Public sentiment regarding the smuggling of Fusarium Graminearum fungus is overwhelmingly negative, driven by fear and suspicion toward China as a potential threat to U.S. national security. Many comments equate the smuggling to an act of terrorism or war, expressing frustration and distrust towards U.S. political leadership for perceived leniency or ineffectiveness. While a portion of commenters highlights concerns about overblown narratives and propaganda against Chinese nationals, the overarching reaction is of fear, suspicion, and criticism of both Chinese nationals and U.S. handling of the situation as xenophobic and politically manipulated.

China

U.S. Government

Chinese Nationals

U.S. Political Leadership

This is bonkers without more context. We have *Fusarium graminearum* in the US. We grow it in class for demonstration for teaching plant pathology. They describe it like it's a superweapon that would lead to disaster if it ever got unleashed here. 

**That article "found" on one of their phones and only mentioned by name isn't about agri-terror warfare at all, it's a completely normal article about plants fighting pathogens that uses the word warfare. [Plant-Pathogen Warfare under Changing Climate Conditions](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982218304123). They literally only mentioned it because it sounds scary. This single thing should give you a sense of how the facts are being presented in the worst light possible.**

&gt;Messages between the two in 2024 suggest that Jian was already tending to *Fusarium graminearum* at the campus lab before Liu was caught at the Detroit airport, the FBI said



And messages on my computer would also suggest that I was "tending to" *Fusarium graminearum* last semester for class, to show students... a strain that's from the same state I live in. It's a really common species to work with.


&gt;they apparently intended to use a University of Michigan laboratory to further their scheme


The scheme was probably to...research the fungus?

USDA APHIS does have rules for importing and exporting cultures, but it happens all the time and cultures go in and out constantly to people who have the right permits and facilities (flow hoods to contain them, etc). It makes a lot more sense that they were being stupid with cultures because it's a huge pain to do permits and stuff the "right way" and takes so long especially with the state of the USDA right now (I know from constant experience) and way too many people get lazy with it or skirt it. But now's a really bad time to do that, especially as a foreign national.


Fear mongering. Sucks for these young researchers though, who could have easily been under a lot of pressure to get the right cultures for the right results.



Edit: to be clear, I don't think it's good to skirt permits and I don't do it myself, I'm just being realistic. It happens a lot.

DSG_Mycoscopic

The real story is that the US put out a blatant piece of propaganda in an attempt to embarrass and pressure China, and this news outlet published it without fact checking or any journalism. 
Thank you for explaining, those of you in research. 
I'm embarrassed of my government

Onedayyouwillthankme

To give a bit of context:

I work in a mycology lab. We are located in the EU and cooperate with a few labs in other EU countries. That often includes shipping fungal cultures over borders.

The correct route is utterly complicated and bureaucratic - even for non-pathogenic fungi. Thus, most often, we just have someone drive to the other lab. We had previous PhD students take the sample in luggage by train. 

So, absolutely nothing suspicious here, especially for something so widely used as Fusarium sp and especially if the scientists previously did research on the fungus.

Knufia_petricola

Their true crime was being Chinese. This is just an excuse to get a headline. Absolutely disgusting behavior from the government and the media.

Lig-Benny

Fusarium wilt is a common plant pathogen. It's rather unfortunate these folks are being strung up as an example over what amounts to playing with dirt.

Grass-no-Gr

despite the utter stupidity of these people , esp in today's outrageous political climate, this is clearly government scare mongering china + warfare + fungus to support an already existing campaign of discrimination &amp; fear

lwb52

Pretty obvious they’ll be going to prison due to our current administration.

kjk050798

So... More xenophobic Chump administration horse shit.

BoB_the_TacocaT

This is so wild to me on so many fronts.

But gotta say, calling someone "aliens" when your last name is "Gorgon" really stands out.

Girl_Problem

The CIA is in the wrong here and they should be ashamed (they won't be).

This is a nothingburger with a side of vomitoxin.

Neanderthal_In_Space

ConcentrateSea2505

Trump administration really wants to start WWIII huh?

Just_Juggernaut3232

&gt;A disease of wheat, barley, ...  

Not the beer ingredients!  

&gt;Causes vomiting, liver damage, and reproductive defects  

Are we talking about the fungus or the beer?

little_brown_bat

Agora_Black_Flag

This is probably a political prosecution and not related to this fungus at all. It sounds like they were just studying normal plant pathology.

spooky_spaghetties

Why would anyone commit biological warfare or terrorism at a national scale?

