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23-10-21, 20:56
US intelligence warns China could be creating world’s biggest ‘genetic database’
There are concerns the information could be used for sinister means, including creating new viruses and using it for surveillance.
Sarah Sharples
October 23, 2021
US intelligence officers have warned China may be collecting genetic data from around the world to create the largest bio-database, which could be used for sinister means, and would also allow it to dominate America’s healthcare system.
The report from the National Counterintelligence and Security Center found Chinese companies were offering genetic testing and Covid testing kits, as well as investing in US pharmaceutical companies, with a risk the data could be used for scary means by Beijing.
“For example, biotechnology can be misused to create virulent pathogens that can target
our food supply or even the human population. Genomic technology used to design disease therapies tailored to an individual also can be used to identify genetic vulnerabilities in a population,” the report said.
“Large genetic databases that allow people’s ancestry to be revealed and crimes to be solved also can be misused for surveillance and societal repression.”
It also warned while intellectual property and patented products are legally protected there are “large bodies of data such as patient health records or genetic sequence data, which represent
long-term, unrealised development of products and applications”, which could be accessed.
Edward You, the Center’s officer for emerging and disruptive technologies, provided a chilling picture of the US becoming wholly dependant on China.
He said China’s advanced research and technology combined with collecting medical, health and genetic data could see it dominate on healthcare.
The best database would give the country an advantage on developing cures for future pandemics, with China already ahead on this front, he added.
“If you’re President Xi that’s the gift that keeps on giving,” he told the Daily Mail.
A Chinese company, BGI, had developed a neonatal genetic test with the Chinese military, and the company entered the American market in 2013, launching partnerships with health institutes across the US. Mr You said this genetic data could be “transferred to the Chinese government.”
“They are developing the world’s largest bio database. Once they have access to your genetic data, it’s not something you can change like a pin code,” he told the New York Times.
The US was also at risk of falling behind China on artificial intelligence, which could revolutionalise military operations, as well as autonomous systems, semiconductors and biotechnology and America “couldn’t afford” for this to happen, the center’s acting director, Michael Orlando added.
He said China and other countries are using both legal and illegal means to acquire American knowledge, and while Russia was a threat, China trumped it as an economic powerhouse.
The private sector was at particular risk as many don’t seem to be “digesting” that Chinese businesses and academics serve the Chinese Communist Party, added Mr Orlando.
Earlier this year, China tested two hypersonic “space nukes” that demonstrated technology the United States does not currently possess and is struggling to understand, with claims the weapons appeared “to defy the laws of physics” and evade early warning systems.
Mr Orlando was also concerned quantum computing in particular could be an area China exploits via unwitting America companies, which could help them break encryption systems used by intelligence agencies.
Earlier this week, the Pentagon’s first ever chief software officer Nicolas Chaillan resigned declaring that the US had no fighting chance against China in 15 to 20 years.
Heidi Grant, the top Pentagon official in charge of overseas arms sales, also resigned.
There are concerns the information could be used for sinister means, including creating new viruses and using it for surveillance.
Sarah Sharples
October 23, 2021
US intelligence officers have warned China may be collecting genetic data from around the world to create the largest bio-database, which could be used for sinister means, and would also allow it to dominate America’s healthcare system.
The report from the National Counterintelligence and Security Center found Chinese companies were offering genetic testing and Covid testing kits, as well as investing in US pharmaceutical companies, with a risk the data could be used for scary means by Beijing.
“For example, biotechnology can be misused to create virulent pathogens that can target
our food supply or even the human population. Genomic technology used to design disease therapies tailored to an individual also can be used to identify genetic vulnerabilities in a population,” the report said.
“Large genetic databases that allow people’s ancestry to be revealed and crimes to be solved also can be misused for surveillance and societal repression.”
It also warned while intellectual property and patented products are legally protected there are “large bodies of data such as patient health records or genetic sequence data, which represent
long-term, unrealised development of products and applications”, which could be accessed.
Edward You, the Center’s officer for emerging and disruptive technologies, provided a chilling picture of the US becoming wholly dependant on China.
He said China’s advanced research and technology combined with collecting medical, health and genetic data could see it dominate on healthcare.
The best database would give the country an advantage on developing cures for future pandemics, with China already ahead on this front, he added.
“If you’re President Xi that’s the gift that keeps on giving,” he told the Daily Mail.
A Chinese company, BGI, had developed a neonatal genetic test with the Chinese military, and the company entered the American market in 2013, launching partnerships with health institutes across the US. Mr You said this genetic data could be “transferred to the Chinese government.”
“They are developing the world’s largest bio database. Once they have access to your genetic data, it’s not something you can change like a pin code,” he told the New York Times.
The US was also at risk of falling behind China on artificial intelligence, which could revolutionalise military operations, as well as autonomous systems, semiconductors and biotechnology and America “couldn’t afford” for this to happen, the center’s acting director, Michael Orlando added.
He said China and other countries are using both legal and illegal means to acquire American knowledge, and while Russia was a threat, China trumped it as an economic powerhouse.
The private sector was at particular risk as many don’t seem to be “digesting” that Chinese businesses and academics serve the Chinese Communist Party, added Mr Orlando.
Earlier this year, China tested two hypersonic “space nukes” that demonstrated technology the United States does not currently possess and is struggling to understand, with claims the weapons appeared “to defy the laws of physics” and evade early warning systems.
Mr Orlando was also concerned quantum computing in particular could be an area China exploits via unwitting America companies, which could help them break encryption systems used by intelligence agencies.
Earlier this week, the Pentagon’s first ever chief software officer Nicolas Chaillan resigned declaring that the US had no fighting chance against China in 15 to 20 years.
Heidi Grant, the top Pentagon official in charge of overseas arms sales, also resigned.