Ganoderma Lucidum: An Ancient Mushroom for Modern Health Benefits
Lingzhi (Ganoderma lucidum) is a medicinal mushroom regarded as a precious Chinese medicinal herb since ancient times. It is well known for its benefits of 'tonifying the five internal organs and prolonging life.'
In NTDTV's 'Health 1+1' program, Shu Rong, a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) practitioner and director of Dr. Rong's Clinic in Cambridge, England, gave an in-depth analysis of the efficacy of Ganoderma lucidum, how to take it, and key points for purchasing. She also provided us with practical health advice and identified risk groups that should avoid eating it.
Lingzhi's Many Health Benefits
Ganoderma lucidum provides nourishment to all organs, Shu said. The ancient TCM text on agricultural and medicinal plants, 'Shennong's Herbal Classics,' lists Ganoderma lucidum as a 'superb product,' which means it can be taken for a long time without side effects, and its continued use will produce better and better results. The book records the beneficial effects of two types of Ganoderma lucidum—purple and red.
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Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Bail hearing over smuggled fungus scheduled for Chinese researcher
By Maria Tsvetkova, Heather Schlitz and Julie Ingwersen (Reuters) -A Michigan court has scheduled a bail hearing on Thursday for a Chinese researcher accused of smuggling biological samples into the United States. Yunqing Jian, 33, and her boyfriend Zunyong Liu, 34, who conducted biological studies in the same field, were accused of smuggling a fungus into the United States for research. Jian, who according to a federal criminal complaint has worked on research projects in the United States since 2022, made her first court appearance on Tuesday. Liu was denied entry into the United States last July, when the pathogen, a fungus identified by the U.S. Department of Justice as Fusarium graminearum, was found in his luggage. Liu said he wanted to conduct research on the fungus at a University of Michigan laboratory where Jian worked, according to the complaint. Prosecutors described the fungus as a dangerous biological pathogen that had the potential to be used as an agricultural terrorism weapon. The fungus is already widespread on U.S. farms, tested for and tightly controlled in grains, and is not considered dangerous unless consumed in large quantities. Clair Keene, an agronomist at North Dakota State University, said she was puzzled by U.S. authorities' description of the fungus. "It's a common pathogen. We have it here. The claim that Fusarium graminearum can be used as a biological weapon doesn't strike me as accurate," she said. The fungus can cause Fusarium head blight, typically known as scab. It is common among wheat, barley and other grains especially during rainy years. The telltale salmon-pink streaks on the grain heads contain a toxic byproduct called vomitoxin, which in high quantities can cause nausea and vomiting when eaten. Keene said farmers often spray fungicide to protect their crop and researchers have developed strains of wheat that are resistant to the fungus. Reuters was unable to contact Jian or her lawyer for comment. The case involving the researchers comes as the University of Michigan and other universities have faced pressure from the Trump administration over allegations they have done too little to combat antisemitism on campus and what the administration depicts as radical ideology in the classroom. Universities' ties to China also have come under scrutiny. The University of Michigan said in a statement it condemned "any actions that seek to cause harm, threaten national security or undermine the university's critical public mission." "It is important to note that the university has received no funding from the Chinese government in relation to research conducted by the accused individuals," the university said, adding it will "continue to cooperate" with federal law enforcement in its ongoing investigation and prosecution. FBI director Kash Patel said in a post on X that the case was a reminder that China's ruling Communist Party "is working around the clock to deploy operatives and researchers to infiltrate American institutions and target our food supply, which would have grave consequences... putting American lives and our economy at serious risk." The Chinese Embassy in Washington in response to a Reuters request for comment sent a statement from its spokesperson Liu Pengyu. "I don't know the specific situation, but I would like to emphasize that the Chinese government has always required overseas Chinese citizens to abide by local laws and regulations and will also resolutely safeguard their legitimate rights and interests," Liu said.
