EXCLUSIVE: Thousands of pregnant British women are unwittingly handing over their DNA to a controversial Chinese firm with close links to the Communist regime’s military forces
- MPs call for ‘urgent’ investigation into £350 pre-natal blood screening tests
- Increasing concerns due to Beijing-backed firm’s access to genetic data
Thousands of pregnant British women are unwittingly handing over their DNA to a controversial Chinese firm with close links to the Communist regime’s military forces.
MPs and peers have called for an ‘urgent’ investigation into Beijing-backed BGI Group over its £350 pre-natal blood screening tests sold across the UK.
They have become increasing concerned over the firm’s access to the genetic data after it was blacklisted by the US and branded a ‘danger’ by a science minister in Parliament.
Former health minister Lord Bethell said the information being collected by the ‘NIFTY’ tests (a type of non-invasive pre-natal screening) was ‘incredibly powerful’ and could pose a ‘huge danger’.
He warned it could potentially be used to influence populations, carry out mass surveillance, and even develop bioweapons.
MPs and peers have called for an ‘urgent’ investigation into Beijing-backed BGI Group over its £350 pre-natal blood screening tests sold across the UK. They have become increasing concerned over the firm’s access to the genetic data after it was blacklisted by the US and branded a ‘danger’ by a science minister in Parliament (file image)
Former health minister Lord Bethell (pictured) said the information being collected by the ‘NIFTY’ tests (a type of non-invasive pre-natal screening) was ‘incredibly powerful’ and could pose a ‘huge danger’
An investigation has previously claimed BGI used a Chinese military supercomputer to analyse NIFTY data from Chinese women and map the prevalence of viruses among them.
This included looking for indicators of mental illness and singling out persecuted Tibetan and Uyghur minorities.
BGI dismissed the findings at the time and accused the MPs of continuing to circulate ‘misinformation’. It said it did not engage in unethical practices or condone human rights abuses.
In a letter to Information Commissioner John Edwards, the group of MPs said: ‘It is vital consumers have full transparency in order to carefully assess the risks associated with sharing such data with state-linked Chinese companies.’
The letter was signed by Lord Bethell and five MPs including Henry Smith, Siobhain McDonagh, Taiwo Owatemi, and Charlotte Nichols, who serve on the foreign affairs, Treasury, health, and business and trade select committees respectively.
Lib Dem MP Alistair Carmichael, a co-signatory of the letter, likened the firm’s sphere of influence to that of Chinese-owned telecommunications firm Huawei and security camera firm Hikvision, which have been accused by MPs of helping the Communist regime spy on Britain.
BGI Group has also formed a deep network within the UK having won a multimillion-pound Covid contract and established partnerships with UK universities, including Oxford and Cambridge.
Mr Carmichael said: ‘This is a national security failing of the highest order.
‘For years we have lagged behind our ‘Five Eyes’ security allies [the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand] who have blacklisted several BGI subsidiaries.’
Science minister George Freeman told MPs two months ago that the firm was a ‘danger’, and had taken an ‘aggressive’ approach to the UK’s world-leading genetics research.
The US has added two BGI subsidiaries to a trade blacklist over its data use.
Yet the firm’s NIFTY tests, which have been approved by the medicine watchdog, continue to be bought by women in the UK. They are not available on the NHS but are widely available privately.
BGI Group insisted it followed the same security regulations as other brands, with blood samples processed in its lab in London and all the data taken remaining on its servers in the UK and the EU.
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