Chinese biotech firm offered to build COVID labs in US, likely to try to collect Americans’ DNA

A Chinese company offered to build COVID-19 testing labs in the U.S. at the start of the pandemic, with intelligence officials warning it might have been an effort to collect DNA from American citizens, according to a “60 Minutes” report.

BGI Group, touted as the largest biotech firm in the world, offered to build and run testing labs in Washington, New York and California, among other states.

The offer raised suspicions and led Bill Evanina, then-director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, to warn the states against the offer.

“Foreign powers can collect, store and exploit biometric information from COVID tests,” Evanina said in a public notice, according to “60 Minutes.”

Evanina, like many officials, worries that China might use companies like BGI Group to collect biodata, which he believes poses a national security threat as the world starts to pay more attention to such assets.

Biodata can determine the path of health care, indicating the kinds of medical concerns prevalent now or in the future, allowing an entity to create a monopoly over the therapy or drugs necessary to treat them, he told “60 Minutes.”