Two reported attempts by a Chinese couple to smuggle a potentially toxic plant fungus called Fusarium graminearum through the Detroit Metropolitan Airport to a University of Michigan research laboratory offer cause for serious public safety concern.

The noxious fungus causes “head blight,” a disease of wheat, barley, maize and rice, which when consumed causes vomiting, liver damage, and reproductive defects in humans and livestock resulting in billions of dollars in economic losses worldwide each year.

According to an FBI court filing, Zunyong Liu was turned around at the Detroit airport and sent back to China last year, while in the other event, his girlfriend Yunqing Jian, was recently arrested there and remains in custody.

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