[meter]

I live in California, and received a suspicious bag of seeds in the mail after ordering something from Amazon. Happened about one month ago. The seeds were sent in their own small package, with Chinese characters on it.

I had heard about these types of shipping scams, but had never experienced it personally until this. I was so intrigued that I immediately planted the seeds for fun (I think they’re cucumbers).

I now realize that I was extremely ignorant. I wasn’t aware of the danger of invasive species.

Maybe I’m paranoid, but I decided to rip up the plants and throw them away.

[ficklepickle]

Yes, you are being paranoid. But, from the look of these comments, you aren't alone. The general consensus here seems to be a plausibly-deniable CCP bio-terror plot.

What is more likely: review scam or elaborate bioterrorism with an easily detectable, unreliable distribution mechanism? Never mind the complete lack of proposed harm. What is the evil plot? Destruction of the US cucumber industry?

Contrast that with the flood of fentanyl, which was/is real CCP-sponsored asymmetrical warfare with plausible deniability. Highly effective, with a side irony. Now that was an elegant way to damage a society.

That said, I hope you washed your hands after disposing of the plants. If it is Trichosanthes kirilowii (Chinese cucumber, snake gourd), the roots contain a ricin-like protein.

[mr__y]

>unreliable distribution mechanism

given the sufficient scale of operation, it could be a pretty reliable mechanism probabilistically speaking.

[rubans]

> Maybe I’m paranoid, but I decided to rip up the plants and throw them away.

Now they can start growing in a landfill somewhere.

[mikro2nd]

Pretty unlikely. GP "thinks they were cucumbers". If the plant was already fruiting, there'd be no doubt, so we conclude that the plants were still quite young. No fruit, no seed. No hazard. They're just going to be compost.

[lowatt]

> with Chinese characters on it.

Very curious what are those characters. If you could kindly post a picture of the package, I can help translate what's written on it.

[minerjoe]

> danger of invasive species

For a good counter to all the "invasive biology" craze see:

https://www.amazon.com/Invasion-Biology-Pseudoscience-David-...

He raises many good points. Much damage to the eocology has been done in removing "invasive" species.

Now, diseses, those can really devestate. I'd love to still have our (US) chestnut forests.

[_Microft]

I research about sources (both publications and authors) to see what credence I should lend them. The little I could find out about this book was a review at [0] that concludes with "I would not recommend this book to those beginning a study of Invasion Biology. It is a polemic presumably aimed at the practitioners of what the author holds is a pseudoscience, and perhaps also at policy‐makers."

Make of that what you will.

[0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4242384/

[stareatgoats]

Thanks. I'm somewhat skeptical of the "invasive biology" scare too and would like to collect literature on the subject. Unfortunately I can't afford to buy every book on the subject ("buy used: $336.82", whats up with that?), but I did find a book review which gave a good summary I think:

https://www.publish.csiro.au/pc/pdf/PC040070

He does seem to take an extreme position, but it is sometimes beneficial to take in an extreme counterpoint in order to find the reasonable "middle" ground.

[wow_no]

I’d like to still have American manufacturing jobs