New Delhi: A top US-based expert on China has warned of Fusarium graminearum, the biological pathogen, “something worse” than COVID-19 if the United States is not careful, days after two Chinese scientists were charged with allegedly smuggling a toxic fungus into the US. Two citizens of the People’s Republic of China, Yunqing Jian, 33, and Zunyong Liu, 34, were arrested for allegedly bringing a fungus called Fusarium graminearum, a plant pathogen, into the U.S. through the Detroit Metropolitan Airport, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Jian received Chinese government funding for her work on this pathogen in China and intended to bring it to a laboratory at the University of Michigan, according to a criminal complaint filed in the Eastern District of Michigan. Liu, Jian’s boyfriend, works at a Chinese university where he conducts research on the same pathogen, according to the Justice Department.
According to the reports, ‘Fusarium graminearum’ causes “head blight,” a disease of wheat, barley, maize, and rice. The US Justice Department said the fungus is classified in scientific literature as a “potential agroterrorism weapon,” and causes billions of dollars in losses each year. It causes vomiting, liver damage, and reproductive defects in humans and livestock. The couple had previously conducted work on the fungus in China.
Referring to the case, America’s top expert on Chinese affairs, Gordon G Chang, told international media that the couple’s action amounted to waging war against the US. Chang said that if the US does not take drastic steps like cutting off ties with China, it may be hit “perhaps with something worse” than COVID-19. The origin of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which caused the COVID-19 pandemic, is a matter of huge controversy, as some experts suspect the coronavirus was allegedly engineered in a Chinese lab.
