Bill Seeks to Block Funding to Biotechnology Firms of ‘Foreign Adversaries’

The CCP's leading gene technology company, BGI Group, has been sued for patent infringement in several countries by Illumina, a multinational giant in gene sequencing. BGI operations have also been suspended in the United States and Hong Kong and it was found guilty of patent infringement in the UK. Pictured here is a BGI staffer testing for the CCP virus (COVID-19). STR/AFP

New legislation introduced to the House and Senate seeks to bar the United States from funding Chinese biotechnology companies that could pose a risk to national security.

The BIOSECURE Act would restrict federally funded medical providers from using products and services from biotechnology companies of concern, as well as from engaging in contracts with them or providing taxpayer-funded grants to them.

The legislation singles out several top Chinese firms with deep ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its military wing, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). These include biotech companies BGI, MGI, Complete Genomics, and WuXi Apptec.

Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), who introduced the House version of the legislation, said the CCP would seek to use the genetic data collected by these companies to further its efforts to undermine the United States.

“The CCP will undoubtedly use the genetic data collected by BGI to further its malign aggression, potentially even to develop a bioweapon used to target the American people,” Mr. Gallagher said in a prepared statement.

“I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle and in both chambers of Congress to support this bipartisan, bicameral legislation that finally takes action to protect Americans from actors like BGI.”

US Subsidizing ‘Foreign Adversaries’

The legislation has received strong support from both Democrats and Republicans who serve on the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition with the CCP, which Mr. Gallagher chairs.

Select Committee ranking member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) said the bill was vital to the Select Committee’s efforts to prevent U.S. funding mechanisms from inadvertently accelerating Chinese military research.

“It is unacceptable for U.S. taxpayer dollars to be used to subsidize biotech companies of our foreign adversaries,” Mr. Krishnamoorthi said.

“Closing this loophole is the first step in protecting the American bioeconomy and our national security, and ensuring our genomic data is kept safe and secure.”

The effort comes as experts warn the CCP is gaining a significant strategic advantage through its application of artificial intelligence to DNA editing technologies.

BGI, for example, sells prenatal tests under the brand name NIFTY, which are ostensibly designed to allow women to screen their unborn child for health problems.

These tests harvest DNA from the pregnant woman and her fetus, however, and BGI stores that genetic information in China, where the CCP can access it on demand.

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who participated in introducing the Senate version of the bill, said it was a key step toward stopping the Chinese communist regime from exploiting Americans’ most personal health data.

“We cannot allow the CCP to get their hands on Americans’ private health information,” Mr. Romney said.

Numerous CCP-affiliated companies, including BGI, have also been implicated in human rights abuses, including the forced harvesting of DNA from predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang region of China.

Those actions have raised fears that the regime could use mass troves of genetic information to create new authoritarian surveillance technologies, or even to develop novel biological weapons. The United States has subsequently blacklisted some units of BGI for participating in such efforts.

Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) said that advancements in biotechnology could have profound consequences on human development for better or worse, and that such a process should not be left to the direction of an authoritarian power like communist China.

“Breakthroughs in biotechnology have the potential to transform our future, but we can’t allow this powerful tool to be co-opted for malign purposes by the Chinese Communist Party,” Mr. Moulton said.

“This is an important step in what should be a comprehensive strategy to counter the misuse of critical and emerging technologies by the CCP.”