Low-cost DNA testing tools from China could present a national security risk, with the potential for genetic data collected in Taiwan to be leaked to China, a cell biologist said yesterday.
The Web site of a local genetic testing company says that it has collaborated with BGI Genomics (華大基因) since 2014, providing its non-invasive fetal trisomy (NIFTY) test in more than 200 obstetrics and gynecology clinics nationwide, including Taipei City Hospital’s Heping Fuyou Branch.
In 2021, Reuters reported that BGI was using the test — one of the most popular in the world — to collect genetic data from millions of women around the globe, and it was sharing that data with the Chinese military for genetic research.
Photo: Reuters
Although BGI said it has never provided data from its NIFTY tests to Chinese authorities for national security or national defense purposes, the NIFTY test has faced scrutiny from regulators in Australia, Canada, Germany and other countries, while the US in March added two subsidiaries of BGI to its trade blacklist.
Academia Sinica Institute of Cellular and Organismic Biology distinguished visiting fellow Wu Jen-leih (吳金洌) said that in addition to BGI, a Beijing-based bioinformatics company, Novogene (諾禾致源), also has laboratories and affiliated agencies in more than a dozen countries, including Taiwan, the US, the UK and Singapore.
The owner of a local genetics company said that the genomic testing and sequencing market in Taiwan can be categorized into four segments, with research and cancer screening accounting for the largest proportion of the market, worth billions of dollars.
Local agents collect specimens from research centers and send most of them to laboratories in China or to the laboratories of subsidiaries of Chinese companies in Southeast Asia for testing, they said.
Some companies have equipment in research centers in Taiwan, which might contain spyware that could send genomic data to China, they said.
Wu said that if genomic data are leaked to China and used for malicious purposes, it could cause a serious national security problem.
He said the government should follow the US in setting up access control systems for genetic data and support the local development of DNA testing tools.
While the US and many European countries developed their own DNA testing and genomic sequencing tools, Taiwan still allows many foreign agents to install equipment made by Chinese companies in hospitals and allows Hong Kong-funded companies to purchase local genetics companies, a genetics company owner said.
The government should support local companies by launching large-scale research projects and banning the use of Chinese equipment, they said.
Department of Medical Affairs Deputy Director-General Liu Yu-ching (劉玉菁) said that the Regulations Governing the Application of Specific Medical Examination Techniques and Medical Devices (特定醫療技術檢查檢驗醫療儀器施行或使用管理辦法) was revised in 2021, requiring hospitals to protect personal data collected through DNA testing.
If laboratories leak genomic data, they could be suspended from running tests, Liu said.
Additional reporting by Wu Liang-yi
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique