Regarding Don's question about who informed on Norris, no one knows for
sure, although earlier suspicions about Eric Christenson seem entirely unfounded.
Perhaps no one informed. Attention could have been drawn to Norris simply
by the fact that he offered the tainted species, Phragmipedium, for sale. In
the wake of the prior P. kovachii scandal, a zealous USF&WL agent might have
noticed this and started the ball rolling. There would have been nothing
illegal if Norris and Arias could have established that the Phrags were
propagated legally and not collected, but Norris' seized computer records [Oh, Brave
New World!] indicated otherwise.
You will recall that previously an overly zealous USF&WL agent attempted
to win brownie points with his superiors by entrapping Pepe Portilla of
Ecuagenera, Ecuador, into selling him illicit Cycads. It seems that USF&WL is
driven by bureaucratic motivation to compile a record of publicized
convictions, regardless of their relevance to plant conservation.
Regarding Kathy Barrett's assertion that import authorities in Miami are
lax, what is the evidence? A Homeland Security issue? Hardly! Do illicit
plants, unlike legitimate imports, harbor human disease or do they explode in
crowded places? The entire CITES convention, as it applies to orchids is a
farce, since no orchid species is truly in danger of extinction.
Does Kathy really think that each inspector can simply look at each
orchid and tell what species it is, whether that species is Appendix I or II and
whether it has been collected or has been artificially propagated? What is
within the realm of reason is that Ag Inspection examine imported plants for
insects and disease and either pass them or determine appropriate resolution
of problems. On what basis does Kathy state that local authorities here let
"boxes cross the border unopened and unchallenged?" As one who has imported
several shipments of orchids through Miami, this charge is simply untrue,
although I suspect her baseless assertion will be picked up and repeated by
others as evidence of laxity in Miami.
I have brought orchids through LA twice and shudder to think of other
inspection stations operating in the same manner. The first time they held my
plants for later inspection, promising to ship them the next day by Fed Ex.
When they failed to arrive I inquired about them from Miami and was told they
couldn't ship them COD because I did not give them a Fed Ex account number
and they were not going to risk the possibility that I would refuse them and
they would end up with the bill. They intended to hold them for me
indefinitely until I had guessed what had happened to them, without comprehending
that
orchids are perishable! A friend of mine under similar circumstances
received about half the orchids he left for inspection. He concluded that at least
some of the LA inspectors used inspection as a means of supplementing their
own private collections. When I passed through LA after the last WOC, two
sterile flasks were confiscated from me because they had no Phytosanitary
certificates. Perhaps Kathy thinks it is unfair that all inspectors outside of LA
are not numbskulls. Bert Pressman
_______________________________________________
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://lists.orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids
