Canberra. Defending the environmental integrity of the brand new world is one of the things Australians care most about and Kim Carr, the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research said it clearly: “The isolation geography has preserved Australia from many of the lethal epidemics that have plagued the rest of the world, but we cannot afford to let our guard down. Having an efficient biosecurity system is an absolute priority and becomes all the more important the more contacts with other countries increase, through the growing movement of people and goods". Carr's words were pronounced on the occasion of the presentation of the new Australian biological heritage and environment protection system developed by the CSIRO (Commonwealth Science and Industrial Research Organization), the national scientific agency in charge of research on the subject of biosecurity.
The new system focuses in particular on scientific investigation, both in the field of detection of pathogens and in the mapping, at an international level, of epidemic flows. Particular care is taken to block the way to plant and animal diseases, in order to protect the profits of a primary sector which is one of the vital nerve centers of the Australian economy. The emphasis on biosecurity, commendable in many ways, can nevertheless reach excessive peaks, as the writer testifies, who recalls when, some years ago, he sent from Italy to Australian friends a greeting card written on elegant Japanese paper, for then to learn with astonishment that the aforementioned note had been stopped upon arrival in Melbourne, due to the possible presence of noxious microorganisms on the exotic card, and held in quarantine until the recipients, after being interrogated by biosecurity agents, had permission to withdraw it.
