Latest news with #biologicalPathogen
Fox News
13 hours ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Arrest of Chinese nationals in swing state, Israel's fight with Iran are 'wake up' call on CCP threat: experts
Recent arrests of Chinese nationals at the University of Michigan have resurrected concerns about CCP-owned farmland and property in the United States, particularly in Michigan, and caused some to draw parallels with the current conflict between Iran and Israel. Earlier this month, two Chinese nationals were charged with allegedly smuggling a "dangerous biological pathogen" into the U.S. to study at the University of Michigan in an incident that FBI Director Kash Patel described as a "sobering reminder that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) continues to deploy operatives and researchers to infiltrate our institutions and target our food supply, an act that could cripple our economy and endanger American lives." Later, a third Chinese national with connections to the university was arrested, renewing questions about China's efforts to infiltrate and influence various sectors in the United States, including buying up farmland, which has been a growing concern nationwide. A 2023 report from the United States Department of Agriculture found that "foreign persons held an interest in nearly 45 million acres of U.S. agricultural land," which represents 3.5% of all privately held agricultural land and 2% of all land in the country. While China is not at the top of the list of countries in that report, the arrests in Michigan have prompted calls from Congress to ensure that the CCP, viewed by many as the nation's top geopolitical adversary, is not buying up farmland in the United States. Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts exclusively told Fox News Digital this week that China has been aggressively buying American agriculture, "which is why we need to have a heightened sense of vigilance around protecting our homeland." Ricketts, along with Democratic Sen. John Fetterman, introduced the bipartisan Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure (AFIDA) Improvements Act that seeks to implement recommendations published by the Government Accountability Office in January 2024, which found the AFIDA was ill-equipped to combat foreign ownership of American agricultural land. "China's land purchases aren't just about acreage—they're about access," Michigan GOP Rep. John Moolenaar, chairman of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the CCP, told Fox News Digital. "Even small parcels near military bases or critical infrastructure pose serious national security risks. In my home state, we've seen concerning cases like Gotion's site near Camp Grayling. We need full transparency into who's buying land and where—because the Chinese Communist Party shouldn't be allowed to hide behind shell companies to gain a foothold in our country." China's encroachment into Michigan's agriculture was enough of a concern for Republican state Rep. Gina Johnsen to introduce legislation earlier this year banning foreign adversaries from buying up farmland. "Our state's agricultural industry is a pillar of our economy. My community is an agricultural community," Johnsen said. Our farms provide food security, jobs, and economic stability for countless residents. However, there is growing concern about losing our farmland to countries of concern." Additionally, Chinese farmland has become a topic of conversation in the wake of revelations that Israel's attack on Iran's nuclear capabilities was aided by years of covert planning, surveillance and infiltration by Israeli intelligence. Code-named "Am Kelavi" (Rising Lion), the preemptive operation was the product of unprecedented coordination between the Israeli air force, the Military Intelligence Directorate, the Mossad and the country's defense industries. For years, they worked "shoulder to shoulder" to gather the intelligence files needed to eliminate Iran's most sensitive military and nuclear assets. As part of that operation, Israel was able to establish a drone base inside Iran, where Mossad operatives retrieved them from hiding spots to use against Iranian sites. Bryan Cunningham, president of Liberty Defense and former CIA intelligence officer, told Fox News Digital that the Israeli operation is a "wake-up call" for the United States about what a foreign adversary like China could potentially carry out in the United States. "As an intelligence officer, part of me says, I wish that the sources and methods of building these drone factories inside the target countries hadn't been revealed," Cunningham said. "But on the other hand, it does serve as a wake-up call, hopefully for our policymakers, and it also ties in, and if I were the administration, I would make this tie in immediately and loudly with the Trump administration's border strategy." Cunningham continued, "Our borders are where you're most likely to actually intercept these kinds of toxins, explosives, flares, 3D-printed weapons, ceramic weapons, whatever it is. So if it were me and I were the Secretary of Homeland Security, I would be tying this all together. You know, it is important to get people out of the country that have committed violent or other serious crimes in the country, but it's also really important to prevent people like these guys from bringing in those kinds of materials." The FBI is increasing its surveillance of Iranian-backed operatives inside the United States as Trump weighs strikes, a senior law enforcement official told Fox News on Friday.
Reuters
06-06-2025
- Health
- Reuters
Experts doubt FBI's claim that crop fungus smuggled by Chinese students is a threat
CHICAGO, June 6 (Reuters) - A biological sample that a Chinese researcher was accused of smuggling into the United States and that prosecutors cast as a "dangerous biological pathogen" is a common type of fungus already widespread in U.S. crop fields that likely poses little risk to food safety, experts said. On Tuesday, U.S. federal prosecutors, opens new tab accused two Chinese researchers of smuggling samples of the fungus Fusarium graminearum into the U.S., describing it as a potential agricultural terrorism weapon. Yunqing Jian, 33, a researcher at the University of Michigan's Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology has been charged in connection with allegations that she helped her boyfriend, Zunyong Liu, 34, smuggle the pathogen into the U.S. However, agriculture experts interviewed by Reuters this week said the fungus has been in the U.S. for more than a century, can be prevented by spraying pesticides, and is only dangerous if ingested regularly and in large quantities. "As a weapon, it would be a pretty ineffective one," said Jessica Rutkoski, a crop sciences professor, wheat breeder and geneticist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Rutkoski and other researchers said extensive testing for the fungus' toxin, widespread use of fungicides and the difficulty of intentionally creating an infection with the pathogen would make it a clumsy weapon. The U.S. Attorney's Office and the FBI declined Reuters' request for comment. Since the 1900s, U.S. farmers have been battling the fungus, which causes Fusarium head blight, usually known as "scab," which often infects wheat, barley and other grains on farms during rainy years. The telltale pink streaks on the grain heads contain a toxic byproduct called vomitoxin, which is tested for and tightly controlled by grain elevators where farmers sell their crops. Constant testing and monitoring means that only negligible amounts of vomitoxin ever make it into the bread, pasta and cookies Americans eat, far below levels that would sicken a human, experts said. "We have a long history of managing epidemics of scab," said Andrew Friskop, professor and plant pathologist at North Dakota State University, noting that farmers have access to many tools to prevent and control the disease. Farmers began regularly spraying their fields with fungicide as early as the 1990s, and researchers have since developed multiple strains of fungus-resistant wheat. Plant experts said that it would be difficult to fully assess the risks posed by the samples without more information on the particular strain. But Rutkoski, whose research involves intentionally contaminating wheat with the fungus, said that she isn't always successful at infecting her test field's wheat with scab. She said the pathogen is difficult to control, and her lab has to strike the right balance of temperature and humidity to create an infection. In federal court in Detroit on Tuesday, Jian was charged with conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud the U.S., smuggling goods into the U.S., false statements and visa fraud. Jian did not comment on the charges, and the lawyer who represented her in court was not immediately available for comment. Liu could not be immediately reached for comment. The court scheduled Jian's bail hearing for June 13.
