This new regulation came into force 14 December 2019. As of this date all plant reproductive materials that aren’t accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate will not be allowed into any EU country. The major exception to this is, maybe, in some countries, it will be allowed in passenger hand baggage, in ‘small quantities’.
This is a major problem for biodiversity conservation efforts in the EU. Since mostly it’s illegal to sell biodiversity related materials within the EU, importing it is one of the only options. Even if someone were to make the argument that plant materials are available in the EU, it’s often the case that specialist materials must be sourced abroad.
Understanding Science
Like with any measure along these lines, there’s lots of talk about science. As is also often the case, there’s precious little that is clear about what the underlying science really is. This video is a good example of what I found. Basically, plant diseases are bad, and trust me I’m a scientist. I’m not able to find any rigorous or clearly understandable arguments on why this regulation is necessary or what it hopes to achieve.
The targeted plant diseases seem to mostly already be established in Europe, and so would also spread from seeds distributed within Europe. I haven’t seen any clear or credible explanation as to why blocking foreign sources of these diseases would help tackle the problem. While still doubtful, a total quarantine might be a credible solution in some cases, but we live in a democracy and don’t have measures draconian enough at our borders. The EU also prides itself on it’s open internal borders. Besides, if you’re letting travelers carry plant materials in their luggage, how can you argue that keeping out plant reproductive samples sent by post could be effective?
The traditions of carrying plant materials when you travel, or farmers and plant breeders trading with others in different countries, has been around almost as long as civilization itself. How can you argue that now it’s suddenly a special problem?
My Own Experiences
I’ve certainly seen some signs of imported plant diseases in my garden. For example, I used to grow a lot of garlic, and like other plants that are cloned rather than propagated by seeds, viruses are common.
I used to grow rye grass, and had some ergot fungus that was probably introduced by the seeds. This is not so much a problem for the plants, but is poisonous for people who eat the grain. It’s easy to identify and remove by hand. Other than this, I’m not aware of any seed borne pathogens introduced into my garden.
All of these are fairly common and not serious pathogens, and not likely to leave my garden except for people I may share my plant materials with. It’s hard to understand why it would be a concern for anyone else. Anyone who wanted to avoid the pathogens would easily be able to.
Comparing it with Human Diseases
As I’m writing this a corona virus is spreading from China. It’s obvious why this should be a special concern, and why we would want to try to stop the spread. Likewise, there may be some plant pests we would want to try to control in a similar way.
Just like it’s not possible to lock down the entire world over the corona virus, or restrict people’s movements in general to prevent the spread of diseases, it doesn’t make sense to stop all movement of plant materials over fear of spreading diseases.
A much better solution is to raise awareness of plant diseases, and measures that can be taken to control their spread. If there are specific concerns over specific types of plants, these can be inspected, treated or rejected at international borders. If a true emergency exists, appropriate measures can be taken. If regional concerns exist, for example concerning a regionally important crop, these can often be locally addressed.
