fusarium graminearum fungus head blight china.

Federal prosecutors have charged two Chinese researchers with smuggling a crop-killing fungus into the U.S. last summer. The charges against Yunqing Jian and Zunyong Liu come amid heightened political tensions between the two countries. They are accused of trying to smuggle in the fungus Fusarium graminearum, which causes a disease called Fusarium head blight that can wipe out crops such as wheat, barley and maize and rice. It’s unclear why someone would want to smuggle the fungus because it is already found throughout the Upper Midwest and parts of the Eastern U.S. The Department of Agriculture says it causes more than $1 billion in U.S. crop losses annually.