New York Post
3 hours ago
- New York Post
Chinese researchers' alleged plot to smuggle crop-killing fungus into US is an ‘attack on US food supply': feds
National security authorities and members of Congress are raising alarm over the alleged plot by two romantically involved Chinese researchers to smuggle samples of a dangerous crop-killing fungus into the US. Yunquing Jian, 33, a Communist Party loyalist and lab researcher at the University of Michigan who received Chinese government funding for her work, plotted the illicit transport of the pathogen with her boyfriend, Zunyong Liu, 34, the FBI alleged. Liu was was caught at Detroit Metropolitan Airport last July after allegedly attempting to sneak packages of Fusarium graminearum into the country, the feds said. 'This is an attack on the American food supply,' one senior Trump administration official told The Post. Advertisement 4 Yunqing Jian (pictured) initially denied that she was aware of her boyfriend's intent to smuggle the pathogen. University of Michigan The fungus is already present in the US, but if it was manipulated to become resistant to treatment or to spread more easily, it could have the potential to devastate American farms, one expert told The Post. The US should be testing the fungus sample for any evidence it's been tampered with, the expert added. There are similar allegations that the virus that causes COVID-19 was enhanced by China's Wuhan Institute of Virology as part of US-funded 'gain-of-function' research of the naturally occurring SARS pathogen. China denies that COVID leaked from the lab, but US intel agencies now say that appears to be the most likely cause of the pandemic. Advertisement 'The CCP will use every tool in its warfare toolbox to cripple the United States and bring us to our knees. A pathogen like this, if successfully introduced into a crop, could inflict significant economic loss for U.S. agriculture producers,' House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) told The Post. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) said it appears the FBI may have intercepted a 'potential bioweapon.' 'We are very fortunate the Trump administration and federal law enforcement stopped this potential bioweapon before it compromised our nation's food supply,' Ernst told The Post. 4 Chinese national Yunqing Jian, 33, a University of Michigan lab researcher, is charged with her fellow researcher boyfriend, Zunyong Liu, of conspiring to smuggle a potentially dangerous fungal pathogen into the US. Sanilac County Jail Advertisement 'This is exactly why I have always said and will continue to say – food security is national security. Between this latest bioweapon and China's highly-concerning purchases of U.S. farmland around our military bases, we must stay on guard against the threat from Communist China in our own backyard.' According to the feds, the Chinese couple discussed how they could smuggle Fusarium graminearum into the US — a biological pathogen considered 'a potential agroterrorism weapon' capable of destroying crops and poisoning both livestock and humans, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Michigan Monday. Both Jian and Liu were charged Monday in a federal criminal complaint with conspiracy, smuggling goods into the US, false statements and visa fraud. 'The bacteria infects wheat, barley, corn and rice. When it does, it can devastate crops,' one national security source who specializes in agricultural microbiology told The Post. Advertisement 'The key question is if the bacterial strain being brought in has been modified to make it resistant to treatment or to make it more pathogenic.' 4 Liu was caught at Detroit Metropolitan Airport last July with four plastic baggies containing 'fibrous material' infected with the pathogen. AP The source added that it could be dangerous 'if the Chinese manipulated the strain' and that federal investigators should 'have a genome sequence done' on the samples Jian and Liu allegedly conspired to smuggle into the country. On July 27, 2024, Liu, who works as a researcher at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, arrived in Detroit on a Delta flight from Shanghai and was interviewed by Customs and Border Patrol agents about the purpose of his travel. He claimed he was in the US to visit Jian, a lab researcher at the University of Michigan whom he identified as his girlfriend. Upon searching his belongings, agents found four plastic baggies containing 'fibrous material' infected with the pathogen, as well as a round piece of filter paper with a series of circles drawn on it, concealed in his backpack in a ball of wadded up tissues. According to the criminal complaint, Liu initially denied the items were his, suggesting someone else had put them into his bag without his knowledge. However he later admitted they were different strains of Fusarium graminearum he intended to research at the Molecular Plant-Microbe Interaction (MPMI) Laboratory at the University of Michigan, where Jian conducts research on similar pathogens. He also acknowledged he hid the materials when traveling to the US because he knew border patrol agents would confiscate them if they were discovered. Advertisement The circled filter paper found in his possession contained 10 separate coded samples, including one that 'would allow a researcher to propagate live Fusarium graminearum,' the complaint states. Liu told investigators that he planned to clone the different strains and make more samples if the