International seed alert!!

Wait till you hear what I heard on Saturday. Heading home after a wee day out, eating chips and listening to Radio 4, when there was  a piece about strange packets of seeds being sent to people in the post, with what seemed like Chinese writing on them, and what seemed like cucumber/courgette/sunflower seeds in them. No invoice or details in the packets, no instructions or any idea where they had come from.  When the recipient looked into it further, she realised that many others were also receiving strange seed packets in the post from around the UK, but also around Europe, and in the USA and Canada. A big operation-but what is it all about? How intriguing!!

So...she checked around and was advised that there is a chief plant officer in the UK, Professor Nicola Spence, and that she has been requesting the seeds are sent to her department to be tested. Their department is very aware of what is happening and their role is to prevent any bio-security risk. They have been sent over 100 packets of seeds to date, and can check them through DNA analysis, testing their species, origins and if there is any evidence of pests, disease or an invasive species. 

This is a whole new world of the possibility of plants to me. I have always considered how plants can benefit us through bringing us food, beauty, medicines, but of course they can also be used for ulterior motives as well. 

On the bright-ish side, it seems as though the strongest probability is that the seeds are being sent as part of a 'brushing' scam where sellers set up accounts in online sales in someone else's name and sell low value product. They use that account then, to write a fake review of the seller to improve their ratings. Not an admirable motive, but better than an international bio-security threat. 

So, if you get a strange packet of seeds in the post, with a label of 'stud earrings' on it, DON'T plant the seeds but send them to planthealth.info@apho.gov.uk. Who knew...?!