Sam Cooper

“In a follow up interview with FBI and ICE HSI agents, Han admitted to sending the packages and lying about their contents”

In an intensifying pattern of national security investigations targeting unauthorized biological shipments from China into Detroit, U.S. authorities on Monday confirmed the arrest of a third Chinese national allegedly involved in smuggling undeclared bio-materials into the United States—this time for use at a University of Michigan laboratory.

“This case is part of a broader effort from the FBI and our federal partners to heavily crack down on similar pathogen smuggling operations, as the Chinese Communist Party works relentlessly to undermine America’s research institutions,” FBI Director Kash Patel posted to X on Monday evening.

The latest defendant, Chengxuan Han, is a citizen of the People’s Republic of China and a doctoral student at the College of Life Science and Technology in Wuhan. She has been charged with smuggling goods into the U.S. and making false statements, according to a federal criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit.

From September 2024 through March 2025, prosecutors allege, Han sent four international shipments containing concealed biological materials to individuals affiliated with a University of Michigan lab. The contents were identified as Caenorhabditis elegans — roundworms commonly used in genetic and biomedical research. The packages were mis-manifested and not declared in accordance with U.S. import regulations.

On June 8, Han arrived at Detroit Metropolitan Airport on a J-1 visa and was stopped by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers. She allegedly denied having sent any biological materials to the U.S. and made false statements about the nature of the shipments. Agents also discovered that content on her electronic device had been deleted three days before her arrival — a detail included in the federal complaint.

“In a follow up interview with FBI and ICE HSI agents, Han admitted to sending the packages and lying about their contents,” Patel commented.

“The alleged smuggling of biological materials by this alien from a science and technology university in Wuhan, China — to be used at a University of Michigan laboratory — is part of an alarming pattern that threatens our security,” said U.S. Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon, Jr. “The American taxpayer should not be underwriting a PRC-based smuggling operation at one of our crucial public institutions.”

The case marks the third time in one week that Chinese nationals connected to the University of Michigan have been charged with allegedly smuggling undeclared biological material from China into the U.S. for laboratory research.

On June 3, federal prosecutors charged Yunqing Jian, 33, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan, and her boyfriend, Zunyong Liu, 34, with conspiracy, smuggling goods into the U.S., false statements, and visa fraud. Jian and Liu are accused of importing Fusarium graminearum — a fungus considered in some scientific literature to be a potential agroterrorism threat — into the country without proper declaration.

Officials allege Liu, who conducts research on the same pathogen at a university in China, initially lied to investigators but later admitted to smuggling the fungus for research in Jian’s Michigan lab.

From LifeSiteNews

By Robert Jones

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has dismissed every member of the CDC’s top vaccine advisory panel, citing what he described as a “decades” of “conflicts of interest” and “skewed science” in the vaccine regulatory system.

RFK Jr.’s abrupt decision to “retire” all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) was announced in a Wall Street Journal op-ed Monday and confirmed by HHS shortly thereafter.

The move marks the most sweeping reform to federal vaccine policy in years and follows months of internal reviews and mounting public skepticism.

Kennedy accused the ACIP of being “little more than a rubber stamp for any vaccine,” claiming “it has never recommended against a vaccine.”

“The public must know that unbiased science guides the recommendations from our health agencies,” Kennedy wrote. “This will ensure the American people receive the safest vaccines possible.”

ACIP holds the power to influence which vaccines are recommended by the CDC and covered by insurers. But according to Kennedy, it has failed in its duty to protect the public.

He cited multiple government investigations—dating back to 2000 and 2009—finding that ACIP members were routinely advising on products from pharmaceutical firms with which they had financial ties. Committee members were also issued conflict-of-interest waivers from the CDC.

Kennedy pointed to the 1997 vote approving the Rotashield vaccine – later withdrawn for causing severe bowel obstructions in infants – as a case study in regulatory failure. Four of the eight members who voted for it had financial stakes in rotavirus vaccines under development.

He explained “retiring” the 17 members, “some of whom were last-minute appointees of the Biden administration,” by saying that without such a move, “the Trump administration would not have been able to appoint a majority” until 2028.

CNBC warned the firings could “undermine vaccinations” and erode trust among scientists. But Kennedy, a longtime vaccine industry sceptic, maintains that trust has already “collapsed” – and that restoring it requires nothing less than a full reset.

Under Kennedy’s leadership, HHS has already halted recommendations for routine COVID-19 shots for healthy children and pregnant women and cancelled COVID-era programs to fast-track new vaccines.

It remains unclear who will replace the outgoing ACIP members, though HHS confirmed the committee will still meet later this month, now under new leadership.

“The new members won’t directly work for the vaccine industry,” he promised. “They will exercise independent judgment, refuse to serve as a rubber stamp, and foster a culture of critical inquiry—unafraid to ask hard questions.”