China Is Collecting DNA From Tens of Millions of Men and Boys, Using U.S. Equipment
By Sui-Lee Wee,
The New York Times
| 06. 17. 2020
Even children are pressed into giving blood samples to build a sweeping genetic database that will add to Beijing’s growing surveillance capabilities, raising questions about abuse and privacy.
The police in China are collecting blood samples from men and boys from across the country to build a genetic map of its roughly 700 million males, giving the authorities a powerful new tool for their emerging high-tech surveillance state.
They have swept across the country since late 2017 to collect enough samples to build a vast DNA database, according to a new study published on Wednesday by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a research organization, based on documents also reviewed by The New York Times. With this database, the authorities would be able to track down a man’s male relatives using only that man’s blood, saliva or other genetic material.
An American company, Thermo Fisher, is helping: The Massachusetts company has sold testing kits to the Chinese police tailored to their specifications. American lawmakers have criticized Thermo Fisher for selling equipment to the Chinese authorities, but the company has defended its business.
The project is a major escalation of China’s efforts to use genetics to control its people, which had been focused on tracking ethnic minorities and...
Related Articles
By Hannah Devlin, The Guardian | 07.05.2025
Scientists are just a few years from creating viable human sex cells in the lab, according to an internationally renowned pioneer of the field, who says the advance could open up biology-defying possibilities for reproduction.
Speaking to the Guardian, Prof...
By Maoli Duan, The Conversation | 07.02.2025
By Alice Park, TIME | 07.08.2025
Rare genetic diseases are challenging for patients and their families—made all the more overwhelming because symptoms tend to appear soon after birth.
To date, there haven’t been many reliable treatment options for these babies. The few that do exist involve...
By Jessica Hamzelou, MIT Technology Review | 07.18.2025
This week we heard that eight babies have been born in the UK following an experimental form of IVF that involves DNA from three people. The approach was used to prevent women with genetic mutations from passing mitochondrial diseases to...
