Taiwan’s laws should be amended to help prevent genetic data from leaking to China and to establish a domestic genetic testing industrial chain, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lin Tai-hua (林岱樺) said yesterday.
Precision medicine has become a global trend in the past few years, while Taiwan’s medical sector has been promoting genetic testing in advanced precision and personalized medicine to improve treatment efficacy and medical resource utilization, Lin told a news conference in Taipei.
However, media have reported that Chinese gene company BGI Genomics Co Ltd, which sells one of the most popular prenatal tests in the world, has harvested genetic data from millions of women, and is facing scrutiny from regulators in Australia, Canada, Germany and other countries, she said.
Photo: CNA
Human genetic data are a fundamental resource for scientific research and valuable for the biomedical industry, but there are concerns that genetic data collected in Taiwan might be leaked to China, she said.
DNA sequencing machines in Taiwan being made in China, specimens from genetic testing being sent to China from third countries for sequencing, the government granting Laboratory Developed Test certification to Chinese testing devices, state-supported gene companies merging with firms that the Chinese government has stakes in and genetic data of Taiwanese being leaked to China are among the concerns, Lin said.
Wu Jen-leih (吳金洌), a visiting fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Cellular and Organismic Biology, said that the source of genetic data leaks is the Chinese machines used for gene sequencing.
Sometimes specimens are sent directly to China or other countries to be sequenced, Wu said.
National security might be affected if the data are used for destructive purposes, he said.
Whoever controls the information has an advantage in biomedical technology development, but while many countries are adopting stricter measures regarding Chinese-made genetic testing products and sequencing machines, Taiwan lacks vigilance and even allowed several medical centers to install BGI Genomics sequencing machines, he said.
Chou Chang-hung (周昌弘), a professor in Academia Sinica’s Institute of Plant and Microbial Biology, said that Chinese firms have merged with gene companies in Taiwan, obtaining their databases and sending specimens to China.
The problem is similar to how seedlings and genomic data of special pineapple varieties being obtained by China harms Taiwanese agriculture, Chou said.
Regardless of how genetic data are acquired from Taiwanese, it seriously harms the genetic testing industry in Taiwan and supports the industry in China, when they are sent across the Taiwan Strait, he said.
The government should thoroughly investigate the use of Chinese genetic tests and sequencing machines in Taiwan, amend the law to control the export of genetic data, and support research projects to help Taiwan establish a domestic genetic testing industrial chain, Lin said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS