[Taxacom] Request for documented examples

[Bob Mesibov]

Wanted by a colleague: documented examples of biosecurity misidentification by non-specialists resulting in waste, the point being that quarantine and other biosecurity programs need specialists to be efficient. Please reply off-list.

Specifically:

1. The initial ID was a misidentification by someone who was not a specialist.
2. As a result of the mis-ID, one of two things happened:

'False negative': no action was taken, and down the track more money needed to be spent than would have been necessary if the ID had been correct. (Pests and diseases are cheaper to control when they first come into a country than after they spread or become established.)
'False positive': the wrong action was taken, so that money was wasted fixing a non-existent problem, and/or more money needed to be spent dealing with the real problem down the track.

3. A specialist subsequently made the correct identification, enabling the correct action to be taken, or the wrong action to be stopped.

Many thanks.
-- 
Dr Robert Mesibov
Honorary Research Associate
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, and
School of Zoology, University of Tasmania
Home contact: PO Box 101, Penguin, Tasmania, Australia 7316
(03) 64371195; 61 3 64371195
Website: http://www.qvmag.tas.gov.au/mesibov.html