Get the latest tech news
Arrests of scientists over smuggled samples add to US border anxiety
Nature talks to legal and other specialists about the cases and what to watch out for when transporting lab materials.
Detentions for carrying undocumented biological material into the United States happen every year, says Jonathan Grode, an attorney at the immigration law firm Green and Spiegel in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who is not involved in any of the cases. According to court documents, in July last year, her partner, Zunyong Liu, a researcher at Zhejiang University in China, tried to bring samples of a fungus known as Fusarium graminearum, which can harm cereal crops such as wheat, into the United States. According to a criminal complaint filed by FBI agent Edward Nieh on 2 June, phone records show that this wasn’t the first time Jian and Liu had smuggled biological materials into the United States.
Or read this on Hacker News
