When the US last week added several units of BGI Group, a Chinese genetic sequencing firm, to its entity list restricting technology transfer, the primary justification was that the company had been \u201ccontributing to monitoring and surveillance\u201d, including of ethnic minorities. Yet the human rights implications of China\u2019s domestic surveillance state aren\u2019t Washington\u2019s only concern. The new regulations also state that BGI\u2019s programmes of \u201ccollection and analysis of genetic data [present] a significant risk of diversion to China\u2019s military\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Biotechnology has quietly become America\u2019s newest national security concern. From Congress to the intelligence agencies, Washington\u2019s leaders have concluded that control over biotechnologies will be critical not only to the country\u2019s health, but to national security as well.<\/p>\n
Biotech tools have made rapid advances of late, enabling new therapies, vaccines, manufacturing techniques \u2014 and biosecurity risks. It\u2019s long been recognised that DNA is just a complex type of code, telling cells how to operate. Gene-editing technologies have become more precise and vastly cheaper, making it easier than ever to \u201creprogramme\u201d organisms. In addition, more powerful computing capabilities have provided new clarity into the meaning of DNA\u2019s \u201ccode\u201d.<\/p>\n
One use of these capabilities is for manufacturing. For centuries, humans have relied on micro-organisms to produce beer and yoghurt, but with the right reprogramming, bacteria can be made to produce many new types of chemicals. In 2010, Darpa, the Pentagon\u2019s long-range R&D arm, launched a programme called Living Foundries, aiming to synthetically manufacture 1,000 molecules….<\/p>\n
Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n This author of Chip War keeping us on our toes re new competition coming down the track. There\u2019s a new US national security obsession \u2014 biotech via @FT<\/a> — George Magnus (@georgemagnus1) March 7, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \n
https:\/\/t.co\/tZrtlkHK9r<\/a><\/p>\n