Escherichia coli, better known by the shorthand E. coli, is a bacterium that's quite ubiquitous in nature. You have it in your digestive tract right now. All mammals do. Facilities such as feedlots and hog confinement systems generate significant amounts of E. coli, and runoff from these facilities can contribute to contamination. Back in the day (and, presumably, still today), college biology students frequently handled E. coli in lab work, and every year, sure as anything, one or two careless students would somehow expose themselves and spend a few days in misery, hunched over the porcelain throne.
There are variants of the E. coli bacterium, though, and some of those can infect green leafy vegetables that are generally eaten raw, causing serious health issues. So, when yet another Chinese "researcher" is caught smuggling E. coli into the country, you can see how that would be cause for serious concern.
And that's precisely what has just happened. Again.
FBI Director Kash Patel announced on Friday that a post-doctoral researcher in the U.S. on a visa was charged with allegedly smuggling Escherichia coli (E. coli) into the country and making false statements about it.
Patel identified the post-doctoral researcher as Youhuang Xiang, but did not name the university involved in the case.
"This is yet another example of a researcher from China, given the privilege to work at a U.S. university, who then allegedly chose to take part in a scheme to circumvent U.S. laws and receive biological materials hidden in a package originating from China," Patel wrote on X.
"If not properly controlled, E. coli and other biological materials could inflict devastating disease to U.S. crops and cause significant financial loss to the U.S. economy," he added.
What's not known here is why a Chinese researcher would attempt to smuggle in a bacterium that's omnipresent, unless this is a variant that isn't common, or perhaps not present at all, in the United States. Of course, the real question is why we are allowing Chinese biology students to do research in American labs at all; in case anyone hasn't noticed, China isn't exactly a close American ally.
If only not knowing how to obtain a license was the problem.
Patel applauded the FBI Indianapolis and Chicago field offices for their work on the case and thanked U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The FBI director also sent a warning to universities, urging them to be "vigilant of this trend."
"Ensure your researchers know that there is a correct and legal way to obtain a license to import/export approved biological materials, and it must be followed without exception," Patel said.
This trend, as the Director puts it, could have very, very serious implications. Granted, we do not yet know what this Youhuang Xiang is here in the United States studying, or why this particular strain of E. coli was of any possible value in that research. We don't even know if this is an unusual or perhaps manipulated version of a bacterium that's present in every sewage system, every septic tank, every livestock operation in the world; it's hard to see any value in smuggling in anything but an unusual variant of this nearly omnipresent bug. And this problem goes well beyond smuggling, as RedState's own Jennifer Van Laar has uncovered.
Read More: Illegal Chinese Biolab Operator Pleads Not Guilty, Claims Feds Destroyed His 'Revolutionary' Work
Biologicals should scare the absolute E. coli out of anyone who contemplates the possibilities. Speaking as a biologist, I have always said that, of the triad of weapons of mass destruction, biological agents scare me far, far more than nuclear or chemical weapons combined. Biological agents are self-sustaining, self-dispersing; they adapt to countermeasures, and they can spread through a significant portion of the population before anyone is aware of their presence.
Chinese researchers and nationals are smuggling biological materials into the United States and setting up illegal biological labs in the United States. This is far more serious than just another smuggling issue.
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