After thousands of Americans reportedly received unsolicited packages of seeds in their mailboxes via. amazon.com, Amazon said that it has banned foreign sales of seeds in the US. According to international media reports, the USDA (US Department of Agriculture) back in July 2020 identified over a dozen plant species ranging from morning glories to mustard in bags of unsolicited seeds. As most of the packages were postmarked from China, the department had warned Americans no to plant the seeds.
In August 2020, Osama El-Lissy, who is a deputy administrator for the USDA’s APHIS (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service), reportedly said that the experts analyzing some of the seeds from China found very few problems. El-Lissy said that the two countries were working jointly on the investigation.
Meanwhile, several plant experts have reportedly said that the seeds from other parts of the globe could be non-native varieties that harm commodity cops. Earlier, the USDA had also said that the packages were most likely part of a ‘brushing scam’, in which people receive unsolicited items from a seller who then posts false-positive customer reviews to boost sales.
