An Air France flight from Paris to Detroit diverted to Canada over a biosecurity issue two weeks ago, with the U.S. refusing it landing.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Air France had boarded a passenger “in error” who had recently been in the Democratic Republic of Congo and was subject to new Ebola-related entry restrictions. Canadian health officials assessed the passenger in Montreal, found the person asymptomatic, and sent the passenger back to Paris while the rest of the aircraft continued to Detroit.
Back in January, though, there was another story about passengers traveling from the Republic of Congo to Detroit with virus risk. These were National Institutes of Health researchers carrying undeclared monkeypox samples.
They’ve been charged with conspiracy to smuggle monkeypox into the United States and making false statements to federal law enforcement after allegedly carrying the undeclared biological samples through the Detroit airport.
The chief of the Virus Ecology Section in the Laboratory of Virology and a research fellow at the NIH Biosafety Level 4 laboratory in Montana were arrested bringing the samples back for their work on how viruses cross from one species to another. They picked up the monkeypox in Brazzaville where an outbreak was occurring.
CBP interviewed the men on arrival and noticed that they were traveling with a large black plastic case. The pair told officers the case contained diagnostic and testing equipment. But an inspection revealed styrofoam coolers holding 113 vials. The FBI tested 20 of them, and 17 contained deactivated monkeypox virus, one contained chickenpox virus, and two contained human DNA.
According to one of the researchers, “I do this all the time.”
Which is to say they don’t declare the biological agents they’re bringing into the country, follow chain-of-custody rules, or properly track biological materials. We learned something about not trusting biosecurity lab protocols six and a half years ago, but apparently maybe we didn’t.
(HT: Enilria)
CBP may be huffing and puffing for show in this matter.
Now when CBP doesn’t require paper declaration cards, doesn’t use declaration kiosks for passengers to make declarations, and sometimes CBP may not even ask questions until post-baggage claim (if even then), less is being declared than should be and travelers increasingly may assume that what was declared on a previous trip and ok is still ok and doesn’t need to be declared. A mess waiting to happen over and over again.
Fauci’s boys are still on the loose.
I think some jail time is in order for them.
I know, trust the “experts”.
I’m here to see people make excuses or poo poo scientists smuggling dangerous biological agents into the US
Good for thee but not for me. Fine the hell out of them!
Oops, I forgot to check the “disease agent” box. Sorry Mr Customs Agent…
I’m sure nobody has ever lied on the customs declaration form.
Not defending anyone, just confident it happens often.
And people call me nuts and being a conspiracy theorist. What more proof do you need?
Why not declare them if you’re a legitimate researcher authorized to do this? Can someone explain the logic? It can’t be pure laziness.
@GUWonder — Performative outrage? That’s practically the title chapter for this era in history!