This month, three Chinese nationals were charged with smuggling biological agents into the United States. The attempts could be part of a biological weapons attack on America's farms and ranches.
On June 3, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan announced that Yunqing Jian, 33, and Zunyong Liu, 34, had been charged with conspiracy, smuggling, false statements, and visa fraud.
Jian was arrested for smuggling Fusarium graminearum, a "potential agroterrorism weapon" that causes "head blight." The fungal disease hits wheat, barley, maize, and rice and "is responsible for billions of dollars in economic losses worldwide each year." In humans and livestock, head blight causes vomiting, liver damage, and reproductive defects.
