China: According to a report by a Chinese news agency, BGI (Borland Graphics Interface) has been collecting and analyzing genetic data on millions of women through its prenatal tests.
Strangely, the tests used in over 50 countries capture information about the mother, including her genetic make-up, country, weight, and height, but not her name. However, the report’s most disturbing aspect is how it uses the genetic data to determine links between Tibetans and Uyghurs and their characteristics.
The BGI Group sells prenatal tests worldwide. More than 8 million women have taken the tests, developed in collaboration with the Chinese military.
Reuters found that the company is using the genomic data to improve ‘population quality’ and on genetic research to combat hearing loss and altitude sickness in soldiers.
It has published at least a dozen joint studies with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in the past decade, testing and improving the tests and analyzing data that they provided.
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As science identifies new links between genes and human characteristics, having access to the largest, most diverse set of human genomes is a strategic advantage.
A company called BGI says it stores and re-analyses left-over samples and genetic data from prenatal tests, which are sold in at least 52 countries to detect abnormalities such as Down syndrome in the fetus.
It has been revealed in a groundbreaking report by Reuters that the company’s prenatal tests, branded NIFTY for ‘Non-Invasive Fetal TrisomY,’ also gather information about the mother, such as her country, height, and weight, but not her name.
According to the report, the BGI group uses military supercomputers to re-analyze NIFTY data to find links between Tibetan and Uyghur ancestry and characteristics.
As a defence, the BGI issued a statement stating that it ‘has never been asked to provide, nor has it provided, data from its NIFTY tests to Chinese authorities for national security or national defense purposes.’
BGI is one among half a dozen major providers of the tests women take about 10 weeks into pregnancy to capture the DNA of the placenta in their bloodstream.
Its tests are available in at least 13 European Union countries, including Germany, Spain, Denmark, as well as in Britain, Canada, Australia, Thailand, India, and Pakistan.
Previously, US government advisors had warned that the big database of genomic data that the company is amassing and analysing with artificial intelligence could give China an economic and military advantage.
According to the advisors, the technology could propel China to dominate global pharmaceuticals, and could also lead to genetically enhanced soldiers and disease-engineered pathogens that could target the US population or food supply, the advisors said.
Beijing said in a regulation that genetic data is a national security matter, and since 2015, it has blocked foreign researchers from accessing gene data on Chinese people.
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