The Orchid Garden

Eric Hansen's rebuttal

Question:

Come on K Barrett, stop teasing us! You would have plenty of time to cancel your posting after you talked to Mr. Hansen. Your subject-only posting is excellant  advertisement, now give us some real dose of information, Please! (Personally I have some doubts in Mr. Hansen’s writings as it feels too sensationalized to be all true) -Daxin Liu

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Ok, Eric Hansen sent me a copy of his rebutal to comments Kew made in the ‘Orchid Digest’ magazine. I guess the paperback edition of ‘Orchid Fever’ is coming out. I was going to post Hansen’s comments here, but then suddenly thought oops!! Maybe I’d be stealing Hansens’ thunder if I posted it prematurely. I asked him, and he’d prefer it if I’d hold off till it hits the ODG sometime later this week. After that, I’ll post it here for those of you not on the ODG Now you know the rest of the story. K Barrett Gee, Kathy.  What were you up to here? — Ray Barkalow –<– First Rays Orchids http://www.firstrays.com Secure Online Ordering & Lots of Free Info Well, maybe I’ll post it later….

Response:

It was just published by Eric in the OGD, so Kathy can go ahead now. — Ray Barkalow –<– First Rays Orchids http://www.firstrays.com Secure Online Ordering & Lots of Free Info

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Come on K Barrett, stop teasing us! You would have plenty of time to cancel your posting after you talked to Mr. Hansen. Your subject-only posting is excellant  advertisement, now give us some real dose of information, Please! (Personally I have some doubts in Mr. Hansen’s writings as it feels too sensationalized to be all true) -Daxin Liu Ok, Eric Hansen sent me a copy of his rebutal to comments Kew made in the ‘Orchid Digest’ magazine. I guess the paperback edition of ‘Orchid Fever’ is coming out. I was going to post Hansen’s comments here, but then suddenly thought oops!! Maybe I’d be stealing Hansens’ thunder if I posted it prematurely. I asked him, and he’d prefer it if I’d hold off till it hits the ODG sometime later this week. After that, I’ll post it here for those of you not on the ODG Now you know the rest of the story. K Barrett Gee, Kathy.  What were you up to here? — Ray Barkalow –<– First Rays Orchids http://www.firstrays.com Secure Online Ordering & Lots of Free Info Well, maybe I’ll post it later….

Response:

