Tag Archives: genetic surveillance based on DNA

How to Become Biosecure

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A bill approved by the House of Representatives in September 2024 would make it difficult for U.S. drug companies to contract with five major Chinese biotechnology companies. Academic researchers say they, too, would be hampered. The new rules could threaten projects that rely on sequencing in China or involve Chinese scientists who use services or machines from the companies. It would also cut off one source of genome sequencers used in U.S. labs. The Senate is considering a similar measure, raising the odds the rule could become law. “It could have a chilling effect on science,” says Gene Robinson, director of the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Known as the Biosecure Act, the legislation would prevent federal funds from going to biotech companies linked to five “foreign adversaries”: China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and Cuba. It bans purchases from five specific Chinese companies—BGI, MGI, WuXi Biologics, Wu Xi AppTec, and Complete Genomics—beginning in 2032. It would also prevent federal funds from going to other organizations that use services and equipment from the companies. The White House Office of Management and Budget would update the list of companies of concern at least once a year.

The act’s proponents argue that the named biotech companies are stealing intellectual property from U.S. biotech equipment makers or are directing health and genetic data to centers affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and other adversaries. “This bill is a necessary step towards protecting Americans’ sensitive health care data from the CCP before these companies become more embedded in the U.S. economy, university systems, and federal contracting base,” said Representative James Comer (R–KY) on the House floor before the bill passed 306 to 81 with broad bipartisan support.

The biggest impact, says Aaron Cummings, a lobbyist with Crowell & Moring, is likely to be felt by U.S. biotech and pharmaceutical companies. Beyond genome sequencing, Chinese firms such as WuXi AppTec provide services that support clinical research, such as manufacturing pharmaceutical ingredients and cell therapies, as well as providing research cell lines. According to a survey released in May by BIO, a biotech industry trade group, 79% of 124 biopharma companies surveyed have at least one Chinese biotech contractor. Academic scientists, for their part, worry they will be forced to sever valuable research collaborations with Chinese scientists at the companies of concern or with academic groups that use their equipment or services.

Excerpts Robert F. Service from Bill Targeting Chinese Firms Worries US Researchers, Science, Sept. 13, 2024
 
 
 
 
 

Genetic Surveillance based on Stray DNA

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Everywhere they go, humans leave stray DNA. Police have used genetic sequences retrieved from cigarette butts and coffee cups to identify suspects; archaeologists have sifted DNA from cave dirt to identify ancient humans. But for scientists aiming to capture genetic information not about people, but about animals, plants, and microbes, the ubiquity of human DNA and the ability of even partial sequences to reveal information most people would want to keep private is a growing problem, researchers from two disparate fields warn this week. Both groups are calling for safeguards to prevent misuse of such human genomic “bycatch.”

Genetic sequences recovered from water, soil, and even air can reveal plant and animal diversity, identify pathogens, and trace past environments, sparking a boom in studies of this environmental DNA (eDNA). But the samples can also contain significant amounts of human genes, researchers report today in Nature Ecology & Evolution. In some cases, the DNA traces were enough to determine the sex and likely ancestry of the people who shed them, raising ethical alarms…Similarly, scientists have for decades analyzed the genetic information in fecal matter to reveal the microbes in people’s intestines—the gut microbiome, which plays dramatic roles in human health and development.

The power to extract personal data from eDNA and microbiome samples will continue to increase, both groups of authors warn. That raises concerns about misuse by police or other government agencies, collection by commercial companies, or even mass genetic surveillance, says Natalie Ram, a law and bioethics scholar at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. In the United States, she says, researchers and funding agencies should make greater use of federal Certificates of Confidentiality. They prohibit the disclosure of “identifiable, sensitive research information” to anyone not connected with a study, such as law enforcement, without the subject’s consent….

“Which companies and governments are going to pay and license to have poop-based surveillance technology?” he asks. “Imputing people’s identity based on their poop is compelling and interesting, for a number of reasons, and most of them are all the wrong reasons.”

Excerpts from Gretchen Vogel, Privacy concerns sparked by human DNA accidentally collected in studies of other Species, Science, May 15, 2023