experiments on the bagged materials failed. He was denied entry into the US and fast-tracked for removal to China. While searching one of Liu's cell phones, they found an article in PDF form titled '2018 Plant-Pathogen Warfare under Changing Climate Conditions.' Authorities said the article specifically referenced Fusarium graminearum as 'an example of a destructive disease and pathogen for crops' and is 'responsible for billions of dollars in economic losses worldwide each year.' 4 Fusarium graminearum can have a devastating effect on staple US crops including wheat, barley, corn and rice. AP Advertisement The FBI interviewed Jian at the MPMI Laboratory in February, where she first claimed she only learned of the alleged smuggling scheme when Liu was caught by CBP, and denied assisting him in his research of Fusarium graminearum. Upon searching Jian's cell phone, the FBI said it discovered a document she signed originating from Zhejiang University, where Liu conducts research on the pathogen, which included a loyalty pledge to 'adhere to the four basic principles' and 'support the leadership of the Communist Party of China.' FBI Special Agent Edward Nieh said in his affidavit that one of the principles Jian signed her allegiance to includes 'upholding Mao Zedong thought and Marxism-Leninism.' Investigators said she signed the document Jan. 11, 2024, just six months before Liu allegedly flew to Detroit with the samples in tow. Advertisement Further investigation into Liu and Jian's communications indicate it wasn't the first time the pair had discussed smuggling the fetid fungus into the US. One unearthed exchange from Aug. 12, 2022 on the Chinese messaging app WeChat reveals the couple scheming on how to sneak the seeds past US customs officials, with Liu advising Jian to hid the materials in her shoes. A day later, Jian arrived at San Francisco International Airport on a United Airlines flight from Seoul. Authorities reviewed records from her entry and found she did not declare she was importing any biological materials. Rutgers University molecular biologist Dr. Richard Ebright told The Post that Fusarium graminearum causes estimated losses of $200-400 million to US agriculture every year. Advertisement However, he said, the fungus has been endemic in the US for more than 40 years, and that new introduction of the organism into the US does not, by itself, pose a new threat. 'Importation of Fusarium graminearum without a USDA PPQ526 permit should not have occurred,' he said. 'However, unless the imported strain was a new strain having enhanced transmissibility or virulence, its importation likely posed no threat to US agriculture or US security,' he added, noting that if Jian had gone through proper permitting procedure to obtain the pathogen, it 'almost certainly would have been approved and arrests would not have occurred.' Jian, who received a J1 visa to conduct research as a postdoctoral scholar at a University of Texas lab, was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan before being offered a job in August 2023. The University of Michigan did not respond to The Post's questions about whether she is still employed there following the allegations. The Post also reached out to Jian at her university email address but did not hear back. Liu secured a B2 tourist visa in March 2024, which does not allow foreign nationals to perform work or scientific research during their visit. Jian was temporarily detained by authorities on June 3 until her detention hearing scheduled for Thursday at 1 p.m. Her case has been assigned to the public defender's office but an attorney had not been named by Wednesday evening. Liu remains at large with a warrant out for his arrest.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
What is Fusarium graminearum, the fungus 2 Chinese researchers are charged with smuggling into the US?
Two Chinese researchers were charged with smuggling a fungus classified 'as a potential agroterrorism weapon' that could decimate crops and impact human health into the US last summer in a wad of tissues, according to an FBI affidavit in support of the criminal complaint filed Tuesday. Testing at an FBI laboratory discovered a sample containing the DNA sequence that 'would allow a researcher to propagate live Fusarium graminearum,' a fungus that causes 'head blight,' in the biological materials that Yunqing Jian, 33, and Zunyong Liu, 34, allegedly smuggled into the US, according to the complaint. Fusarium head blight, or FHB, is a devastating disease for staple crops like wheat, barley, maize and rice. The fungus' toxins can lead to 'vomiting, liver damage, and reproductive defects in humans and livestock,' according to a news release from the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan. Jian and Liu were charged with conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud the United States, smuggling goods into the United States, false statements and visa fraud for bringing in the fungus Fusarium graminearum from China, the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan said on Tuesday. The criminal complaint does not allege that the defendants – who investigators say were in a relationship – had any plans to spread the fungus beyond the laboratory, but it said Liu was aware of the restrictions on the material and deliberately hid it in his backpack. Fusarium graminearum is the most common cause of Fusarium head blight in North America and in many other parts of the world. The destructive disease, also