Multiple listings of banned
species found and since Guardian investigation 19 ads were closed down – but
controlling the trade is akin to a game of whack-a-mole
Thursday 2 June 201613.56 BSTLast
modified on Thursday 2 June 201615.58 BST
A killer algae, a monstrous
pondweed, a tree that has infested the Everglades and a dozen more of the US’s
most environmentally destructive plants have
been discovered for sale on eBay. Online traders told the Guardian that
ignorance of the law led them to create listings that had spread hundreds of
illegal specimens across the country.
Ebay hosted multiple listings for
15 species from the federal
noxious weeds list the nation’s highest level of plant biosecurity. Most
offered import to the US from abroad. But six sellers were hawking plants from
within the country.
Three of the US sellers displayed
past sales data, and between them they had sent 259 hazardous envelopes to
unknown destinations across the country.
Rival site Amazon also hosted
advertisements offering to import banned plants into the US. Amazon declined to
comment or offer to amend their listings to prevent dangerous sales occurring.
An eBay spokesman said the
company’s guidance places
the onus on its users to adhere to local laws. He said the the company had
keyword filters that aimed to alert sellers before they made a potentially
risky listing. There are also “several teams” dedicated to enforcing the
company’s policies.
One species sold on eBay, miramar
weed (Hygrophila polysperma), has
become a plague in many US waterways since its introduction in the 1960s – even
outcompeting other invasive species. In one case, a patch
of the plant grew from a tenth of an acre to more than 10 acres in just one
year. Its dense mats choke off all other aquatic life, create breeding grounds
for mosquitoes, clog irrigation pumps and leave navigable waters impassable.
Miramar weed needs only a shred
of tendril to establish a new colony, meaning each online sale potentially
spreads it to a new vulnerable habitat.
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