Sunday, July 11, 2010

Australian vegetables poisoned - sabotage?


There is an investigation going on in Australia.
It's about the poisoning of seven million vegetable seedlings, including tomatoes, aubergines and melons.
Police detectives believe a herbicide was injected into the irrigation system at a nursery in northern Queensland.
The Australian farm minister is calling it "sabotage".
This sabotage is going to cost around AUS $23.5m (£19.7m; $20.3m US), said Denise Kreymborg of the regional growers' association.
Police are trying to figure out if there is a connection to other poisonings in the region,which produces most of Australia's vegetables during the winter months.
"It could be a grudge, it could be competition-based... or it could be an act of vandalism," said Dave Miles, police inspector."I don't think it's just a local vandal," Denise Kreymborg said. "Obviously they knew what they were doing, as it was a pretty technical act they've done.
But we don't want to contaminate the investigation by pointing fingers."The bulk of the poisoned plants - around four million - were tomato seedlings.
Some of them had already been transplanted on farms.
The poisoning is expected take away $50m out of the local economy, which relies heavily on agriculture during the winter months. Carl Walker, the Bowen District Growers Association (BDGA) spokesman, said that 350 hectares of production land had been lost as a result of the poisoning. "That's the view of the police - that it's been deliberately sabotaged," he said.
"We don't like to think that someone inside the industry has done this deliberately to try manipulate the price.
"Anything could be possible, police are chasing every single lead they can at the moment..."
Locals are careful discussing their theories, even police and the growers' association become a little nervous when asked who they think is responsible. But rumors do exist, and the word is, it may have been a local ''sicko'', or a tactical act of sabotage by a rival growing region or, possibly an act by wholesalers or retailers to artificially inflate prices?