F. graminearum is already widely prevalent across the U.S. in native grasses around the country as well as crops, scientists say. It spreads and thrives usually during wet weather, causing a common crop disease called or head scab, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service.

Let’s blame China for the future blight we will cause by our own negligence.

It must be emphasized that these two researchers were obviously trying to do research that would help defend against this fungus. You know, purely beneficial for the USA.

I’m gonna be a contrarian voice here and say that while the “agroterrorism” thing is overblown, you’re still not supposed to move plant pathogens across international borders for very good reasons. The species concept is pretty vague for microbes anyway; you don’t know if your ID might be off or what introducing a new genotype of an already established species might do. The researcher should absolutely be aware of that and should have known better. Just do the paperwork and follow the protocols next time.

I’m gonna put on my thinking cap for a minute.

It’s kinda fucked up to do something like that. It’s obviously against the rules for immigration to anywhere I’ve ever been to bring in plants, foods, etc. I don’t know about a news story, imprisonment, or agroterrorism which is obviously blowing it out of proportion, but a little foresight about acquiring the fungus would have done them some good. Confiscating it, a fine, and maybe denying entry seem entirely fair to me.