Italian Scientists Vilified in Wake of Olive-Tree Deaths. Abbott, A. ![Italian Scientists Vilified in Wake of Olive-Tree Deaths [link]](https://bibbase.org/img/filetypes/link.svg "link")
Paper doi abstract bibtex [Excerpt] [...] plant scientists at various institutes in Bari, the capital of the Puglia region, [southern Italy, ...] have been subject to a police investigation about whether they are responsible for the introduction of the bacterium, Xylella fastidiosa, into Puglia, or for allowing its subsequent spread. Police have called in several researchers involved in Xylella research for questioning and confiscated computers and documents from scientific institutes. ” We'd just like to be left to do our work without this suspicion and this stress,” says Donato Boscia, head of the Bari unit of the CNR Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection (IPSP), whom police questioned in April. [...] Xylella is endemic in parts of the Americas, including Costa Rica, Brazil and California, but was not previously found in Europe. That changed in October 2013, when scientists at the IPSP and the University of Bari identified the bacterium as the cause of an unusual disease outbreak in olive trees. The outbreak immediately became subject to European Union (EU) regulations to limit its spread, and regional scientists began a systematic effort to understand the disease and contain it: the scientists went on to show that the bacterium was being carried by the spittlebug insect. [::Ornamental plants] From the start, farmers and environmentalists in Italy objected to containment measures, which involved uprooting trees and spraying the groves with pesticides. But trouble for the Puglian scientists began in April 2014, when individuals told police that they suspected that the epidemic was caused by bacteria that scientists had brought in from California for a European training course on Xylella at the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari (IAMB) in 2010. [\n] Scientists say that this suggestion is ludicrous because the Puglia strain is different from the strains used at the workshop; the widely accepted theory is that the infection was imported with ornamental plants from Costa Rica, where the endemic Xylella strain matches the Puglia strain. [\n] However, the complaints spawned a much broader investigation by public prosecutors, including what role scientists may have had in the epidemic. [...] The prosecutors declined Nature's request for comment. But in March, one of them [...] implied in an interview [...] that they are looking into theories that the bacterium may have been deliberately introduced into the area, or became entrenched because agricultural scientists failed to monitor the region properly, either deliberately or through neglect. [...The prosecutor expressed concern] about the possible corrupting influence of businesses, such as solar-energy companies, which might stand to gain from the clearing of olive groves. [...] [\n] Puglian scientists have had to contend with public criticism too. Several popular blogs devoted to the Xylella emergency have cast doubt on scientists' ways of working and their results – saying, for example, that a remedy exists but is being suppressed [... and] that Xylella had not been proved to be the source of the outbreak and that the deaths were instead due to a fungus that could be eliminated without destroying trees. An expert panel of the European Food Safety Authority debunked these suggestions in a report published in April. [...] [\n] On 27 May, the regional government announced a €2-million (US\$2.2-million) fund for projects that might aid the diagnosis, epidemiology and monitoring of the bacterium. It said that a 'containment area' in the province of Lecce – where the bacterium is now endemic, making complete eradication impossible – will be used as an open-air Xylella laboratory. National and European research agencies have also promised money, says Boscia. ” The outdoor laboratory would be perfect for all of us – and also allow critics to put their own theories to the test.”
@article{abbottItalianScientistsVilified2015,
title = {Italian Scientists Vilified in Wake of Olive-Tree Deaths},
author = {Abbott, Alison},
date = {2015-06},
journaltitle = {Nature},
issn = {1476-4687},
doi = {10.1038/nature.2015.17651},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/nature.2015.17651},
abstract = {[Excerpt] [...] plant scientists at various institutes in Bari, the capital of the Puglia region, [southern Italy, ...] have been subject to a police investigation about whether they are responsible for the introduction of the bacterium, Xylella fastidiosa, into Puglia, or for allowing its subsequent spread. Police have called in several researchers involved in Xylella research for questioning and confiscated computers and documents from scientific institutes. ” We'd just like to be left to do our work without this suspicion and this stress,” says Donato Boscia, head of the Bari unit of the CNR Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection (IPSP), whom police questioned in April. [...]
