Sir Iain Duncan Smith says UK must take action against Chinese bioscience threat

China could use British genetic data to create targeted biological weapons, a Tory former minister has claimed.

Sir Iain Duncan Smith has urged the government to follow US moves and take action against Chinese biotech companies, which he compared to action against telecoms company Huawei.

The Conservative former minister’s warning was echoed by Labor MP Fabian Hamilton, who separately warned of the risks of opening up UK genomic data to global rivals.

Genomics, the study of DNA as a complete set of data, is an emerging field of medical technology and is being used to predict, diagnose and treat disease in new ways.

Writing in The Telegraph, Sir Ian warned it could have more sinister uses.

“Like other advanced technologies, genomics, when used legitimately, can help develop new drugs to fight diseases such as cancer,” he wrote, adding: “However, its dual-use potential means it could also be used to create targeted biological weapons or pathogens.”

Sir Ian pointed to reports that the Chinese government may use genomic technology to collect data on the country’s ethnic minority groups, such as Uyghur Muslims.

Sir Ian and other MPs have previously warned that Chinese genomics giant BGI, which has been blacklisted in the US due to security concerns, could pose a threat to British interests.

U.S. lawmakers are currently trying to restrict access to U.S. genomic data to companies they believe have ties to hostile foreign countries.

BGI won coronavirus-related contracts from the British government during the epidemic but has denied links to the Beijing government.

Sir Ian said: “The UK’s position in this debate is once again in disarray. Last year, the government admitted that BGI was a ‘danger point’ in the UK’s tech ecosystem but continued to allow BGI access to our genomics sector. .”

He claimed that this echoed “the weaknesses demonstrated by Huawei and Hikvision, and if we fail to recognize the seriousness of the challenge, we risk repeating the same mistakes.”

Writing in the i newspaper, Hamilton likened advances in genomics to artificial intelligence and claimed it would “likely become the backbone of future medicine.”

The Leeds North East MP and member of the Foreign Affairs Committee praised the party’s life sciences strategy aimed at supporting genomics in healthcare.

But he added: “The strength of our life sciences industry will depend on the amount of data available and the exposure of public and private sector organizations – from the NHS to big companies such as Bupa and Oxford Nanopore – to state and non-state actors.

“From this perspective, China’s pursuit of genomic data is part of a drive to dominate the world’s life sciences industry.”

Hamilton claimed the government had “failed to address well-known security challenges” and said “a lack of action has serious consequences for national security”.

A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “We have invested more than £338 million to increase cyber resilience across the health and social care sector.

“Our cybersecurity experts monitor new threats 24 hours a day and continuously allocate resources to ensure risks are minimized and patient data is protected.

“Building on a cybersecurity strategy that prioritizes patient safety, we are developing a new plan to strengthen protection and reduce the risk of attacks across the industry.”

The reporter contacted BGI for comment.