Recently, a loved one and I were recalling some of the many trips of my youth to Europe. I was going through my old diaries and remembering highlights of these, when I came across some small, dried and pressed flowers and small leaves in my diary pages. My loved one said, "And you brought those back to the US!" I was alarmed -- yikes, had I done something wrong? I had been living in the Mediterranean, and wanted these small samples of memory, and never once thought that they were worthy of being declared at customs. I also brought some lovely small stones from the Greek shores. THAT got me to thinking about my semester of teaching English in the Czech Republic. While there, I purchased two down comforters and brought them home. Again -- I can't recall ever declaring them to customs nor feeling the need to. That was back in 1991. So, my question is this: were the dried flowers, small stones from the Ionian shores, and the down comforters no-no's? If so, what should I do now?
Posted by
Washington DC Region, USA
7054 posts
Dried flowers can easily fit between book pages, so that's no big deal. There's probably no way they can trace where the stones came from (are they not supposed to be removed?). Down comforters seem a bit bulky. None of these items seems to me to bring any foreign invasive species or bacteria into the country that have more to do with agricultural products. Also, none of the items appear to exceed some "x" amount of value, after which you'd be asked to pay taxes. I may be wrong, but I don't really see any issues with these products.
Posted by
Seattle, WA
17422 posts
They are concerned about soil ( which can harbor disease-causing organisms), bugs, plant diseases, and invasive species. So the rule is that all plants and plant parts, even dried ones, must be declared so they can be inspected. You even have to be careful with packaged seeds you might buy at a garden store in Europe---they must be properly packaged and stamped for export.
https://www.cbp.gov/travel/clearing-cbp/bringing-agricultural-products-united-states
Soil and sand are not allowed, but clean rocks are probably OK. Down comforters contain an animal product (goosedown) but are no more worrisome than wool products---not a problem.
Posted by
Germany
1117 posts
If so, what should I do now?
Any bugs you may have imported back in 1991 will, by now, either have spread out over all of America with disastrous effects, or will have died off. Either way, too late to worry now. ;-)
Posted by
California USA
4100 posts
I had a small dried flower arrangement, purchased in Munich at the viktualienmarkt taken from me at US customs in LA about 15 years ago so I never bring plant based material home with me any more.
Posted by
Germany
1117 posts
Yeah, you may be out of luck, like this musician.
I wonder what happens when they find out that violins are made out of natural materials. Wood! Horse tail hair!
Oboists even tend to carry reeds - that's almost the same thing as bamboo, isn't it?
Posted by
11 posts
I play the violin...
There is a ban on imported ivory. Many of the older bows for string instruments contain ivory. So, musicians have to carry documentation stating that the ivory is old...
Posted by
Germany
1117 posts
Yeah, new ivory might contain dangerous bugs. :-)