[Lfm] fedex inbound

Wed Aug 26 10:58:13 BST 2020

Hi Cahir,
Hi Olga,
Hi All!

Just an update on the never-ending Drosophila import saga. I have recently spent two days trying to convince three couriers (FedEx, DHL, SMA) to accept a shipment of flies from San Francisco to London. To no avail. They simply don't accept this ...as a rule, they say. It requires specific exemptions (but how to receive these was unclear). Some of these rules appear to be official ..others ad hoc, made up by the agent

The successful Courier imports in the past have been some form of Russian Roulette it seems, survival of the luckiest.
But this will continue as long as Couriers such as FedEx still have UK import T&Cs that explicitly prohibit Drosophila and nematodes (sic!). Please see below. Someone really sat down and wrote these as if to specifically throttle basic research efforts.

https://crossborder.fedex.com/us/assets/prohibited-restricted/united-kingdom/index.shtml

Country Specific List for United Kingdom
United Kingdom Import Prohibitions

  *   Flick and Gravity Knives; knives with blades that open automatically by operation of a spring device, or released by gravity or centrifugal force
  *   Indecent or Obscene Material
  *   Offensive Weapons such as belt buckle knives, death stars, throwing stars, and martial arts equipment, Pepper and similar sprays
  *   Asbestos
  *   Counterfeit coins and bank notes
  *   Counterfeit or pirated goods
  *   Goods bearing false origin statements
  *   Goods infringing a trademark
  *   Goods infringing a copyright
  *   Lottery Material
  *   Prison-made goods
  *   Stamps (fictitious) including dies and plates for manufacture
  *   Video senders; equipment capable of transmitting video images
  *   Eggs
  *   Straw
  *   Soil
  *   Investigational Drugs
  *   Animal Hair and Wool
  *   All products containing the biocide dimethylfumarate (DMF)
  *   Non-perishable foodstuff weighing more than 10 kg to private individuals
  *   Products containing meat or milk products including Whey Protein for personal consumption
  *   Shipments subject to Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)
  *   Live Animals (including insects, fruit flies/drosophila melanogaster and nematodes)
  *   Plants of Mangifera sp (Mangoes), Solanum melongena (Aubergine), Colocasia sp (Patra leaves), Momordica sp (Bitter gourd) and Trichosanthes sp (Snake gourd), originating in India.

So, I think another effort is required to get these wholly incomprehensible restrictions removed from the Couriers' (disclosed or undisclosed) terms and conditions. We have failed to organise a shipment with any of the above mentioned couriers when declaring that it contains flies.
So, the only alternatives are:

  1.  Using different routes (USPS or similar)
  2.  Not declaring that it contains live flies (as these are not illegal to import to the UK but the Couriers just have prohibited it in their T&Cs)

Best wishes

Joerg

PS: DHL from Germany worked. But flies were not explicitly declared. "Research reagents."

Professor of Sensory Biology and Biophysics
UCL Ear Institute
332 Gray's Inn Road
London, UK
WC1X 8 EE
joerg.albert at ucl.ac.uk<mailto:joerg.albert at ucl.ac.uk>
phone +44 (0)20 7679 8925

[cid:image001.png at 01D67B97.C8DAF800]<https://www.ucl.ac.uk/sensyt>
Discover the world of senses with SenSyT<https://www.ucl.ac.uk/sensyt>

From: Lfm <lfm-bounces at londonflymeeting.org> On Behalf Of Baron, Olga
Sent: 26 August 2020 10:15
To: lfm at londonflymeeting.org; Cook, R. Kimberley <ruacook at indiana.edu>; Annette Parks <anlparks at indiana.edu>; flystock at indiana.edu; Kevin Cook <kercook at indiana.edu>; c.okane at gen.cam.ac.uk
Subject: Re: [Lfm] fedex inbound

Dear LFM community,

I am writing to see if anyone had recently success with the strategy suggested by Cahir.

How feasible is it currently to import BDSC fly orders via Fedex into UK?

