Quarantine officers in the southern port city of Shenzhen have found a large number of eelworms that are extremely dangerous to conifers in lumber imported from the United States.  

Sources with the Shenzhen Inspection and Quarantine Bureau say they have sterilized the infested goods in line with state regulations.

This is the first eelworm-infested cargo the bureau has seized this year.

Eelworms are known as the "cancer of conifers" and a large pinetree infested with eelworms would wither to death in two or three months.

(Xinhua News Agency January 6, 2004)