President Trump’s administration just shut the door on three Chinese genomics companies accused of helping Beijing turn human DNA into a tool of surveillance and repression.
The Department of Homeland Security added BGI Group, BGI Genomics and MGI Tech to the federal forced-labor blacklist Wednesday. Starting October 29, their goods will be presumed barred from entering the United States unless an importer can clear the law’s demanding requirements.
This is bigger than another trade dispute. DHS says the companies supported genetic testing in Xinjiang and helped build the infrastructure used to monitor ethnic minorities, enforce labor-transfer programs and strengthen the Chinese Communist Party’s grip over the region.
The three-company action and its Xinjiang basis were laid out this way:
According to the Department of Homeland Security, the three firms are tied together. Shenzhen BGI Technology, better known as BGI Group, controls BGI Genomics, while MGI Tech sits under the same ultimate controlling shareholder.
Together, they form one of the largest gene-sequencing and genetic-material collection networks in the world. BGI provides DNA and RNA sequencing, bioinformatics, precision-medicine services and technical support.
MGI develops and sells life-science instruments, reagents and related biotechnology products.
DHS says investigators found specific information showing all three companies worked with Xinjiang authorities on genetic testing tied to government initiatives. The agency concluded that the data helped authorities monitor and repress Uyghurs and other persecuted groups while supporting forced-labor programs dressed up as healthcare or poverty relief.
The genetic-surveillance finding is the part that changes the stakes:
The mechanics of the new restriction matter. Customs and Border Protection will apply a rebuttable presumption that goods produced by the companies are prohibited.
In plain English, the burden shifts to the importer to prove that a shipment is not connected to forced labor before it can enter the country.
DHS says BGI Genomics and BGI Group also sourced genetic material from Xinjiang. The government’s finding on BGI Group includes human genetic material, while the record on BGI Genomics includes material from plants, animals and bacterial diseases collected in the region.
That makes this a national-security story as much as a human-rights story. A company with access to enormous genetic datasets does not operate in the same risk category as an ordinary exporter.
DNA cannot be reset like a password. Once a hostile government possesses it, the information can be analyzed, cross-referenced and exploited for decades.
The Associated Press reports that BGI has been under scrutiny in Washington for years because of its alleged links to the Chinese government and access to massive stores of genetic data. The Pentagon has labeled all three companies Chinese military companies, adding another layer to the concern surrounding their work.
BGI rejected the accusation, saying it has not used forced labor and does not have access to Americans’ genetic data. Beijing has also denied abuses in Xinjiang and argues that its policies are aimed at fighting terrorism and maintaining stability.
But the Trump administration’s latest action is based on a very different conclusion: that advanced genetic testing was woven into a broader system of surveillance, coercion and forced labor, and that companies connected to that system should not profit from the American market.
The named companies and the immediate trade consequence were summarized here:
Reuters reports that BGI Genomics, MGI Tech and Shenzhen BGI Technology were added under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. The law treats products linked to Xinjiang forced labor as prohibited unless an importer can overcome the presumption with evidence acceptable to U.S. authorities.
The updated federal list now contains 190 entities. DHS added 43 companies in July in the largest single expansion since the list was created, and Wednesday’s move shows that the administration is now pushing deeper into industries where supply chains, sensitive technology and national security overlap.
There is another layer of timing here. President Trump is expected to meet Xi Jinping next month in Shenzhen, the city where BGI is based.
The two countries are trying to preserve a wider trade truce, but biotechnology is rapidly becoming another front in the struggle over military power, data and technological control.
President Trump’s message is hard to miss: access to the American market is not guaranteed for companies accused of helping the CCP build a genetic dragnet around persecuted people.
And this fight will not end with three names on a federal list. The larger question is how much of China’s biotechnology machine is already embedded in Western research, medicine and supply chains—and whether Washington can unwind those ties before the data falls into hands that cannot be trusted.
This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.
The post Trump Admin Blocks Three Chinese DNA Giants Accused of Powering the CCP’s Mass-Surveillance Machine appeared first on 100PercentFedUp.com.
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[H/T 100PercentFedUp]
