27 States Issue Warnings About Seed Packets From China

[ad_1]

Although the seeds did not appear to be “directly dangerous,” the department said, “we would still prefer that people contact us to properly dispose of the seeds.”

Kentucky’s agriculture commissioner, Ryan Quarles, asked residents to report unsolicited packages of seeds to the state’s Agriculture Department, writing on Twitter that they should “put the package and seeds in a zip lock bag and wash your hands immediately.”

Michael Wallace, a spokesman for the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, said on Monday that the department had received “over 900 emails and several hundred telephone calls” from people who said they had received unsolicited packages of seeds in the mail. Some of those reports came from people in other states, including Maryland, Texas and Florida, he said.

“It’s a widespread issue,” he said.

Mr. Strain, the Louisiana agriculture and forestry commissioner, said on Monday that his department had received more than 150 phone calls from people reporting unsolicited shipments of seeds, including some that appeared to have been sent from Uzbekistan. The department had confirmed that about 100 packages of seeds had been sent to residents across the state, he said.

“We are picking packages up,” he said. “We’re sending our field personnel as soon as a call comes up.” The department had heard from some residents who said they had planted the seeds. The department, he added, planned “to destroy whatever is planted.”

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services said in a statement on Monday that about 160 people had reported receiving seeds in the mail.

The U.S. Agriculture Department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has been notified about the seed packages, said Cecilia Sequeira, a spokeswoman for the service. The agency was working with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and state agriculture departments “to prevent the unlawful entry of prohibited seeds and protect U.S. agriculture from invasive pests and noxious weeds,” Ms. Sequeira said.

[ad_2]

Source link