[Xenopus] support for a community member

[Jose Garcia Abreu]

Dear Carole and members of the Xenopus community

I feel the urge to briefly clarify a few points regarding the situation 
with Kseniia Petrova since I am part of the same research group, have 
been closely working with her over the past two years and feel in part 
morally responsible for what happened to her.

In fact it was me who was planning to go on that trip to France, but had 
to cancel the last moment. Kseniia had separately planned a personal 
trip to see her friends and visit several cultural events she 
anticipated for a long time as connoisseur of classical music and art. 
It was a personal trip on her own dime. It was not unnatural for her to 
visit our French collaborators, but she was not on a work trip.

On multiple occasions samples ent to our lab from France got lost and 
damaged, so we discussed in our group how to properly bring the samples 
in person. We identified the proper border regulations, 
https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/subtitle-B/chapter-I/subchapter-C/part-173/subpart-A/section-173.4b#p-173.4b(b), 
which in our and Kseniia's reading suggest that formaldehyde fixed 
material, properly packaged does not need to be declared.

All of this is substantiated by documents and screenshots of 
conversations, which are now part of the legal record.

So to the best of my understanding, there was no violation of the border 
regulations, nor NIH or Harvard regulations.

That does not change the fact that our colleague and friend is in 
detention and we appreciate all the help for her release and 
reinstatement.

Best,

Jose

Em 2025-03-31 01:22, Carole LaBonne escreveu:

> Dear #Xenopus colleagues. I am writing to urge you to support one of 
> our own. Ksneniia Petrova was sent to work in a lab in France on a 
> tourist visa and instructed to bring back embryos in her luggage 
> without declaring them. She is a Russian national on a visa and was 
> blocked from reentry at Logan and sent to a detention facility at a 
> prison in Louisiana. None of this is her fault - others bare the blame 
> for what she is suffering. Please consider donating to this GoFundMe to 
> support her. 
> https://www.linkedin.com/posts/william-v-trim-413ab0237_httpsgofundmed421b28f-this-is-our-friend-activity-7311063967060119553-Tml4/
> _______________________________________________
> Xenopus mailing list
> Xenopus at lists.mbl.edu
> https://lists.mbl.edu/mailman/listinfo/xenopus

-- 

-------------------------

  		   [1]
  Jose Garcia Abreu, PhD
Full Professor
Institute of Biomedical Sciences
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
CV: http://lattes.cnpq.br/1716020620865231
+55-21-97544-9697

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Links:
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[1] http://www.icb.ufrj.br/media/logo3.png
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