Xylella is endemic in parts of the Americas, including Costa Rica, Brazil and California, but was not previously found in Europe. That changed in October 2013, when scientists at the IPSP and the University of Bari identified the bacterium as the cause of an unusual disease outbreak in olive trees. The outbreak immediately became subject to European Union (EU) regulations to limit its spread, and regional scientists began a systematic effort to understand the disease and contain it: the scientists went on to show that the bacterium was being carried by the spittlebug insect.
[::Ornamental plants]
From the start, farmers and environmentalists in Italy objected to containment measures, which involved uprooting trees and spraying the groves with pesticides. But trouble for the Puglian scientists began in April 2014, when individuals told police that they suspected that the epidemic was caused by bacteria that scientists had brought in from California for a European training course on Xylella at the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari (IAMB) in 2010.
[\textbackslash n] Scientists say that this suggestion is ludicrous because the Puglia strain is different from the strains used at the workshop; the widely accepted theory is that the infection was imported with ornamental plants from Costa Rica, where the endemic Xylella strain matches the Puglia strain.
[\textbackslash n] However, the complaints spawned a much broader investigation by public prosecutors, including what role scientists may have had in the epidemic. [...] The prosecutors declined Nature's request for comment. But in March, one of them [...] implied in an interview [...] that they are looking into theories that the bacterium may have been deliberately introduced into the area, or became entrenched because agricultural scientists failed to monitor the region properly, either deliberately or through neglect. [...The prosecutor expressed concern] about the possible corrupting influence of businesses, such as solar-energy companies, which might stand to gain from the clearing of olive groves. [...]
[\textbackslash n] Puglian scientists have had to contend with public criticism too. Several popular blogs devoted to the Xylella emergency have cast doubt on scientists' ways of working and their results -- saying, for example, that a remedy exists but is being suppressed [... and] that Xylella had not been proved to be the source of the outbreak and that the deaths were instead due to a fungus that could be eliminated without destroying trees. An expert panel of the European Food Safety Authority debunked these suggestions in a report published in April. [...]
[\textbackslash n] On 27 May, the regional government announced a €2-million (US\$2.2-million) fund for projects that might aid the diagnosis, epidemiology and monitoring of the bacterium. It said that a 'containment area' in the province of Lecce -- where the bacterium is now endemic, making complete eradication impossible -- will be used as an open-air Xylella laboratory. National and European research agencies have also promised money, says Boscia. ” The outdoor laboratory would be perfect for all of us -- and also allow critics to put their own theories to the test.”},
keywords = {*imported-from-citeulike-INRMM,~INRMM-MiD:c-13636189,~to-add-doi-URL,agricultural-resources,complexity,disturbances,forest-resources,multi-stakeholder-decision-making,olea-europaea,plant-pests,science-based-decision-making,science-ethics,science-policy-interface,science-society-interface,scientific-communication,solar-energy,uncertainty,xylella-fastidiosa}
}
Downloads: 0
{"_id":"39eeB2jtcoXv5gu3w","bibbaseid":"abbott-italianscientistsvilifiedinwakeofolivetreedeaths","authorIDs":[],"author_short":["Abbott, A."],"bibdata":{"bibtype":"article","type":"article","title":"Italian Scientists Vilified in Wake of Olive-Tree Deaths","author":[{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Abbott"],"firstnames":["Alison"],"suffixes":[]}],"date":"2015-06","journaltitle":"Nature","issn":"1476-4687","doi":"10.1038/nature.2015.17651","url":"https://doi.org/10.1038/nature.2015.17651","abstract":"[Excerpt] [...] plant scientists at various institutes in Bari, the capital of the Puglia region, [southern Italy, ...] have been subject to a police investigation about whether they are responsible for the introduction of the bacterium, Xylella fastidiosa, into Puglia, or for allowing its subsequent spread. Police have called in several researchers involved in Xylella research for questioning and confiscated computers and documents from scientific institutes. ” We'd just like to be left to do our work without this suspicion and this stress,” says Donato Boscia, head of the Bari unit of the CNR Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection (IPSP), whom police questioned in