Blowback would inevitably happen.

Jazzlike_Strength561

Fusarium graminearum is a “select agent” right?  It  is considered an organism of specific concern to US national security because its targeted release could have a devastating effect on food security.  It isn’t a quarantine issue of keeping it out of the country, as has been pointed out it is here already, it is a matter of making sure that it is controlled.  Bacillus anthracis is the same.
This isn’t ignoring an APHIS permit, to possess  a select agent requires vetting and Inspection by Homeland Security and FBI.  Bringing it in to the country requires not just a permit from APHIS, but coordination from the Department of Commerce and permission from the Department of State.  It’s not a couple of cultures in your backpack. 
Yes, it’s a huge bureaucratic hassle. It’s meant to be.


.

Beginning-Medium708

Can someone explain what is the purpose of growing this and researching it over and over because it sounds like it’s already been done and so what is the research for? If they are innocent why are they doing this research? If they are not what is the purpose of the research. And if it’s ok why did they hide it and say they didn’t know what it was. I understand this can easily be a politicized but without including opinions can one of you experts explain the good the bad and the ugly of this. Thanks!

nvan22

Is incompetence going to start WW3?  Or are super intelligent AI overlords going to take away our dangerous toys? 
Inquiring minds want to know!

Fishtoart

Unless it was something worse that they had, and this is a cover up so people think “it’s only fungi, how bad could it be”

ILikeCoffeeNTrees

Did someone leak the Interstellar prequel script?

Koenigss15

here is the press release from the justice department

[https://www.justice.gov/usao-edmi/pr/chinese-nationals-charged-conspiracy-and-smuggling-dangerous-biological-pathogen-us](https://www.justice.gov/usao-edmi/pr/chinese-nationals-charged-conspiracy-and-smuggling-dangerous-biological-pathogen-us)

Biological samples should certainly be transported according to protocol, especially if they are contagious pathogens. he should have had proper material transfer agreements and documentation and followed all safety and regulatory protocols imposed by governments, universities involved, and grants he was funded by.



its quite strange that the press release states that the boyfriend intended to research f garminearum in a lab where his girlfriend worked. one does not typically get access to their spouses lab space.

if both are who i think they are, they both openly research the f garminearum in china as well as the US and i believe they are both postdocs at umich.

[https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=06iZ5bEAAAAJ&amp;hl=en](https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=06iZ5bEAAAAJ&amp;hl=en)

[https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=7g3uMkUAAAAJ&amp;hl=en](https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=7g3uMkUAAAAJ&amp;hl=en)

Zunyong Lius profile shows an affiliation with a chinese university. in some of their recent publications, they are affiliated with the chinese university, umich, or texas A&amp;M. They have publications researching f garminearum while affiliated with texas a&amp;m.

zunyong seems to have a linkedin profile stating they are a postdoc at umich and they can be seen at the umich website in 2022 here:

[https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/mpmi/outreach-resource/](https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/mpmi/outreach-resource/)

in summary, from what i can peice together, both seem to be legitimate postdocs/research assosiates at umich who have both openly researched f garminearum both in china, and in the US.

If the justice departments claims are true, zunyong seriously fucked up in transporting samples in a way that arent compliant with all necessary regulations.

if the justice departments claims are true, they seriously fucked up by lying about it.

however, on the surface, it would not seem to me that it was an attempt at bioterrorism. i would speculate they already had access to various strains of the pathogen within the states as well.

SelarDorr

I hate that headline because nowhere in the article does it imply it was an terrorism attempt

&gt; The couple was charged with multiple counts, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, smuggling goods into the country and making false statements to investigators, the complaint says.

This seems more like the details around Kseniiya Petrova’s bringing in frog embryos in admittedly an incorrect manner, and then being slapped with a severe punishment.


https://apnews.com/article/immigration-russia-frog-embryo-harvard-0a409edae29bd98ce4fd4cdb6c6a0685

Zen1

Sounds like a couple of scientists used poor judgement and then the racist rubes at ICE used the situation to drum up anti immigrant, anti-China sentiment.

Coondiggety

My money is on samples that were wild type or knock outs that would speed up the work to understand how to combat the fungus.

