Chinese Students Attempted to Smuggle Bioweapon Into U.S.

I've seen several news stories on this, but here is Legal Insurrection's take: "Two Chinese Nationals Accused of Smuggling ‘Potential Agroterrorism’ Fungus into U.S." The bare bone facts from the article:

    Federal agents have arrested Yunqing Jian, a University of Michigan scholar originally from China, on charges related to the attempted smuggling of a hazardous biological pathogen into the United States.

    Jian, 33, and her boyfriend Zunyong Liu, 34, are accused of conspiring to bring the fungus Fusarium graminearum (classified in scientific literature as a potential agroterrorism weapon) into the country supposedly for research purposes at a University of Michigan laboratory.

    “The complaint also alleges that Jian’s electronics contain information describing her membership in and loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party,” a DOJ press release said. 

Liu works in a Chinese University where he also conducts research into the same pathogen. His girlfriend, Jian, "received money from a Chinese foundation funded largely by the Chinese government to conduct post-doctoral work, including research on a this particular fungus." 

    Wikipedia explains (footnotes omitted):

Gibberella zeae, also known by the name of its anamorph Fusarium graminearum, is a fungal plant pathogen which causes fusarium head blight (FHB), a devastating disease on wheat and barley. The pathogen is responsible for billions of dollars in economic losses worldwide each year. Infection causes shifts in the amino acid composition of wheat, resulting in shriveled kernels and contaminating the remaining grain with mycotoxins, mainly deoxynivalenol (DON), which inhibits protein biosynthesis; and zearalenone, an estrogenic mycotoxin. These toxins cause vomiting, liver damage, and reproductive defects in livestock, and are harmful to humans through contaminated food.

 It can also infect other grains such as corn and rice.