Today, April 15, marks the eighth National Security Education Day and the second anniversary of the implementation of the Biosecurity Law of the People's Republic of China. Recently, Shanghai Customs has carried out a series of legal popularization activities at airports, seaports, comprehensive insurance zones and campuses, and announced the "battle situation" of intercepting vector organisms and prohibiting the import of animals and plants and their products at various ports in Shanghai since 2022.
Shanghai customs officers introduce the intercepted specimens of alien species to the students. (Photo courtesy)
Shanghai is the world's largest trading port city. Just this month, customs at the Shanghai Post Office intercepted 33 beetle specimens in an email, which were identified as specimens of stag beetles and destroyed in accordance with the law. Data show that last year alone, Shanghai Customs has intercepted 298 species of alien species in non-trade channels such as mail delivery, among which forest onion snails, mammoth giant beetles, and big-headed harvesting ants ranked among the top three in high frequency interceptions. These insects, arthropods, snakes, lizards and other reptiles are a new type of "exotic pet" different from traditional pets, which satisfies the curiosity of domestic consumers, but brings great risks to national biosecurity. For example, forest onion snails, mainly distributed in Central Europe, Northern Europe and the United States, mainly harm all kinds of melons, fruits and flowers, etc., and can eat all the newly transplanted vegetables in the short term.
Shanghai Post Office customs seized beetle specimens. (Photo courtesy)
Shanghai Post Office Customs intercepted 62 live forest onion snails in inbound mail. (Photo by Chen Feng)
Large-headed harvest ants intercepted by Shanghai Post Office Customs. (Photo courtesy)
The airport and port are also an important channel for all kinds of potentially risky creatures to attempt to "smuggle out", and the customs of Pudong Airport has repeatedly intercepted live cats, mice, pigeons and so on in inbound aircraft. Recently, in the customs supervision area of Pudong Airport T2 Terminal, Pudong Airport Customs displayed more than 10 vector specimens intercepted at the port, including Bengal plate-toothed rat, Nubian dirt fly, Ixodes holophilus, Aedes aegypti mosquito, etc. So far in 2022, the customs of Pudong Airport has intercepted more than 200 batches of animals and plants and their products prohibited from entering the country, totaling more than 900 kilograms; 14,000 batches of unqualified wooden packaging were intercepted, and more than 300 batches of vector organisms were intercepted, among which the European species of the small forest rat and the golden retriever fly were non-distributed vector organisms in China. Once these alien species are invaded, the harm is great, such as the possible presence of pine wood nematodes in the wooden packaging of imported goods, which can be spread rapidly with the help of longhorn beetles, pine trees are infected with fiery red trunks, and irreversibly dry and die.
The customs of Pudong Airport has repeatedly intercepted live cats, rats, pigeons, etc. in inbound aircraft. (Photo courtesy)
The customs of Pudong Airport displayed more than 10 vector specimens intercepted at the port line. (Photo courtesy)
It cannot be ignored that the continuous hot flower imports in recent years also need the strict control of national guards. In the first quarter of this year, Shanghai Pudong Airport Customs General Cargo Channel supervised the import of 522.22 tons of cut flowers, a year-on-year increase of 56%. In the greenhouse group of Shanghai Chenshan Botanical Garden, more than 1,400 kinds of live rare plants from tropical regions at home and abroad are displayed, but behind the eye-opening is the botanical garden's strict implementation of customs quarantine requirements, the construction of foreign introduction and trial seed nurseries, and the scientific setting of alien pest monitoring points. According to the Shanghai Customs Animal and Plant and Food Inspection and Quarantine Technology Center, imported seedlings generally do not show obvious symptoms when entering the country, and must be sent to the laboratory for all-round quarantine identification of pathogens to ensure that the invisible pests carried by seedlings are not introduced with the goods. From the imported flower seedlings, the laboratory can intercept multiple batches of quarantine viruses, bacteria and nematodes every year, such as lily bulbs often detect the mustard mosaic virus that has not yet occurred in China, hyacinth will detect potato black shin bacteria, bulb nematodes, etc., once these pests spread with the colonization of imported plants, it is difficult to completely eradicate them even if it spends a lot of manpower, material and financial resources.
Potato black shin disease. (Photo courtesy)
Hong Yunqin, deputy director of the Animal and Plant Quarantine Department of Shanghai Customs, reminded citizens not to buy overseas pets, flowers and plants from the Internet at will, and not to bring fruits, meat and other animal and plant products when returning from overseas travel. ”
Source: Courtesy of the title
上海邮局海关截获的大头收获蚁。 Source: Author: Li Ye