A Chinese gene company (COVID test producer) that sells prenatal tests around the world has been harvesting genetic data from millions of women

Chinese Covid-19 Tests Were Pushed by Federal Agencies Despite Security Warnings

At least two federal agencies worked to distribute Covid-19 tests from a Chinese genetics company, despite warnings about security risks from U.S. intelligence and security officials, according to interviews and documents obtained by The Wall Street Journal.

In the early days of the virus, BGI Group or people trying to distribute its products approached at least 11 states in a sometimes aggressive push to get the products into government-run laboratories or set up entire labs, according to people who received the approaches and documents.

In March, an FBI special agent who monitors biotech threats for the Department of Health and Human Services told an HHS advisory committee that government agencies should be wary of doing business with the company, which, he said, had a history of misusing personal data. The agent, Ed You, echoed warnings from other law-enforcement, security and military-intelligence officials.

U.S. diplomats and security officials privately warned the state of Nevada not to use Chinese-made coronavirus test kits donated by the United Arab Emirates over concerns about patient privacy, test accuracy and Chinese government involvement.

The documents illustrate how the U.S. government actively — if quietly — tried to keep the state out of a project involving the Chinese firm BGI Group, which is the world’s largest genetic sequencing company and which has expanded its reach during the coronavirus pandemic.

U.S. intelligence agencies have warned that foreign powers like China could exploit samples to discover the medical history, illnesses or genetic traits of test takers, though they have not offered any public evidence. Internal emails and documents obtained by the AP from the Nevada governor’s office through a public records request show U.S. authorities expressing such concerns specifically about BGI.

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Last Edited by Xaurian on 07/07/2021 02:00 PM

A recent report revealed that BGI Group, the world’s largest biotechnology company, has worked with Chinese Communist Party’s military on research ranging from massive respiratory pathogen testing to brain science.

The report based on patent applications, as well as about 40 publicly available research papers and documents in Chinese and English, indicate that BGI’s links to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) also include research with Chinese military supercomputing experts.

The Chinese-based company has raised alarms in the United States after a warning was released by U.S. intelligence officials that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was collecting DNA from Americans to win a race for control of the world’s biological data, according to BIzPac Review.

In a CBS report former counterintelligence chief William Evenina, noted, “This shows the nefarious mindset of the Communist Party of China, to take advantage of a worldwide crisis like COVID.”

“We put out an advisory to not only every American, but to hospitals, associations, and clinics. Knowing that BGI is a Chinese company, do we understand where that data’s going?”

Last Edited by Xaurian on 07/07/2021 02:34 PM

Like many science-minded entrepreneurs of his generation in China, Wang got his start in publicly funded research. BGI began life in 1999 as the Beijing Genomics Institute, a state-backed lab dedicated to assisting the Human Genome Project (HGP)—the Clinton-era effort to assemble the first-ever comprehensive picture of human DNA. Compared with the participating Western institutions, BGI was tiny and its contribution modest. But the work gave Wang and his co-founders the confidence and international connections to strike out on their own. In 2007 they split from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the state-controlled umbrella for high-level research, to create a private company focused on sequencing. They also decided to relocate to Shenzhen, China’s entrepreneurial hothouse.

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When former U.S. President Bill Clinton touted the landmark mapping of the first genome in 2003, and Chinese President Jiang Zemin heard him, on CNN, mention China’s participation, it opened a new door. Jiang ordered up further funding and help from the scientific hierarchy.

Then known as the Beijing Genomic Institute, Wang’s operation took on an adjunct from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The two worked in parallel, but the institute’s original enterprise kept advancing and was increasingly at odds with the government apparatus. By 2007 the research was being starved of funding and other state support, and a divorce loomed. Shenzhen’s administration stepped in with an offer of a former shoe factory as offices, but Wang & Co. would have to produce results that brought in revenue.

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