Prenatal Test Developed with China's PLA Stores Genetic Data

A prenatal test taken by millions of pregnant women globally was developed by Chinese gene company BGI Group in collaboration with the Chinese military and is being used by the firm to collect genetic data for “national security purposes,” a Reuters review of publicly available documents found.

The report is the first to reveal that the company collaborated with the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to develop and improve the test, taken in early pregnancy, as well as the scope of BGI's storage and analysis of the data.

The United States sees BGI's efforts to collect and analyze human gene data as a national security threat, Kirsty Needham and Clare Baldwin wrote for Reuters.

China's biggest genomics firm, BGI began marketing the test abroad in 2013. Branded NIFTY, it is among the world's top-selling non-invasive prenatal tests (NIPT). These screen a sample of blood from a pregnant woman to detect abnormalities such as Down's syndrome in a developing fetus.

So far, more than 8 million women globally have taken BGI's prenatal tests, BGI has said. NIFTY is sold in at least 52 countries, including Britain, Europe, Canada, Australia, Thailand and India, but not in the United States.

BGI uses leftover blood samples sent to its laboratory in Hong Kong and genetic data from the tests for population research, the company confirmed. Reuters found the genetic data of more than 500 women who took the test, including women in Europe and Asia, is also stored in the government-funded China National GeneBank in Shenzhen, which BGI runs.

Reuters found no evidence BGI violated privacy agreements or regulations; the company said it obtains signed consent and destroys overseas samples and data after five years.

"At no stage throughout the testing or research process does BGI have access to any identifiable personal data," the company said. However, the test's privacy policy says data collected can be shared when it is "directly relevant to national security or national defense security" in China.

BGI said it "has never been asked to provide – nor provided – data from its NIFTY tests to Chinese authorities for national security or national defense purposes."

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