called 'scab,' has the capacity to 'destroy a potentially high-yielding crop within a few weeks of harvest,' according to an article from the journal Molecular Plant Pathology published in 2004. It forms discolored lesions on the crops. The US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan said the fungus 'is responsible for billions of dollars in economic losses worldwide each year.' It is estimated that the losses for all crops in the Central United States and the northern Great Plains totaled $2.7 billion between 1998 to 2000, according to the article from the journal Molecular Plant Pathology. The fungus spends the winter on infested crop residues like corn stalk or wheat straw. Wet weather during the growing season causes the fungus to sprout spores, which are then windblown or water-splashed onto the spikes of wheat and barley, according to Gary Bergstrom, emeritus professor in the School of Integrative Plant Science Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology Section at Cornell University, who has previously published research on the head blight. If wheat is infected during flowering, the fungus colonizes, killing the florets, and kernels don't develop. If it is infected later, those plants produce diseased kernels that are shriveled and wilted. Bergstrom told CNN the impact of the disease and the toxin each year is 'like looking at the stock market. It goes up and down,' depending on weather patterns and other environmental details. 'But it has not gone away. The risk is still there. We do get losses every year,' he said Wednesday. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulates the importation of organisms that might negatively impact agriculture in the United States, prohibiting anyone from importing any organism that 'directly or indirectly injures, causes damage to, or causes disease in a plant or plant product' without first applying for and obtaining a permit from the USDA, according to the complaint in the case. The USDA requires a permit for the importation of Fusarium graminearum. According to records maintained by the USDA, the Chinese researchers now charged never applied for, nor were issued, a permit to import the pathogen, the complaint said. USDA permitting 'is a mechanism that's used all the time,' Bergstrom said. 'We've used it in labs in our university and across the United States. It just takes a little time, like you're applying for any application.' Bergstrom said the danger with a pathogen being brought into the United States uncontrolled 'would be if some new trait was introduced with a new strain that got out into the system.' 'Maybe it's less sensitive to the fungicides we use, or maybe it has a particular strain, has a different spectrum of these fungal toxins that it produces,' Bergstrom said, noting that there is a tremendous variation in the fungus Fusarium graminearum in North America and across the world. Bergstrom said that while he thinks the fungus is 'kind of unlikely to be selected as an agent' for agroterrorism, 'a lot of things are possible.' 'Some other things that don't occur at all in the United States, that are on APHIS (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service) watch list we are worried about … and would be an immediate serious concern,' Bergstom said. 'I wouldn't put that (Fusarium graminearum) in this category.' Grains infected with Fusarium graminearum have mycotoxins and eating them is 'known to cause gastrointestinal disorders, skin irritation, and neuroendocrine changes,' according to a recent study by researchers in Poland. In humans, the fungus has been linked to effects on the digestive system, including nausea and vomiting, Bergstrom said, and chronic exposure 'has wide-ranging effects, including neurological disorders and immunosuppression,' according to the journal of Molecular Plant Pathology article. The mycotoxins also impact animals, causing them to refuse food or develop diarrhea, haemorrhaging and irritated skin, the article said. The predominant toxin associated with FHB infections in the United States is deoxynivalenol (DON), which is also known as vomitoxin because consumption can cause vomiting. The US Food and Drug Administration has established guidelines for DON levels in human food and animal feed. 'Milling and baking further reduce vomitoxin levels. Brewing companies will not purchase grain with even a trace of a vomitoxin,' the USDA says. 'In the unlikely event that vomitoxin ends up in the food supply despite all the industry safeguards, a person will have to eat enormous quantities of the product for the toxin to have any effect.' Some research has shown that Fusarium graminearum is becoming 'increasingly resistant' to fungicides, prompting the search for new fungicides 'to effectively target FHB and reduce the pathogen's ability to biosynthesize mycotoxins.' 'That's something we need to monitor very closely,' Bergstrom said. The researchers in Poland also noted that this increasing resistance warrants further research 'to improve molecular methods for detecting fungicide-resistant strains and strains with a modified ability to produce mycotoxins,' and to introduce resistant wheat varieties that can effectively suppresses the development of Fusarium graminearum infections. 'We basically take an integrated management approach to these diseases,' Bergstrom explained. 'There's no one silver bullet. We don't have a completely immune variety of plant, but we have some that are way more resistant than others.'
