By Tsering Dhundup
DHARAMSHALA, Jan 4: Boston-based biotech company Thermo Fisher Scientific has announced that it will stop selling DNA kits, specifically the Human Identification (HID) products, in Tibet as of December 31, 2023. The move follows persistent advocacy by Tibet activists and pressure from the United States Congress.
“Based on a number of factors we made the decision in mid-2023 to cease sales of [human identification] products in the region and no longer sell our human identification technology in the Tibet Autonomous Region,” a spokesperson for the Boston-based company told Axios.
Student advocacy group SFT, the leading force in the campaign against Thermo Fisher, sees this development as a win for their activism for Tibet. Chemi Lhamo, Campaigns Director at Students for a Free Tibet said “A massive win like this takes meticulous planning, dedication and teamwork. Thankfully, the tibet movement was up to the Task and and worked with its allies to secure a campaign victory that will be talked about for years to come. This has been a rollercoaster campaign, with Thermo Fisher seemingly determined to continue its sales to tibet no matter how much evidence we showed them and how big our campaign became, but we never give up”.
Fellow activist Tenzin Yangzom from International Tibet Network said, “Successfully getting the world’s largest biotech company – Thermo Fisher – to listen and change its policies is no mean feat, but this is exactly what the Tibet movement has done! As we celebrate this success we also want to remind Thermo Fisher that we will be monitoring their actions to ensure they keep the commitment to end their complicity in China’s mass DNA surveillance of Tibetans.”
Tenzin Rabga from Free Tibet, another group that fought in the campaign said, “After over a year of determined campaigning, 2023 ended with a huge victory for Tibet. These commitments from Thermo Fisher will have a real-world impact that reverberates from its offices in Boston to Tibetans in occupied Tibet. We hope that other companies collaborating in the repression in Tibet will take notice of this victory because we are coming for them next.”
Since June 2016, authorities in the so-called Tibet Autonomous Region have conducted mass DNA collection program raising concerns over social control against the Tibetan population, according to civil society organization Citizens Lab.
Thermo Fisher had previously suspended sales of DNA kits to police in East Turkestan (Ch. Xinjiang) in 2019 due to concerns over human rights abuses. However, the company continued supplying DNA kits to the so-called TAR authorities despite allegations of similar abuses.
A report by Human Rights Watch in September 2021 highlighted an increase in policing and arbitrary DNA collection by Chinese authorities in towns and villages throughout the Tibet Autonomous Region. The report revealed that individuals could not refuse to provide their DNA, and police did not require credible evidence of criminal conduct to demand samples.
Sophie Richardson, China director at Human Rights Watch, condemned the Chinese government’s actions, stating that Tibetans were already facing pervasive repression, and authorities were now collecting blood without consent to enhance surveillance capabilities.
Toronto-based research group Citizen Lab’s September 2022 report claimed that the Chinese government had collected genetic material from nearly a third of the population in Tibet, amounting to 1.2 million out of 3.6 million, without clear consent. The Chinese government has faced criticism for using genetic materials collected from Uyghurs in East Turkestan (Ch. Xinjiang) to strengthen its surveillance systems and implement repressive racial policies.
