed RHS conference. He may be wrong; but that doesn't make the issue trivial, or liable to summary dismissal by minor verbal debating points. ... And so presumably in the interests of seriousness, and as an antidote to triviality it's thought preferable to make oblique references to " a paper", and cite vague Appeals to Authority by means of mentions of Professor Brasier, DEFRA, and the RHS, than it is to actually provide a link to the talk in question ? To wit - http://forests.org/articles/reader.asp?linkid=48617 That isn't the original, but only the _Independent_ article. See below. Maybe Professor Brewer *, who you appear to find yourself in agreement with, made a "minor verbal debating point" there himself, in the paper he gave to the DEFRA backed RHS conference, with his reference there to our "not moving large numbers of animals around the world for disease reasons" ? See comment above: I imagine you now see that comparison between the biosecurity regimes applying respectively to animals and plants is perfectly legitimate. You don't have to agree with any particular conclusion, but the comparison is legitimate. [...] I'm surprised and a little disappointed by what I take to be your tone here. I asked a question, at the same time making it explicit that I didn't know the answer. I used the expressions "I wonder if" and "perhaps minor risk". I didn't refer to the _Independent_ article, because newspaper pieces, even from "broadsheets", aren't first-hand evidence. I didn't have a reference to the original paper, and I still haven't found one. Here, though, from long before the conference, is a brief summary of his own and Brasier's positions from the Master of Katz Cambridge in the RHS's _Plantsman_: http://www.rhs.org.uk/learning/publi...05/opinion.asp _The Plantsman_ has never struck me as a particularly hysterical periodical. -- Mike. |
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