A Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee has warned Americans to not use DNA testing services because their data could be collected to create bioweapons targeting individuals or groups.
"You can't have a discussion about this without talking about privacy and the protection of commercial data because expectations of privacy have degraded over the last 20 years," Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) said during a panel discussion in Colorado. "Young folks actually have very little expectation of privacy, that's what the polling and the data show."
"People will very rapidly spit into a cup and send it to 23andMe and get really interesting data about their background," he added, making reference to a popular DNA testing and ancestry service.
Officials have to have a "public discussion" about the protection of DNA information, healthcare information, and related data as such data can "be procured and collected by our adversaries for the development of these systems," the congressman added, referring to biological weapons.
The company previously denied selling private information, including DNA, of its customers. The Epoch Times has contacted 23andMe for comment.
China, Russia Collecting American DNA
About a year ago, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) issued a warning that Chinese and Russian laboratories were processing the DNA tests of Americans via Medicare and Medicaid."It is ridiculous that our current policies enable the Chinese Communist Party to access Americans' genomic data," he said in a statement in July 2021. "There is absolutely no reason that Beijing, which routinely seeks to undermine US national security, should be handed the genomic data of American citizens."
During the panel discussion, Ernst said U.S. adversaries could also open up a new battlefront against the United States by targeting food supplies on a vast scale via biological weapons.
“If we look at food security and what can our adversaries do with biological weapons that are directed at our animal agriculture, at our agricultural sector ... highly pathogenic avian influenza, African swine fever,” she said. “All of these things have circulated around the globe, but if targeted by an adversary, we know that it brings about food insecurity. Food insecurity drives a lot of other insecurities around the globe.”