Stupid post-docs being too focused on research and not a year's worth of red tape. No question they should follow the red tape, but a story that started in 2024 is not the biggest bioterrorism event of the decade. 

Anyone remember 2020 when thousands received unknown seeds from China and they just planted them?  That's how you introduce plant pathogen, not in sandwich bags in your backpack.

BarsOfSanio

Thing is, this fungus is native to north America. There's no proof they weren't conducting legitimate research with this. Could be a variety of reasons why they might be interested in samples of the same fungus from other parts of the globe...

GoHamInHogHeaven

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I read that the lab does not have authorization to work on something like this. Which leads me to believe there could a potential of it being used as a agro-terrorism. That said, weighing in how our government is currently ran, I’m not sure how to take this info in. 

Also, we have this fungus in the US already, with this being a different strain. So maybe it was research to get ahead of what might come down the road w/ crop destruction from climate change. There’s a lot of factors to consider, which I don’t think we’ll get all the information. Especially since Loco Taco and China are in the middle of a pissing contest.

Thanks to everyone posting up links for everyone to ingest more of what’s going on!!

Crazycook99

Time to ramp up Anti-Chinese sentiment with nothing burgers because China is advancing faster than the U.S. is failing. This is truly pathetic, everyone knows the biggest meddler in U.S. affairs is not China or Russia, it’s Israel.

MrTubalcain

Gives of 'common side effects' vibes xD

Anyone doesn't know the series should watch, it's really good

Creisel

I mean I used to take my sample vials of methane, nitrogen oxides, hydrochloric acid, etc on a bus or even train when I was doing my PhD as I had no car to get between labs. I wouldn’t do that on an airplane though easier to ship it. Good luck to them bet they are feeling the heat.

Onion-Fart

So this happened last July, and the Trump administration arrested the woman this week.

Here is what happened, reading between the lines: the creeps in the administration are looking to terrorize and deport any foreigner they possibly can, so they are scouring records for any excuse to do it. Some worker learned to read well enough to discover this happened, and found out that the woman still worked at UMich. Now that worker will get a pat on the back and a MAGA pin.

Transferring biological strains like this is naughty, but it is also something ridiculously common with zero risk (for this case at least), and in a sane society would not result in essentially any punishment, but we live in a fascist state now and it is not safe to practice science here if you are foreign.

AFGEstan

I wish we wouldn’t post Clickbait titles on here. Where exactly is there any indication that this was terrorism?

Traveledfarwestward

And there's absolutely no way that Covid escaped a Chinese lab, no way bro, they got protocols, and always tell the truth.

III00Z102BO

I’m sorry to say this but if you want to do science, it’s time to get out of the US asap. 

ASAP.

Leiahnah

MAybe three years ago there was a mass mailing of mystery seeds cooming from china to tens of thousands of homes in the US that didnt order anything.  The concern was that people would just plant these seeds in the wild to see what grew. The government got involved and advised anyone receiving these seeds not to plant them or throw them in the garbage. I never heard a follow up as to what that was all about.

Extension-Scarcity41

&gt;“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.”

Oh come on, this is just a comically over-the-top narrative by poorly educated government agents trying to be heroes in a fictional action movie. 

And throw in a little bit of Red Scare propaganda:

&gt;U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgon said in a statement: “The alleged actions of these Chinese nationals — including a loyal member of the Chinese Communist Party — are of the gravest national security concerns.”

These aren't agroterrorists. These are students studying in the [University of Michigan Plant Pathology program](https://lsa.umich.edu/mcdb/research/broad-areas-of-research/plant-molecular-biology.html), which specializes in fighting these funguses, not spreading them.

Here is [a paper they published in Nature](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-09145-6) identifying target pathways for *disabling* the virulence of this fungus.

The research at that laboratory is publicly available, not some secret basement terrorist network. The only reason the Feds are treating these two so harshly is because they're Chinese-born. It's nationalistic, xenophobic persecution.

TBSchemer

[deleted]

Yeah, toss both in prison, revoke their visas, and deport them once they've completed their sentence.

SonyScientist

What this article doesnt want to tell you is this fungi is already existing in the US for over a century. 

&gt;“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.”

My god the wording they used, it would make any China hawk cum all over themselves just from reading it.