Many thanks,
Olga

______________________
Dr Olga Baron
NC3R David Sainsbury Fellow
https://www.nc3rs.org.uk/meet-our-david-sainsbury-fellows<https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nc3rs.org.uk%2Fmeet-our-david-sainsbury-fellows&data=02%7C01%7C%7C17cfc2b862b1480c94f008d849a086c0%7C1faf88fea9984c5b93c9210a11d9a5c2%7C0%7C0%7C637340301138493434&sdata=aL4D2Zr0FwRC2dJlobcS1oSsb7GEO3OBqsxP39zozK0%3D&reserved=0>
King's College London
Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience
Wolfson CARD
Wolfson Wing, Hodgkin Building, WW 3.24
Guy's Campus
London
SE1 1UL

phone
office: +44(0)20 7848 6170
mobile: +44 (0)7599 821082
________________________________
From: Lfm <lfm-bounces at londonflymeeting.org<mailto:lfm-bounces at londonflymeeting.org>> on behalf of Cahir O'Kane <cahiro at gmail.com<mailto:cahiro at gmail.com>>
Sent: 12 July 2020 01:09
To: lfm at londonflymeeting.org<mailto:lfm at londonflymeeting.org> <lfm at londonflymeeting.org<mailto:lfm at londonflymeeting.org>>; Cook, R. Kimberley <ruacook at indiana.edu<mailto:ruacook at indiana.edu>>; Annette Parks <anlparks at indiana.edu<mailto:anlparks at indiana.edu>>; flystock at indiana.edu<mailto:flystock at indiana.edu> <flystock at indiana.edu<mailto:flystock at indiana.edu>>; Kevin Cook <kercook at indiana.edu<mailto:kercook at indiana.edu>>
Subject: Re: [Lfm] fedex inbound

Hi Kofan and Isabel (and anyone else)

The Drosophila Fedex import problem should (at least theoretically) be solved - although I don't know whether this is yet happening in practice.

The problem was that Drosophila could only be imported into the EU in compliance with animal import procedures - which had been written with larger or agricultural animals in mind. They therefore had to be imported from outside the EU via a Border Inspection Post (BIP), where they were subject to a veterinary inspection. If flies are imported to the UK by Fedex, they arrive at Stansted Airport - unfortunately the UK government has no BIP there, and so the flies got destroyed there.

However, EU legislation was passed in 2017, which was intended to solve this problem. After sustained lobbying by a number of people including Jörg Grosshans, aided by his lawyer sister Anne-Marie (and one brief supporting appearance from myself), a petition to the European Parliament found general support there, and a clause was included in the most recent omnibus legislation on imports of animals and animal products:

The full legislation (for those who want the citation) is here:
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32017R0625<https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Feur-lex.europa.eu%2Flegal-content%2FEN%2FTXT%2F%3Furi%3DCELEX%253A32017R0625&data=02%7C01%7C%7C17cfc2b862b1480c94f008d849a086c0%7C1faf88fea9984c5b93c9210a11d9a5c2%7C0%7C0%7C637340301138503431&sdata=WYTIAD1gM%2BnpvoQcMgGNT39%2FyB0xASZGmUIWIMH6oJs%3D&reserved=0>

Article 48 (b) of this is a single line that exempts from control at border posts: "animals and goods intended for scientific purposes".

This legislation was meant to enter into force in all member states on 14th December 2019 - this included the UK, and should still do.

The bottom line

1. - Since 14th December 2019, UK (and EU27) Customs should no longer be requiring a veterinary inspection for Drosophila  melanogaster "intended for scientific purposes". It might be advisable to enter "for scientific purposes" on the Customs label, so that UK Customs will know this.

2. There should no longer any regulatory reason for problems with Fedex imports of Drosophila melanogaster to UK labs - nor to any EU27 Drosophila research lab.

3. Disclaimer - I don't know how far this happy conclusion has been tested in practice, either via Stansted, or for fly imports into any other EU member state from outside the EU (including from the UK to the EU after the transition period ends at the end of 2020).

Sorry for the long explanation - but I thought that it's better to be informed if anyone wants to try it out.

Best wishes to all,

Cahir

On 10/07/2020 17:18, Isabel Palacios wrote:

no change that i know of

it has to do with the lack of specialised personal at airports

isa

On 10/07/2020 16:18, kofan wrote:
Dear all
Hopefully everyone is good and slowly getting back to the lab.
I remember fedex stopped Drosophila import a while ago, but just wonder if this has changed or any of you know a way around it?

many thanks
Kofan

Dr Ko-Fan Chen
Honorary Research Associate
Jepson Laboratory
UCL Institute of Neurology
Queen Square House
WC1N 3RX London

