{"id":293366,"date":"2021-07-07T23:41:34","date_gmt":"2021-07-07T20:41:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/prenatal-test-developed-in-collaboration-with-chinese-military-collects-gene-data\/"},"modified":"2021-07-07T23:41:34","modified_gmt":"2021-07-07T20:41:34","slug":"prenatal-test-developed-in-collaboration-with-chinese-military-collects-gene-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/prenatal-test-developed-in-collaboration-with-chinese-military-collects-gene-data\/","title":{"rendered":"#Prenatal test developed in collaboration with Chinese military collects gene data"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Prenatal test developed in collaboration with Chinese military collects gene data<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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A prenatal test taken by millions of pregnant women globally was developed by Chinese gene company BGI Group in collaboration with the Chinese military and is being used by the firm to collect genetic data, a Reuters review of publicly available documents found.<\/p>\n

The report is the first to reveal that the company collaborated with the People\u2019s Liberation Army (PLA) to develop and improve the\u00a0test, taken in early pregnancy, as well as the scope of BGI\u2019s storage and analysis of the\u00a0data. The United States sees BGI\u2019s efforts to collect and analyze human\u00a0gene\u00a0data\u00a0as a national security threat.<\/a><\/p>\n

China\u2019s biggest genomics firm, BGI began marketing the\u00a0test\u00a0abroad in 2013. Branded NIFTY, it is among the world\u2019s top-selling non-invasive\u00a0prenatal\u00a0tests (NIPT). These screen a sample of blood from a pregnant woman to detect abnormalities such as Down\u2019s syndrome in a developing fetus.<\/p>\n

So far more than 8 million women globally have taken BGI\u2019s\u00a0prenatal\u00a0tests, BGI has said. NIFTY is sold in at least 52 countries, including Britain, Europe, Canada, Australia, Thailand and India, but not the United States.<\/p>\n

\"Office
Office building administrator Emilia, who requests that only her first name be used, and who is pregnant and had taken Chinese gene firm BGI Group\u2019s NIFTY prenatal test, holds a blank copy of the test\u2019s consent form as she poses for a picture in Warsaw, Poland, March 30, 2021. <\/figcaption>
Kuba Stezycki\/Reuters<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

BGI uses leftover blood samples sent to its laboratory in Hong Kong and\u00a0genetic\u00a0data\u00a0from the\u00a0tests for population research, the company confirmed to Reuters. Reuters found the\u00a0genetic\u00a0data\u00a0of over 500 women who took the\u00a0test, including women in Europe and Asia, is also stored in the government-funded China National\u00a0GeneBank in Shenzhen, which BGI runs.<\/p>\n

Reuters found no evidence BGI violated privacy agreements or regulations; the company said it obtains signed consent and destroys overseas samples and\u00a0data\u00a0after five years. \u201cAt no stage throughout the\u00a0testing or research process does BGI have access to any identifiable personal\u00a0data,\u201d the company said.<\/p>\n

However, the\u00a0test\u2019s privacy policy says\u00a0data\u00a0collected can be shared when it is \u201cdirectly relevant to national security or national defense security\u201d in China. BGI said it \u201chas never been asked to provide \u2013 nor provided \u2013\u00a0data\u00a0from its NIFTY\u00a0tests to\u00a0Chinese\u00a0authorities for national security or national defense purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The U.S. National Counterintelligence and Security Center, which has previously warned about\u00a0Chinese\u00a0firms collecting health\u00a0data, said in response to Reuters\u2019 findings that women taking the NIFTY\u00a0test\u00a0abroad should be concerned by a privacy policy that allows\u00a0data\u00a0to be shared with\u00a0Chinese\u00a0security agencies.<\/p>\n

\"A
A view of the signage on a building of Bangkok Genomics Innovation, a local subsidiary of Chinese gene firm BGI Group, in Bangkok, Thailand, March 23, 2021. <\/figcaption>
Chalinee Thirasupa\/REUTERS<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cNon-invasive\u00a0prenatal\u00a0testing kits marketed by\u00a0Chinese\u00a0biotech firms serve an important medical function, but they can also provide another mechanism for the People\u2019s Republic of China and\u00a0Chinese\u00a0biotech companies to collect\u00a0genetic and genomic\u00a0data\u00a0from around the globe,\u201d the center said.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s foreign ministry said Reuters\u2019 findings reflected \u201cgroundless accusations and smears\u201d of U.S. agencies.<\/p>\n

Other companies selling such\u00a0prenatal\u00a0tests also re-use\u00a0data\u00a0for research. But none operate on the scale of BGI, scientists and ethicists say, or have BGI\u2019s links to a government or its track record\u202f with a national\u00a0military.<\/p>\n

BGI began working with\u00a0Chinese\u00a0military\u00a0hospitals to study the genomes of fetuses in 2010 and has published over a dozen joint studies with PLA researchers to trial and improve its\u00a0prenatal\u00a0tests, the Reuters review of more than 100 public documents showed.<\/p>\n

The PLA\u00a0General<\/a> Hospital in Beijing and Third\u00a0Military\u00a0Medical University in Chongqing ran clinical trials on the NIFTY\u00a0test\u00a0in 2011. They worked with BGI researchers to expand the\u00a0genetic abnormalities the\u00a0test\u00a0screens for, papers published in 2019 and 2020 show.<\/p>\n

In one example, the PLA\u00a0General Hospital worked with BGI on the first\u00a0Chinese\u00a0prenatal\u00a0trial to screen for dwarfism, which BGI later brought to market.<\/p>\n

\"A
A building of Chinese gene firm BGI Group is seen in Beijing, China March 25, 2021.<\/figcaption>
Carlos Garcia Rawlins\/Reuters<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Also, a BGI study published in 2018 used a\u00a0military\u00a0supercomputer to re-analyze NIFTY\u00a0data\u00a0and map the prevalence of viruses in\u00a0Chinese\u00a0women, look for indicators of mental illness in them, and single out Tibetan and Uyghur minorities to find links between their\u00a0genes and their characteristics.<\/p>\n

As well as\u00a0genetic information about the fetus and mother, the\u00a0testing process captures personal information, such as the customer\u2019s country, weight, height, and medical history, according to BGI computer code reviewed by Reuters. The customer\u2019s name is not collected.<\/p>\n

Reuters spoke to a woman who took the\u00a0test\u00a0in 2020, a 32-year-old office administrator in Poland. She said that if she had known her\u00a0data\u00a0could be shared with the\u00a0Chinese\u00a0government, or understood the extent of BGI\u2019s secondary research, she would have chosen a different\u00a0test.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to know what is happ<\/a>ening with such sensitive\u00a0data\u00a0about me, such as my genome and that of my child,\u201d said the woman, Emilia, who asked to be identified only by her first name.\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“#Prenatal test developed in collaboration with Chinese military collects gene data” A prenatal test taken by millions of pregnant women globally was developed by Chinese gene company BGI Group in collaboration with the Chinese military and is being used by the firm to collect genetic data, a Reuters review of publicly available documents found. The…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":293367,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/07\/BGI-group-nifty-prenatal-test-1.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[111278,4973,70510,70478],"class_list":["post-293366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-7-7-21","tag-china","tag-genetics","tag-pregnancy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293366\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}