* Aliens
* Smuggling
* Terrorism
* Heartland of America (even I just got a Patriotic Boner from saying that, heartland.)
* Schemes

GetOutOfTheWhey

They did say the plan to win the war without firing a shot... so this is part of that.

HotTicket2

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Cheekobeans

I don’t think we should give them a pass. They're scientists. Funny how they’re clever enough for research, but too clueless for basic legal procedures.

metta2

Appropriate_Chef_203

Oh boy, I sure hope that users on this thread will condemn and vilify this as biological terrorism and definitely not defend or excuse this act as a form of “science”! 

Suspicious_Airline41

A covid virus lab leak wasn't enough, now they're trying to go after the world with fungus after watching The Last of Us on HBO

iwanttodrink

Hey that golden wood ear is super tasty….feeling fuzzy…..thoghts no gud….errrrr ….grrrrr

Balgor1

Here's a thought - maybe China and the US are just incompatible. Similar to Azerbaijian/Armenia or Saudi/Iran or India/Pakistan or Israel/Palestine. The divorce has been going on for about a decade now, get ready for the signing of the papers.

gaddnyc

Yeah, they would totally send known party members with bioweapons in their hands and have them easily caught. Cmon.

No-Muscle-3318

This was my concern with those Chinese balloons. Easy enough to load a huge amount of spores and release them.

suprmario

RemyhxNL

The FBI’s final statement on the topic is “No need to worry. There is no more fungus among us.”

Known-Delay7227

Seriously, one would had thought snuggling dangerous plant contraband would be a red flag for researchers no matter what good intentions.

ExcellentRest5919

US did something similar when they send seeds of a weed. 

https://youtube.com/shorts/85cZVPqe8kQ?si=D4VH2o0sIW5beFjI

The_trillionaire_

Honestly as a US researcher who used to work with Fusarium graminearum this could be totally nothing at all.  It's honestly a whole fucking thing to get biological samples into the us for research and if your lab is low on money or time it can be very tempting to just bring them in secretly.  I've heard of it happening. Nothing nefarious going on at all.

BronzeSpoon89

This month's version of the spying balloons. Cringe and hilariously ridiculous

idcarethalightest

go on with the propaganda lol… the idiocy in the US is astounding

dedboooo0

eaglesman217

So many questions, so little time to read. Fungi have so many uses, even if it’s a dangerous strain it could be grown and manipulated into something positive. The largest living organism is living in the PNW area; fungi :D 
Are they students? Are they scientist funded by a private American company or ngo or one of our scientists like Paul stamotes to collect different variants?

RiftUnix1

Just beware these prcs. They're capable of carrying out all sorts... including all sorts Unscrupulous acts. Its nvr easy to nap them &amp; by the time you realise it's already too late!

Educational_Row_671

I heard it was cordyceps, because we like TLOU so much.

/s

4d_lulz

1wonderwhy1

China couldn’t just thank the US for saving them from the Samurai swords and move on?

Appeal-Still

curry-bradshow

Bioterrorism charges are legit, love seeing people defend them while being horribly wrong.

Sorry this ain't the kind of "work" you smuggle between countries. There is official channels of moving such things and mold spores are insanely difficult to contain.

They are either insanely stupid or "terrorists", with a small chance of both being true.

InternationalPay245

This is a ridiculous assumption considering that Fusarium Graminearum is already present in US soils en masse, and has been for a long time. It is in a majority of soils surrounding native grasses in the Americas. [https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5813145/](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5813145/) And has reached "epidemic levels" years ago. This would be like accusing the Chinese of agroterrorism for bringing a lighter to the US when half the US was currently on fire already.

rdizzy1223

They are scientists who have publications on Fusarium graminearum and study plant pathogen interactions with the primary goal to understandand help eradicate plant diseases and ensure food security. A lot of labs in US also work on plant pathology.  They are not terrorists.

Rpdaca

"They also claim she is a member of the Chinese Communist Party."

Ooooh!

For the record, just about everyone that gets a job in the public sector in China are members of the CCP. If you want to be the head nurse in your section at the local hospital, you are a communist nurse.

This is likely a dumb move and not espionage. Bad timing to pull that, though.

TedDallas

This is really sad. Seems most likely like an emerging young researcher with a promising track record of publications made a bad choice to circumnavigate paperwork to transport a common fungus already known to be present in wide areas of the US.