April. [...] Xylella is endemic in parts of the Americas, including Costa Rica, Brazil and California, but was not previously found in Europe. That changed in October 2013, when scientists at the IPSP and the University of Bari identified the bacterium as the cause of an unusual disease outbreak in olive trees. The outbreak immediately became subject to European Union (EU) regulations to limit its spread, and regional scientists began a systematic effort to understand the disease and contain it: the scientists went on to show that the bacterium was being carried by the spittlebug insect. [::Ornamental plants] From the start, farmers and environmentalists in Italy objected to containment measures, which involved uprooting trees and spraying the groves with pesticides. But trouble for the Puglian scientists began in April 2014, when individuals told police that they suspected that the epidemic was caused by bacteria that scientists had brought in from California for a European training course on Xylella at the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari (IAMB) in 2010. [\\n] Scientists say that this suggestion is ludicrous because the Puglia strain is different from the strains used at the workshop; the widely accepted theory is that the infection was imported with ornamental plants from Costa Rica, where the endemic Xylella strain matches the Puglia strain. [\\n] However, the complaints spawned a much broader investigation by public prosecutors, including what role scientists may have had in the epidemic. [...] The prosecutors declined Nature's request for comment. But in March, one of them [...] implied in an interview [...] that they are looking into theories that the bacterium may have been deliberately introduced into the area, or became entrenched because agricultural scientists failed to monitor the region properly, either deliberately or through neglect. [...The prosecutor expressed concern] about the possible corrupting influence of businesses, such as solar-energy companies, which might stand to gain from the clearing of olive groves. [...] [\\n] Puglian scientists have had to contend with public criticism too. Several popular blogs devoted to the Xylella emergency have cast doubt on scientists' ways of working and their results – saying, for example, that a remedy exists but is being suppressed [... and] that Xylella had not been proved to be the source of the outbreak and that the deaths were instead due to a fungus that could be eliminated without destroying trees. An expert panel of the European Food Safety Authority debunked these suggestions in a report published in April. [...] [\\n] On 27 May, the regional government announced a €2-million (US\\$2.2-million) fund for projects that might aid the diagnosis, epidemiology and monitoring of the bacterium. It said that a 'containment area' in the province of Lecce – where the bacterium is now endemic, making complete eradication impossible – will be used as an open-air Xylella laboratory. National and European research agencies have also promised money, says Boscia. ” The outdoor laboratory would be perfect for all of us – and also allow critics to put their own theories to the test.”","keywords":"*imported-from-citeulike-INRMM,~INRMM-MiD:c-13636189,~to-add-doi-URL,agricultural-resources,complexity,disturbances,forest-resources,multi-stakeholder-decision-making,olea-europaea,plant-pests,science-based-decision-making,science-ethics,science-policy-interface,science-society-interface,scientific-communication,solar-energy,uncertainty,xylella-fastidiosa","bibtex":"@article{abbottItalianScientistsVilified2015,\n title = {Italian Scientists Vilified in Wake of Olive-Tree Deaths},\n author = {Abbott, Alison},\n date = {2015-06},\n journaltitle = {Nature},\n issn = {1476-4687},\n doi = {10.1038/nature.2015.17651},\n url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/nature.2015.17651},\n abstract = {[Excerpt] [...] plant scientists at various institutes in Bari, the capital of the Puglia region, [southern Italy, ...] have been subject to a police investigation about whether they are responsible for the introduction of the bacterium, Xylella fastidiosa, into Puglia, or for allowing its subsequent spread. Police have called in several researchers involved in Xylella research for questioning and confiscated computers and documents from scientific institutes. ” We'd just like to be left to do our work without this suspicion and this stress,” says Donato Boscia, head of the Bari unit of the CNR Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection (IPSP), whom police questioned in April. [...]