Counterfeiter Wang Hai posted a post questioning the official response of Dalian in the investigation process of "100 acres of cherry tree death"

  Dalian, China, November 14 (Reporter Wang Song) On the 13th, professional counterfeiter Wang Hai posted on the Internet that since 2020, hundreds of acres of cherry trees have died after farmers used the cherry plant protection scheme of Dalian Dianlong Company; The post questioned the relevant investigation and disposal process of Dalian Agricultural and Rural Bureau. On the 14th, Dalian Agriculture and Rural Bureau answered the questions raised in Wang Hai’s release.

  What Wang Hai posted on the Internet (screenshot)

  Question 1: Excuse me, Director Xing Fang of Dalian Agriculture and Rural Bureau, why didn’t the special class set up by your bureau to deal with the death of cherry trees investigate the phytotoxicity of Dalian Dianlong Company?

  In March, 2023, Dalian Special Class for Handling the Death of Cherry Tree in Wafangdian went deep into wafangdian city Dianlong Company, the involved enterprise, and investigated and verified 23 kinds of pesticides and 8 kinds of fertilizers sold since January 1, 2021 by consulting the sales ledger, checking the quality inspection report and taking samples for identification, and entrusted a third party to identify the quality of 15 kinds of pesticides in stock, and traced the quality inspection report of 8 kinds of pesticides and 8 kinds of fertilizers out of stock to the manufacturer. Judging from the inspection report and appraisal results, no quality problems have been found in the above pesticides and fertilizers sold by Dianlong Company.

  On March 29th of the same year, the working class organized 7 experts from Northwest A&F University, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry, Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences and other units to form an expert group, and went to relevant orchards to carry out on-site investigation, guide sampling and expert judgment (a total of 5 orchards). In response to the problem of "copper ion phytotoxicity" reflected by the whistleblower, according to the expert’s suggestion, the city sent the sampling samples to the Environmental Quality Supervision, Inspection and Testing Center of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (Tianjin) for testing the total copper and glyphosate content (pesticide residues). On May 6, 2023, the expert group made a comprehensive judgment. According to the field investigation, identification test and test report, the conclusion was given: the main cause of the damage symptoms of cherry tree branches, roots and trunk bark was caused by fungal diseases.

  Question 2: Since 2020, farmers have used the cherries of Dalian Dianlong Company to solve the plant protection scheme, and hundreds of acres of cherry trees have died one after another. You didn’t go to the scene investigation the first time you received the report, and didn’t set up a special work class until this year. Is there anything strange in this?

  According to the working rules, after receiving the report, the relevant departments of the territory are responsible for the investigation. The incident occurred in September, 2022, and its territory was wafangdian city. The relevant departments of wafangdian city will deal with it as soon as possible according to the law. First, on October 11, 2022, wafangdian city Agriculture and Rural Bureau filed an investigation on Dianlong Company’s alleged unauthorized modification of two kinds of fertilizer labels, and finally imposed an administrative penalty of 20,000 yuan. The work class carefully checked the relevant files. The main facts of the case were clear, the evidence was conclusive, the law was accurately applied, and the law enforcement procedure was legal. Wafangdian city Municipal Market Supervision Bureau received five complaints from informants about Dianlong Company on September 2, September 15 and October 20, 2022, and all of them responded within the prescribed time limit.

  In order to verify and supervise the territorial work, the Dalian Municipal Government set up a special work class in March 2023, and went deep into wafangdian city to carry out a 9-day investigation and verification work, forming a work report and reporting it to the Dalian Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government. After that, it was reported to the Liaoning Provincial Party Committee and the provincial government in the form of documents of the municipal party committee and the municipal government.

  Question 3: This special class has not been publicized, and it has not been declared whether it has an interest in the investigated object, no instruments and equipment, no appraisal qualification, and no opinions from farmers. What makes it clear that the cherry tree died of fungal infection?

  According to the requirements of the Regulations on the Openness of Government Information in People’s Republic of China (PRC), "the internal affairs information of administrative organs, including personnel management, logistics management, internal workflow and other aspects, may not be disclosed". The work class is a temporary organization for government agencies to handle internal work. Members are all staff of relevant departments, and there is no need for publicity as required. The relevant experts hired are authoritative experts in China, and the relevant testing institutions entrusted are qualified. During the investigation, the working class visited relevant farmers and enterprises, and the expert group hired was based on the on-site investigation, appraisal test and test report.

  Question 4: After filming the forehead, the special class only took samples from cherry trees that had been dead for one or two years, and also entrusted fruit trees without appraisal qualification to do experiments on whether fungi could cause the death of living trees. When entrusting, the disease is used to set the tone first, misleading the fruit trees to draw the wrong conclusion that they are not qualified at all. The bacteria in the corpse can kill people, which proves that this person was killed by bacteria? No matter how you die, it is common sense that all kinds of bacteria that cause death may be detected on rotting corpses. Is this experiment meaningful?

  On March 29th, 2023, the municipal work special class organized an expert group to carry out an on-site investigation on the death of cherry trees. The expert group learned about the symptoms of cherry trees on the spot with growers, and guided the on-site sampling of damaged branches, roots, trunk bark and rhizosphere soil of cherry trees in orchards. After the on-site investigation, the expert group held the first working meeting, and then sent the samples to the Environmental Quality Supervision, Inspection and Testing Center of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (Tianjin) for detection of total copper and glyphosate, and the Fruit Research Institute of China Academy of Agricultural Sciences (Xingcheng, Liaoning) for detection of pathogenic bacteria. Among them, the Environmental Quality Supervision, Inspection and Testing Center of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (Tianjin) is a ministerial-level professional quality inspection center in the field of agricultural ecological environment. In 2017, it became the first batch of national agricultural testing benchmark laboratories (pesticide residues), and the Fruit Research Institute of China Academy of Agricultural Sciences is a national scientific research institution, not a fruit research institute without appraisal qualification. After the two testing units respectively issued the Experimental Report on Pathogen Isolation and Identification of Cherry Samples in wafangdian city, Dalian and the Test Report (NO.KY030-2023), on May 6th, the municipal work class organized the expert group to hold another meeting. Based on the inspection and test report, the expert group focused on discussion, consulted the literature and standards, and obtained the comprehensive judgment opinions of experts.

  Question 5: The death of these cherry trees is characterized by yellowing and shedding of leaves, which is not a symptom of fungal infection at all. Why didn’t the special class investigate the problem of drug injury? Afraid of what?

  After the on-the-spot investigation on March 29th, 2023, the expert group held the first working meeting of judgment, and sorted out the main symptoms found in the on-the-spot investigation as follows: the symptoms of branch withered; The damaged parts of the trunk show partial cuticle cracking, ulcer, rot and gumming, which may cause the whole tree to die in severe cases. Some plants showed symptoms of bolting, and a few plants showed symptoms of neck rot. According to the symptoms, the main causes are infectious diseases and non-infectious diseases. In order to further analyze the reasons, the expert group suggested that the sampled samples should be subjected to disease identification and pesticide residue determination, and finally the "Experimental Report on Pathogen Isolation and Identification of Cherry Samples in wafangdian city, Dalian" and "Test Report (NO.KY030-2023)" were formed, and the expert group gave judgment opinions according to the identification results.