Two Chinese nationals have been charged with smuggling a plant pathogen into the US for research at a University of Michigan laboratory, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on 3 June. The couple has also been charged with making false statements and visa fraud. They were arrested in connection with allegations related to secretly transporting the fungus Fusarium graminearum, which federal prosecutors claim is classified in the scientific literature as ‘a potential agroterrorism weapon’, although experts Chemistry World spoke to disagreed.
According to the complaint, Yunqing Jian, a postdoctoral researcher at the university, received Chinese government funding to work on this pathogen in China. In addition, there was apparently information on Jian’s electronic devices that she was a member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Jian’s boyfriend, Zunyong Liu, works for a university in China where he conducts research on the same pathogen, according to the US Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Michigan. The office maintains that Liu, who also appears to be a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan, lied when intercepted at an airport in Detroit but then later admitted to smuggling F. graminearum into the US in order to conduct research on it at the University of Michigan lab where Jian worked.
‘These two aliens have been charged with smuggling a fungus that has been described as a “potential agroterrorism weapon” into the heartland of America, where they apparently intended to use a University of Michigan laboratory to further their scheme,’ stated Jerome Gorgon Jr, US Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. F. graminearum causes head blight, a disease affecting crops such as wheat, barley and rice.
However, University of Wisconsin, Madison plant pathologist Caitilyn Allen says F. graminearum is not on the US government’s list of plant pathogens that are designated for heightened regulation and scrutiny. ‘To the best of my knowledge F. graminearum is not classified as an agroterrorism weapon,’ Allen tells Chemistry World. ‘Fusarium graminearum does not pose a national security threat.’ She emphasises that this organism is not new and has been in the US for at least 125 years.
Importing foreign strains of a pathogen into the US requires a permit from the US Department of Agriculture and it doesn’t appear that these scientists had authorisation, according to Allen. ‘It appears they were planning to do experiments with it in a university lab that studies how plants resist diseases with the goal of breeding disease-resistant crops that don’t require fungicides,’ she says. ‘Resistant plants are the best way to manage crop diseases. It seems that this was bad judgment fueled by scientific excitement, not agroterrorism.’
Jan Leach, a plant pathologist at Colorado State University, says that while this fungus is not on any plant pathogen watchlist a permit is still required to bring this one into the US, and failure to obtain one would show a ‘lack of good judgement’. However, she adds that the two researchers may not have been aware that they required such authorisation and suggests better training for students may be needed.
Paul Esker, an associate professor of epidemiology and field crop pathology at Pennsylvania State University, agrees that F. graminearum is not a significant threat. ‘I don’t see this as a major risk, as we have an established programme for working on this pathogen from the lab to the field and through extension,’ he states. ‘There are also well-established programmes working on breeding and genetics of this pathogen and the mycotoxins that can be caused.’
Jian made her initial court appearance on 3 June in Detroit. Meanwhile, the University of Michigan is distancing itself from the couple. ‘We strongly condemn any actions that seek to cause harm, threaten national security or undermine the university’s critical public mission,’ the university said in a statement, noting that it has not received any funding from the Chinese government related to research conducted by the accused individuals. ‘We have and will continue to cooperate with federal law enforcement in its ongoing investigation and prosecution,’ the university stated.
Kash Patel, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, claimed that the case was ‘a sobering reminder that the CCP is working around the clock to deploy operatives and researchers to infiltrate American institutions and target our food supply, which would have grave consequences … putting American lives and our economy at serious risk’.
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