Ok, here it is: Open letter from Eric Hansen, author of Orchid Fever, to the American Orchid Society, organizers of the 2002 World Orchid Conference, Royal Horticultural Society, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the Orchid Digest Corporation, local orchid societies, botanical institutions, orchid growers, scientists, hobbyists and general readers: I have recently learned that Prof. Peter Crane, Director of RBG, Kew, has once again taken it upon himself to circulate letters to many of you about the factual basis of my book – Orchid Fever. I have already addressed earlier statements made by Prof. Crane which he included in a similar mass mailing last year. My detailed rebuttal to those statements appeared in the American Orchid Society magazine ‘Orchids’. It now appears that Prof. Crane has come up with a new claim that Orchid Fever is misleading because it suggests that Kew staff behaved improperly in their dealings with Henry Azadehdel, the orchid collector and convicted smuggler of thirteen, nursery-grown, CITES Appendix II orchids. Crane uses the term ‘no impropriety’ on  the part of Kew staff in his recent letter which suggests some sort of minor oversight. I am uncertain what ‘impropriety’ means in the British context, but my statements in Orchid Fever are solely concerned with whether the solicitation and acceptance of rare orchids from Azadehdel was ethical, or legal, and if the plants were accompanied by valid CITES permits. Prof. Crane’s comments have been reprinted in full in ‘Orchid Review’ as well as ‘Orchid Digest’. In the spirit of fair play, I requested an opportunity to write unedited rebuttals of equal length to these accusations in both publications, but I was refused that courtesy by Henry Oakeley at ‘Orchid Review’ and by Harold Koopowitz and Alejandro Capriles at ‘Orchid Digest’. While I understand that these individuals have their personal reasons for denying me equal time, it does not serve the orchid community to stifle open and public debate. Because many orchid people who read these journals also follow online discussions, I felt that this would be an appropriate venue to post my response to Crane’s statements. Chapter 5 of Orchid Fever describes Henry Azadehdel and his involvement with Kew staff in great detail, and I invite each one of you to carefully examine the precise wording of the text. There were early threats from Kew regarding this chapter but those threats evaporated upon presentation of solid documentary evidence to support my statements. If Kew was unable to challenge these plain facts at the time of publication, one must wonder why, 18 months later, they are now trying to assert that members of their staff were not guilty of any impropriety. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the fact checking process and legal reviews carried out by reputable publishing houses, I would like to describe the process as it applies to my book Orchid Fever. Orchid Fever is the result of nearly seven years of careful research, interviews, follow-up interviews and painstaking fact-checking with the help of experts in the various fields covered in the book. The completed manuscript went through an eight week, line-by-line, review by the legal department of my US publisher, Random House, which is arguably one of the most distinguished and well respected publishers in the world. Publishers are legally responsible for the words of their authors, and for this reason they closely examine what is submitted in manuscript form. All statements must be backed up by compelling documentation. Following the legal review, the entire manuscript was meticulously fact checked for several months by independent botanists, orchid taxonomists, experts in CITES history, law and trade regulations, orchid breeders and conservationists, as well as people from many other associated fields of study. The author had no say in the selection of these expert fact checkers and was not allowed contact with these people during this process. My UK publisher, Methuen, another highly regarded publishing house, insisted on their own legal and fact checking review which lasted another four weeks. This was to make certain that the text was fully in compliance with UK law. During both of the legal reviews and fact checking procedures each sentence and its meaning was carefully and thoroughly scrutinized. The back up documentation for Orchid Fever occupies approximately eight linear feet of shelf space in my office. So with this in mind, let us take a closer look at the recent ‘facts’ presented by Prof. Peter Crane. Prof. Crane states that Henry Azadehdel "…contacted at least six members of Kew’s staff at various times in 1984 and offered to exchange plants with Kew from his collection." I am uncertain how much fact checking Prof. Crane has done, but according to letters from the Kew archives, the office of the CITES Scientific Authority for plants in the UK – which is located at Kew, and from court documents from the trial of Henry Azadehdel (copies of which I have in my possession), Prof. Crane has the story turned completely backwards. The requests for rare orchids came from Kew staff, not from Mr. Azadehdel as suggested in Crane’s letter. As I point out in Orchid Fever, it was Kew staff that requested undescribed new species, as well as rare and endangered, CITES protected orchids from Azadehdel. The meaning of these letters is very clear. In one letter from 1984, Azadehdel is advised, by Dr. Phillip Cribb, on where Paphiopedilum malipoense, a very rare species of slipper orchid, might be found. Other letters acknowledge the safe arrival of mature specimens of rare species that, to the best of my knowledge, were not available as nursery grown plants through commercial nurseries, nor were wild collected plants legally obtainable without proper CITES permits. CITES does allow for an exchange of wild-collected species between bonafide research institutions for scientific study, but Azadehdel is not a research institution and Kew staff would have been very well aware of this fact. All of this correspondence was written on Kew stationary, by Kew staff to Henry Azadehdel. As I have  already pointed out to Prof. Crane and others, this information was not, by any stretch of the imagination, intended to reflect official policy at RBG, Kew, or to discredit this fine institution which I hold in very high regard. The purpose of my comments was to bring into question the working relationship between Henry Azadehdel and certain members of Kew’s staff. Even after Dr. Cribb had alerted the authorities about the possible illegal activities of Mr. Azadehdel (and had become actively involved in the investigation), he continued to solicit and accept CITES protected orchids from Mr. Azadehdel (letter from Cribb to Azadehdel, dated 3 April 1985, acknowledging receipt of P. javanicum for the live collection at Kew). Following publication of the UK edition of Orchid Fever in early 2000, Dr. Cribb instructed his solicitors/attorneys to threaten my UK publisher with legal action for obscure and vague reasons outlined in a 12-page, single-spaced document that can be politely described as angry, confused, and in parts – incoherent. Upon threat of legal action for libel, Dr. Cribb’s solicitors demanded a financial settlement, retractions, and a public apology from the author. In response, my publisher repeatedly asked for a clear, concise and final list of relevant passages along with page numbers and direct quotes from the book. This sort of concise and final list has never been received by my publisher. Since publication of Orchid Fever, Dr. Cribb’s solicitors have spent more than 12 months looking for inaccuracies, factual errors and libelous comments. They have corrected the spellings of Sigmotastalix (to Sigmatostalix), and the common name of a pit viper found in Malaysia, but they have come up with nothing of substance. My UK publisher has courteously refused to make any changes apart from several instances of word usage to make the author’s meaning more clear. This refusal to be bullied or intimidated by legal threats is admirable and correct because the book is based on fact which is backed up by hard data, court documents, personal letters, email exchanges and other solid evidence. There has been no legal action taken against the publisher or author for the simple reason that there was never any basis for legal action in the first place. Over a five year period, I actively and repeatedly solicited Dr. Cribb’s participation and input regarding his mutually beneficial working relationship with Henry Azadehdel, but for whatever reasons he declined my offers. These offers were presented in the spirit of fair play. I articulated exactly what sort of information I was looking for and this approach to fact finding far exceeds the most stringent standards for responsible journalism and writing. Had Dr. Cribb offered an explanation I would have included this in the book. In fact, I once again extend this offer to him, and I will carefully consider his comments for possible inclusion in the future printings of Orchid Fever. The last challenge from Dr. Cribb and his solicitors was directed at my statement of fact that Dr. Cribb had made an undercover scouting visit to the Popow nursery prior to the (now legendary) armed raid and confiscation of nearly 17,000 orchids in 1988.  Dr. Cribb and his solicitors claimed that no prior visit took place, that the statement was untrue and should therefore be deleted from the book. My UK publisher and I have copies of the German court document that provides full details and the date that Dr. Cribb made his prior visit to the Popow nursery. Since mentioning this document to Dr. Cribb’s solicitors seven months ago, we have not heard back from these fact-finding gentlemen. Prof. Crane claims that Orchid Fever "…denigrates individuals and institutions that are actively trying to conserve orchids in the … read more »

Response:

Well, maybe I’ll post it later….

Response:

Gee, Kathy.  What were you up to here? — Ray Barkalow –<– First Rays Orchids http://www.firstrays.com Secure Online Ordering & Lots of Free Info

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Well, maybe I’ll post it later….

Response:

Ok, Eric Hansen sent me a copy of his rebutal to comments Kew made in the ‘Orchid Digest’ magazine. I guess the paperback edition of ‘Orchid Fever’ is coming out. I was going to post Hansen’s comments here, but then suddenly thought oops!! Maybe I’d be stealing Hansens’ thunder if I posted it prematurely. I asked him, and he’d prefer it if I’d hold off till it hits the ODG sometime later this week. After that, I’ll post it here for those of you not on the ODG Now you know the rest of the story. K Barrett – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Gee, Kathy.  What were you up to here? — Ray Barkalow –<– First Rays Orchids http://www.firstrays.com Secure Online Ordering & Lots of Free Info Well, maybe I’ll post it later….

Response:

Filed under: Orchids Gardens

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