A student campaign group has raised concerns over patient privacy after it found previous and existing ties between UK universities and Chinese state-linked companies which the US National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence warned may be serving as a “global collection mechanism for Chinese government genetic databases.”
Chinese genomics giant, BGI Group, which runs the state-owned national gene bank, is believed to have significant and long-standing ties to the Chinese Communist Party and the country’s military.
In recent years, twenty major UK universities have received over £40 million from state-linked Chinese companies.
Other universities have previously had commercial links with BGI subsidiaries, it is claimed.
However, Exeter University which has a running contract with a BGI subsidiary involving data sharing, told Evening Standard that “only anonymised samples were provided to the company [BGI] and no specific concerns on data privacy had been raised with the University.”
While BGI has denied to the Evening Standard they share sensitive data with the government, the company is subject to Article 7 of China’s National Intelligence Law, which states “organisations and citizens shall support, assist, and cooperate with national intelligence efforts.”
BGI’s close links with state security has also been a concern, resulting in two BGI Group subsidiaries being blacklisted by the US Department of Commerce for their involvement in unethical surveillance of ethnic minorities in China.
Yves Moreau, a Scientist and university professor at the University of Leuven in Belgium, has called on publishers to investigate research that he says is complicit in human rights violations.
He said: “If you take the situation of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang, they are subject to intense surveillance across multiple technologies. You have the DNA database but you have facial recognition and cameras all over the place. You have censorship of the internet, you have monitoring software installed on smartphones to see what is on your smartphone. You have the police scanning a QR code next to your door at your home to know who is living there and what is known by the police about them.”
The Ethical Research Campaign, which was set-up by a group of concerned students and recent graduates to highlight these issues, have called on universities to end all research projects with BGI.
Since 2015, Beijing itself has restricted foreign researchers from accessing gene data on Chinese people. Parliamentarians in the UK have questioned if the government and universities are doing enough to protect against Chinese influence in critical areas.
Alistair Carmichael MP, Liberal Democrat, Member of Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China says: “The involvement of Chinese state-linked organisations such BGI Group in our research sector is a growing cause for concern. Universities need to ensure they are taking every step to mitigate the risk these relationships pose to data privacy, national security and ethical standards.”
A spokesperson for BGI said: “The research that BGI has undertaken collaboratively with some of the world’s leading academic and scientific institutions has led to major medical breakthroughs that will benefit the world for many decades to come.”
They said: “BGI has never been asked to provide, nor has it provided data from its NIFTY test to Chinese authorities for national security or national defense security purposes” and “at no stage throughout the testing or research process does BGI have access to any identifiable personal data or the ability to match that data with personal records.”
They added: “Wherever BGI undertakes research, the company strictly comply with local laws, guidelines, and protocols, while adhering to internationally recognized ethical standards.
“The data privacy standards BGI applies to its research meet strict national and international requirements, including the GDPR in the European Union.”