\n\nXylella is endemic in parts of the Americas, including Costa Rica, Brazil and California, but was not previously found in Europe. That changed in October 2013, when scientists at the IPSP and the University of Bari identified the bacterium as the cause of an unusual disease outbreak in olive trees. The outbreak immediately became subject to European Union (EU) regulations to limit its spread, and regional scientists began a systematic effort to understand the disease and contain it: the scientists went on to show that the bacterium was being carried by the spittlebug insect.\n\n[::Ornamental plants]\n\nFrom the start, farmers and environmentalists in Italy objected to containment measures, which involved uprooting trees and spraying the groves with pesticides. But trouble for the Puglian scientists began in April 2014, when individuals told police that they suspected that the epidemic was caused by bacteria that scientists had brought in from California for a European training course on Xylella at the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari (IAMB) in 2010.\n\n[\\textbackslash n] Scientists say that this suggestion is ludicrous because the Puglia strain is different from the strains used at the workshop; the widely accepted theory is that the infection was imported with ornamental plants from Costa Rica, where the endemic Xylella strain matches the Puglia strain.\n\n[\\textbackslash n] However, the complaints spawned a much broader investigation by public prosecutors, including what role scientists may have had in the epidemic. [...] The prosecutors declined Nature's request for comment. But in March, one of them [...] implied in an interview [...] that they are looking into theories that the bacterium may have been deliberately introduced into the area, or became entrenched because agricultural scientists failed to monitor the region properly, either deliberately or through neglect. [...The prosecutor expressed concern] about the possible corrupting influence of businesses, such as solar-energy companies, which might stand to gain from the clearing of olive groves. [...]\n\n[\\textbackslash n] Puglian scientists have had to contend with public criticism too. Several popular blogs devoted to the Xylella emergency have cast doubt on scientists' ways of working and their results -- saying, for example, that a remedy exists but is being suppressed [... and] that Xylella had not been proved to be the source of the outbreak and that the deaths were instead due to a fungus that could be eliminated without destroying trees. An expert panel of the European Food Safety Authority debunked these suggestions in a report published in April. [...]\n\n[\\textbackslash n] On 27 May, the regional government announced a €2-million (US\\$2.2-million) fund for projects that might aid the diagnosis, epidemiology and monitoring of the bacterium. It said that a 'containment area' in the province of Lecce -- where the bacterium is now endemic, making complete eradication impossible -- will be used as an open-air Xylella laboratory. National and European research agencies have also promised money, says Boscia. ” The outdoor laboratory would be perfect for all of us -- and also allow critics to put their own theories to the test.”},\n keywords = {*imported-from-citeulike-INRMM,~INRMM-MiD:c-13636189,~to-add-doi-URL,agricultural-resources,complexity,disturbances,forest-resources,multi-stakeholder-decision-making,olea-europaea,plant-pests,science-based-decision-making,science-ethics,science-policy-interface,science-society-interface,scientific-communication,solar-energy,uncertainty,xylella-fastidiosa}\n}\n\n","author_short":["Abbott, A."],"key":"abbottItalianScientistsVilified2015","id":"abbottItalianScientistsVilified2015","bibbaseid":"abbott-italianscientistsvilifiedinwakeofolivetreedeaths","role":"author","urls":{"Paper":"https://doi.org/10.1038/nature.2015.17651"},"keyword":["*imported-from-citeulike-INRMM","~INRMM-MiD:c-13636189","~to-add-doi-URL","agricultural-resources","complexity","disturbances","forest-resources","multi-stakeholder-decision-making","olea-europaea","plant-pests","science-based-decision-making","science-ethics","science-policy-interface","science-society-interface","scientific-communication","solar-energy","uncertainty","xylella-fastidiosa"],"downloads":0},"bibtype":"article","biburl":"https://tmpfiles.org/dl/58794/INRMM.bib","creationDate":"2020-07-02T22:40:59.776Z","downloads":0,"keywords":["*imported-from-citeulike-inrmm","~inrmm-mid:c-13636189","~to-add-doi-url","agricultural-resources","complexity","disturbances","forest-resources","multi-stakeholder-decision-making","olea-europaea","plant-pests","science-based-decision-making","science-ethics","science-policy-interface","science-society-interface","scientific-communication","solar-energy","uncertainty","xylella-fastidiosa"],"search_terms":["italian","scientists","vilified","wake","olive","tree","deaths","abbott"],"title":"Italian Scientists Vilified in Wake of Olive-Tree Deaths","year":null,"dataSources":["DXuKbcZTirdigFKPF"]}