_______________________________________________

Lfm mailing list

Lfm at londonflymeeting.org<mailto:Lfm at londonflymeeting.org>

https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flists.londonflymeeting.org%2Flistinfo%2Flfm&data=02%7C01%7C%7Cae92e1ad964c422f5d7408d824e48503%7C569df091b01340e386eebd9cb9e25814%7C0%7C1%7C637299911217590588&sdata=zlo89sAxcIpOFSalvsCkB4qajeLFqhx4Ko9%2FUM5A15E%3D&reserved=0<https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flists.londonflymeeting.org%2Flistinfo%2Flfm&data=02%7C01%7C%7C17cfc2b862b1480c94f008d849a086c0%7C1faf88fea9984c5b93c9210a11d9a5c2%7C0%7C0%7C637340301138503431&sdata=op5Fet7i2fS5Pu6cVL0Bvbf7YeB4iQFmHPqF1xRre50%3D&reserved=0>

--

Isabel M. Palacios

Lecturer in Cell Biology

School of Biological & Chemical Sciences

Queen Mary University of London

Scientific visitor at the University of Cambridge

Founder of DrosAfrica http://drosafrica.org<https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fdrosafrica.org%2F&data=02%7C01%7C%7C17cfc2b862b1480c94f008d849a086c0%7C1faf88fea9984c5b93c9210a11d9a5c2%7C0%7C0%7C637340301138513432&sdata=l9Lyau4fj2lQLEoKnkrvksnVdEDtTtttVwb2yH9B4KA%3D&reserved=0>

BSCB Ambassador   http://bscb.org<https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fbscb.org%2F&data=02%7C01%7C%7C17cfc2b862b1480c94f008d849a086c0%7C1faf88fea9984c5b93c9210a11d9a5c2%7C0%7C0%7C637340301138523424&sdata=knZfcJ39IUqYI58uFVq90%2BPuS%2BTp%2BIOZ1ckvyX%2BahIQ%3D&reserved=0>

_______________________________________________

Lfm mailing list

Lfm at londonflymeeting.org<mailto:Lfm at londonflymeeting.org>

http://lists.londonflymeeting.org/listinfo/lfm<https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flists.londonflymeeting.org%2Flistinfo%2Flfm&data=02%7C01%7C%7C17cfc2b862b1480c94f008d849a086c0%7C1faf88fea9984c5b93c9210a11d9a5c2%7C0%7C0%7C637340301138523424&sdata=cdt9uIsy20ST%2Bd%2BJR6U%2FwaI442B6tYcqeHfZIiJDk%2Bs%3D&reserved=0>

--

---------

Dr. Cahir O'Kane,  Reader in Genetics

Dept of Genetics, University of Cambridge, Downing St, Cambridge, CB2 3EH, UK

Office: 01223-333177   International 44-1223-333177    Internal 33177

http://www.gen.cam.ac.uk/research-groups/okane<https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gen.cam.ac.uk%2Fresearch-groups%2Fokane&data=02%7C01%7C%7C17cfc2b862b1480c94f008d849a086c0%7C1faf88fea9984c5b93c9210a11d9a5c2%7C0%7C0%7C637340301138533426&sdata=g4slIt%2BkYEOABCyKQU3s6rG8My9BG%2FLWPfOwprCL2Po%3D&reserved=0>

http://www.neuroscience.cam.ac.uk/directory/profile.php?cokane<https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.neuroscience.cam.ac.uk%2Fdirectory%2Fprofile.php%3Fcokane&data=02%7C01%7C%7C17cfc2b862b1480c94f008d849a086c0%7C1faf88fea9984c5b93c9210a11d9a5c2%7C0%7C0%7C637340301138543417&sdata=5%2BO%2FYbWSxBy87lB4ix%2BSsEPE%2FsYzZoxi837Yh6%2FvNmc%3D&reserved=0>

Twitter: @OKaneCahir  ORCID: 0000-0002-3488-2078

For colorblind-friendly figures and slides: http://jfly.iam.u-tokyo.ac.jp/color/<https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fjfly.iam.u-tokyo.ac.jp%2Fcolor%2F&data=02%7C01%7C%7C17cfc2b862b1480c94f008d849a086c0%7C1faf88fea9984c5b93c9210a11d9a5c2%7C0%7C0%7C637340301138543417&sdata=YeYBqlCB47k9MDKlaXx5wuZ%2FztaBg7QayC76lXxdWJA%3D&reserved=0>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.londonflymeeting.org/archives/lfm/attachments/20200826/0ac51ebc/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 36451 bytes
Desc: image001.png
URL: <http://lists.londonflymeeting.org/archives/lfm/attachments/20200826/0ac51ebc/attachment-0001.png>