News and Views on Tibet

US Commission on China probes Thermo Fisher over sale of DNA equipment

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Chinese authorities in Gertse County In Ngari prefecture collecting DNA from Tibetans (Photo/The Citizen Lab)

By Choekyi Lhamo

DHARAMSHALA, Dec. 16: The Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) sent a letter to the Massachusetts-based tech company Thermo Fisher questioning it over their sale of equipment and products to Chinese police for DNA collection from Tibetans. The letter to the President and CEO Marc Casper raised serious concerns over the mass DNA collection used for surveillance purposes by the Chinese government.

“There are so few safeguards for how DNA is gathered and used in the PRC that we are alarmed that U.S. companies, including Thermo Fisher Scientific, may be wittingly or unwittingly aiding or abetting human rights abuses,” the letter by CECC stated, adding that the US government has taken keen interest in the reports that said from June 2016 and August 2022, Chinese police in the TAR collected between roughly 900,000 and 1.2 million DNA samples. The staggering numbers have been amplified by several rights organizations in the last few months after the news of such collaboration were published by The Citizen Lab and The Intercept.

“Based on our analysis, we believe that this program is a form of social control directed against Tibet’s people, who have long been subject to intense state surveillance and repression,” The Citizen Lab said in their report in September. In an ongoing petition-signing campaign, the Students for a Free Tibet has procured over 6,000 signatures addressed to the CEO of the tech company, demanding “an end to the supply chain to China immediately.” The petition started in November strongly criticizes the Chinese government and the company for “stealing” Tibetan DNA. “Thermo Fisher claims to be an ethical company, so why is it aiding China as it attempts to subject an entire people to a lifetime of surveillance and fear?” it further asked.

“We do not yet know what Chinese authorities intend to do with the information they obtain from the mass collection of Tibetan DNA. The CECC has extensively monitored the policies and methods that PRC security forces have employed to exert intrusive social controls over minority populations like Uyghurs and Tibetans. We fear that DNA collection could enable further gross violations of their human rights,” it said, and further questioned if the company has conducted an investigation to probe into these matters, and if so, demanded to know the conclusions of that probe.

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