Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian reports:
The Chinese government has identified genetic data as a national strategic resource and is strengthening state control over the country’s gene banks and other repositories of genetic information.
Why it matters: The collection and use of genetic information are fraught with ethical concerns, including consent and privacy, exploitation of marginalized groups, and a growing transnational trend toward genetic surveillance.
- “The Chinese authorities are making a real effort to protect the genetic information of Chinese citizens from non-state actors,” Yves Moreau, a geneticist at the University of Leuven in Belgium, told Axios, while carving out a “huge exception for the state.”
Driving the news: Newly released draft guidelines prohibit the genetic information of Chinese nationals from being sent abroad and mandate the cataloging of human genetic databases, including data at academic institutions, to be carried out every five years.
Read more at Axios.
h/t, Joe Cadillic