ToBRFV, the tomato killer virus, is currently only confined to two greenhouses on a farm in Finistère. But Sunday gardeners and their vegetable gardens represent a significant risk of spread of the virus, said Monday the health security agency Anses, raising fears of a serious economic risk for French producers.
#Brittany "We must not fall into a psychosis". The #ToBRFV tomato virus shakes producers. Who are trying to reassure consumers ... https://t.co/wfyITvnNGx @ 20Minutes #tomate pic.twitter.com/erB1VIxKRZ
- Camille Allain (@CamiAllain) February 19, 2020"The difficulty is that today about 50% of plants in France are marketed to the general public, to vegetable gardens and there, as it is a very resistant virus in the environment, it can pass from one plant to another through the fruit, through the leaves, through the tools and therefore contaminate from garden to garden, "said Roger Genet, CEO of ANSES, during a press briefing at the show of agriculture.
"We can have a real epidemic situation that is difficult to regulate, and it is obviously very difficult to decontaminate people's gardens and tools, so we are extremely vigilant about these introductions and, when there is an infection point , to be traced back to the source in order to be able to circumscribe, "he added.
The risk of buying contaminated plants "not ruled out"
According to the agency, the tomato-virus can infect up to 100% of plants on a production site, which makes it formidable for crops with high planting density such as greenhouse crops. However, it has no impact on humans. According to Roger Genet, the risk for a gardener to buy contaminated plants or seeds is currently "potentially not ruled out".
"The emergency measures that have been decided at European level only date from last November, so necessarily all the plant materials that were the subject of trade flows before the implementation of these emergency measures were not targeted by the systematic controls that are now in place, ”said Philippe Reignault, director of plant health at ANSES.
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