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posted by janrinok on Monday February 26 2018, @05:58PM   Printer-friendly
from the blooming-ridiculous dept.

Last year, Australian bureaucrats facilitated the destruction of a priceless, irreplaceable, scientific collection of plant materials on loan to their country's scientists from France. Apparently the actual destruction was carried out by an "external contractor", but that in no way absolves the bureaucracy.

Jeanson had received a message from the director of the Queensland Herbarium in Australia that was abrupt to the point of being blunt. It told him that a package of 105 botanical specimens of Australian plants owned by the Jardin des Plantes – and gathered by an intrepid French botanist more than 200 years earlier – had been destroyed by Australian biosecurity officials.

To this day, Jeanson can't quite believe what happened, and nor can scientists and museum directors from around the world who have followed the story with horror.

The specimens were both priceless and irreplaceable. How could anyone, let alone government officials, incinerate such artefacts? It was simply beyond Jeanson's comprehension. It remains so, even after post-mortems and investigations conducted in both countries, by scientists and bureaucrats, after diplomats stepped in and compensation negotiations were undertaken.

The specimens destroyed were part of the catalog of the world's plants and were a part of a base for pharmacy, agriculture, and any kind of science based on plants.

Source : 'Would you burn the Mona Lisa if it was sent?': Our horror bureaucratic bungle


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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by PartTimeZombie on Monday February 26 2018, @09:02PM (9 children)

    by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Monday February 26 2018, @09:02PM (#644191)

    The policy had nothing to do with Australian politicians, they would not have been notified, as this would be an entirely operational matter.

    It might be hard for people living outside the Antipodes to understand, but we guard our biosecurity very jealously here, as we depend very heavily on agricultural exports and we don't have many of the plant and animal diseases endemic to the northern hemisphere.

    When you fly into Australia, (or New Zealand) you will be warned very strongly against bringing any food or other plant or animal products with you.

    If you try, you will be caught and fined $300 or more.

    I am not defending the indefensible here, just explaining that there is a different mindset here, and you should attempt to understand it.

    Destroying botanical specimens is however bloody stupid.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 26 2018, @09:44PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 26 2018, @09:44PM (#644223)

    Mindset understood.

    Assurances won't trump it.

    Permanent sample timeout is the only way to prevent this.

    That says that for future comparisons, folks in Australia need to travel to where the samples are instead of asking for them to be shipped to them.
    Given the mindset, seems like a reasonable way to proceed.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 26 2018, @10:13PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 26 2018, @10:13PM (#644249)

    There's a current story about car imports to New Zealand being infested with stink bugs; the cargo ships are just sat waiting, unable to offload the cars, as NZ can't risk the damn things going native. I vaguely remember reading that the best chemical to kill them off is also guaranteed to destroy the upholstery in the cars!

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 27 2018, @04:23AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 27 2018, @04:23AM (#644460)

      > best chemical to kill them off

      Can't they just put the cars in a 100% nitrogen atmosphere for awhile, maybe a big inflated bag? Or are these bugs able to hibernate without oxygen? If the eggs survive without O2, then you might have to do it a few times, wait for one brood to hatch, then back in the N2 atmosphere.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 26 2018, @10:28PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 26 2018, @10:28PM (#644263)

    i've seen the simpsons australia episode and figured this was bio pigs doing what bio pigs do.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 27 2018, @01:11AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 27 2018, @01:11AM (#644358)

      Oh no, after a near miss from this flora, Australia is now infested with Simpsons.
      Even with these amazing civil servants on the job, they don't appear to be doing enough to protect their environment.

      Seems like a job for Dundee.

  • (Score: 1) by kramulous on Tuesday February 27 2018, @01:55AM

    by kramulous (255) on Tuesday February 27 2018, @01:55AM (#644382)

    I'm wondering at this point if the incoming packages were not appropriately marked as some sort of precious cargo.

    Some border security drone was just doing their job; saw what would have been determined as standard plant material and incinerated.

    Still a terrible shame.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 27 2018, @04:59AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 27 2018, @04:59AM (#644487)

    Invasive foreign species are a problem worldwide, and similar import rules are common in many (most?)countries. Only Oz hauls out the flamethrower without thinking.

    • (Score: 2) by Osamabobama on Wednesday February 28 2018, @12:01AM (1 child)

      by Osamabobama (5842) on Wednesday February 28 2018, @12:01AM (#644880)

      The irony is that these were Australian samples being repatriated for local study.

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      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 28 2018, @07:07AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 28 2018, @07:07AM (#645010)

        Doesn't matter where they were originally from, they had been overseas and possibly exposed to diseases or pests. You want to bring stuff in, you follow the procedures.