https://archive.md/pwWIv
"For the first time, researchers have voted to eliminate scientific names of
organisms because they are offensive. Botanists decided that more than 200
plants, fungi and algae species names should no longer contain a racial slur
related to the word caffra, which is used against Black people and others
mostly in southern Africa.
The changes voted on today at the International Botanical Congress in Madrid
mean that plants such as the coast coral tree will, from 2026, be formally
called
Erythrina affra, instead of
Erythrina caffra.
“We throughout had faith in the process and the majority global support of our
colleagues, even though the outcome of the vote was always going to be close,”
says Gideon Smith, a plant taxonomist at Nelson Mandela University (NMU) in
Gqeberha, South Africa, who proposed the change along with fellow NMU
taxonomist Estrela Figueiredo.
Their proposal takes species names based on the word caffra and its derivatives
and replaces them with derivatives of ‘afr’ to instead recognize Africa. The
measure passed in a tense secret ballot, with 351 votes in favour against 205
opposed.
Alina Freire-Fierro, a botanist at the Technical University of Cotopaxi in
Latacunga, Ecuador, says it was good that the ‘caffra’ amendment was passed,
because of the offence it causes. But its passage could open the door for other
similar changes, she says. “This could potentially cause a lot of confusion and
problems to users in many fields aside from botany.”"
Via Susan ****
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
