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Asia and Oceania

Two Chinese researchers arrested in the US for smuggling a toxic mushroom

The fungus is a dangerous pathogen that affects cereal crops, for the FBI it is 'agro-terrorism'. The couple would have already tried to get the pathogen in in 2022 and 2024

Grano sano e malato (Triticum sp.). Spighe di grano sane (più scure) rispetto a quelle infette dal fungo Fusarium graminearum (più chiare). Le spighe infette mostrano sintomi di ticchiolatura. Il Fusarium graminearum, noto anche come Gibberella zeae, è un fitopatogeno e un parassita agricolo che causa la malattia della spiga del grano. La fusariosi della spiga devasta i raccolti di grano e orzo (Hordeum vulgare), causando miliardi di dollari di perdite in tutto il mondo ogni anno. L’infezione provoca l’avvizzimento delle cariossidi e contamina il grano rimanente con micotossine. Queste tossine causano vomito, danni al fegato e difetti riproduttivi nel bestiame e sono dannose per l’uomo attraverso il cibo contaminato. (Bruce Fritz/US Department of Agriculture/Science Photo Library / AGF)

2' min read

2' min read

The scientific name is Fusarium graminearum, a toxic fungus considered a 'dangerous biological pathogen' by the US Department of Justice.

Two Chinese nationals Yunqing Jian, a 33-year-old researcher at the University of Michigan, and Zunyong Liu, a 34-year-old researcher at Zhejiang University in China, were charged with conspiracy and smuggling for attempting to smuggle samples into the United States.

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The fungus causes 'head rot', a disease that affects wheat, barley, maize and other crops, impairing their quality and yield. Epidemics related to this disease have broken out in several countries.

Toxins from the fungus can cause vomiting, liver damage, and reproductive defects in cattle and humans, reads the FBI's summons.

The bureau also describes the fungus as 'a potential agro-terrorist weapon that could be used to target food crops'.

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According to the affidavit, the two researchers, who are in a relationship, were both studying pathogens that are capable of infecting crops. Customs agents found in the researcher's backpack four sachets with samples inside, which were in turn hidden in a roll of tissues. Liu, aware of the restrictions on pathogenic material, wanted to study the fungus in the research lab at the University of Michigan, where Jian works.

Questioned by FBI agents, Jian had claimed to know nothing about what her boyfriend was carrying, but investigators found messages exchanged between the two in which they discussed how to send the biological material.

From analysis of the couple's communications, it would appear that they tried to bring in biological samples in both July 2024 and August 2022.

Liu was deported to China, while Jian was arrested and appeared before a judge on Tuesday.

FBI Director Kash Patel said that the agency has evidence indicating Jian's membership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and that the researcher has received funding from the Beijing government to conduct similar research in China.

In Jian's computer, the FBI allegedly found a document signed by the researcher in which she declared her support for the CCP. Almost 100 million Chinese citizens are party members, a requirement for a career in academia as well.

Lin Jian, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, said that he was not aware of the case, and that the Chinese government has always asked its citizens abroad to abide by the laws of the country they are in.

The University of Michigan, on the other hand, condemned 'any action that aims to cause harm, threaten national security, or undermine the public mission of the university', and stated that they had never received any funding from the Chinese government for the research conducted by Jian in their laboratories.

The affair provides an assist to the Trump administration, which is waging a battle to expel international students from Harvard University and wants to impose stricter controls on their access to the US.

Last week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared that visas for Chinese students with links to the CCP would be 'aggressively' revoked.

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