FungalNeurons

If she was trying to study this fungus as a scientist, she would get the right clearance. The fact that she is a part of the CCP and smuggling an agroterrorism weapon is a huge red flag. You will probably never be able to prove that there was malicious intentions at some level but with enough of situations happening like this, the maliciousness of the acts can be assumed.

Chogo82

That's concerning, but good to know some of  the FBI is still functioning properly.

SoupSpelunker

Looks like we need a moratorium on immigration from certain countries. Things are getting intense.

Szorja

They said they were going to do research with the fungus. The problem I have is there are ways to bring things like this into the country for research that don’t require smuggling it into the country. But safety protocols have to be followed. So either this was a fly by night operation that didn’t follow the protocols or they had something nefarious in mind. Either way it’s not good. 

Either way it easily could have resulted in “ooops, we didn’t intend for it to get loose.”

johnnyg883

Pinot_Greasio

For those that don’t care for the garbage website go the NYP, here’s a good Wikipedia write up:

Additionally, On June 4th 2025, 2 Chinese citizens, Jian Yunqing, 33, and Liu Zunyong, 34, were charged after they were caught trying to smuggle 4 Fusarium graminearum samples through the Detroit airport customs checkpoint. Both were paid by the Chinese government and studied plant pathogens at universities, according to court documents. Mr. Liu was caught with the fungus in July and his samples were seized along with electronic devices. He was then denied entry and processed for removal back to China, according to court papers. A search of his luggage revealed four clear plastic baggies with small clumps of reddish plant material and he stated that he thought someone planted the material in his bag.[18]
Ms. Jian was arrested by the FBI for her purported role in attempting to smuggle in the fungus called Fusarium graminearum, which is classified in scientific studies as “a potential agroterrorism weapon,” the statement said.[18]
He left the country in April 2024 after having worked at a University of Michigan laboratory. The FBI then examined the samples and discovered they contained Fusarium graminearum. “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,” said Jerome F. Gorgon Jr., U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan.[18]
An FBI complaint in the case suggests one of the suspects was engaged in secret biological weapons work. A document found on the iPhone of Mr. Liu contained an article titled “2018 Plant-Pathogen Warfare under Changing Climate Conditions.” According to an article published in the journal Food Security and referred to in the Justice Department statement, Fusarium graminearum is classified as a potential agroterrorism weapon that could be used for targeting food crops

Narrow-Trash-8839

I’m a 2nd generation Chinese American and don’t trust “my own” people lol

bw2082

When do we realize that China has been waging a silent war with the US for decades and when do we respond appropriately?

ytilonhdbfgvds

If foreign nationals were found in possession of a WMD, fucking string them up NOW. Don't give the courts a chance to go soft on them.

Fact_Stater

Diversity IS NOT our most valuable asset as a country.  This is terrifying.

Ida_PotatHo

Why is it that when the Chinese communists smuggle something,organize something or infiltrate something……that something is always located in a left controlled state…


Very peculiar 🤔

Almost looks like a pattern…..wonder what it could possibly be?🤷‍♂️

tsoxiko

QSector

The mainstream media needs to educate the public about how serious this is.

YesHelloDolly

Both should be arrested and tried on terrorism charges. 
Order all Chinese nationals out of the country.

Bitter-Assignment464

MeLlamoKilo

Boyz2sh_t

And people still think covid came from a wet market...

fordry

It could also be the inverse, if they found a treatment for the fungus then their agricultural sector would pull in billions more per year. Then they'd get the secondary money for fungus resistant seeds. The CCP definitely wants more money and agriculture is their big wide base, so expanding their base would be ideal for them. They can't get more people into productive farmland, so they're probably trying to maximize the farmland they have available. With the bad drought they've had over the last three years combined with this years heavy rain there's a good chance they're going to experience more fungus related crop failures over the next two years. Dry then flood leads to fungus and mud. At least for rice growing.

With all of the farmland they tried to buy in the U.S. (I live in Oklahoma) and have bought there would be a lot of land for them to experiment on that would leave no risk to mainland Chinese farmers, maybe that was part of the point. No repercussions.  If they 'mismanaged' the farmland and by 'accident' spread crop based disease it would be potentially devastating.

personman_76

The smuggling of a dangerous biological pathogen raises concerns about agro-terrorism and its potential impact on food security worldwide.

Agro-terrorism and the Smuggling of Fusarium Graminearum Fungus

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