![]()
A chinese couple has been charged with conspiracy, smuggling goods into the United States, false statements, and visa fraud, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit. The complaint, affidavit, and other documents were unsealed on June 3. The two were "involved" in a romantic relationship and said they were going to "research" the fungus at a University of Michigan lab. Testing at an FBI laboratory discovered a sample containing the DNA sequence that “would allow a researcher to propagate live spores of the fungus."
The fungus, Fusarium graminearum, which scientific literature classifies as a potential agroterrorism weapon, can be used to target food crops, the affidavit states. It causes "head blight," a disease affecting wheat, barley, maize, and rice, and is responsible for billions of dollars in economic losses worldwide each year, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan said in a news release. The toxins the fungus produces can cause vomiting, liver damage, and reproductive defects in livestock and humans. The fungus was brought into the US in a wad of tissues, according to an FBI affidavit in support of the criminal complaint filed Tuesday.
(0.0 from 0 votes)
