SC - Dried Currants

[Alderton, Philippa]

Lady Edlyn/Christine asks:

>For some reason, many states in the U.S. prohibit the importation of
blackcurrants, redcurrants and gooseberries. I'm still trying to find out
why I
can't order a blackcurrant plant from a nursery in Washington State and have
them
send it to me in Ohio. The Dept. of Agriculture extension office has
promised to
find out why for me but I haven't heard anything yet.<

Actually, the reasons varous states forbid importation of various plant and
animal species are three- fold:

First, the species might have potential to become a noxious species- look at
the multiflora rose, for example, or the starling.

Second, the species might be an "unfair" competitor to a local species- look
at what rabbits have done to the Aussies, or African bees have done to the
southern parts of the N. Americas, or kudjo to the southern US.

Third, the species might, as pleasant as it seems to be, be a reservoir or
vector for a disease of great trouble to the flora and fauna of the area,
including humans- look at Rocky mountain spotted fever, and the Big Three
diseases which are making honey bees (an imported species) an endangered
species here in the Americas, and possibly the World, or the chestnut and
Dutch Elm diseases.

All this boils to Ecological balance- we humans have sent so many
eco-systems into imbalance by our good intentions, that at this point, most
Ag offices are trying to control the damages already done- we don't need a
few more unsupervised experiments running loose.

For heaven's sake, please don't smuggle species into your area which are not
already extant and approved by your Agricultural Services. It doesn't pay.

The Black Plague, Bubonic Plague, started out in Asia. It was transferred to
Central Asia by travellers, and thence to Europe, killing millions, by
refugees from a war in Kaffa. It is now considered endemic in the western
US, responsible for MANY deaths of entire prarie dog villages, and showing
up in 5-15 actual American human cases annually. Two of its three
manifestations are killers- nothing can treat it.

Please, don't play with fire.

Phlip


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