A European Union-funded project to build a genomic map of Poland plans to drop gene-sequencing technology from China's BGI Group over concerns about data security, one of the project's leaders told Reuters.
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The Genomic Map of Poland's concerns stem from questions over how Polish genomic data may be used that relate to national security, said Marek Figlerowicz, a Professor at the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry at the Polish Academy of Sciences who steers the project.
Figlerowicz said the concerns were initially raised by a report earlier this year from the US National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI) which said BGI may be serving as a "global collection mechanism for Chinese government genetic databases."
BGI told Reuters in response that the US report was "disinformation, not borne out by the facts;" China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has called it "groundless accusations and smears."
Figlerowicz said the Genomic Map, which is expected to cost over 100 million zlotys ($25.35 million) and is about halfway through its program of sequencing 5,000 Polish genomes, has outsourced the work to a third party since 2019.
That company, Bialystok-based Central Europe Genomics Center sp. z o.o. (CEGC), started using BGI's technology last year, he said; now Figlerowicz said the Genomic Map of Poland had decided not to send any genetic data out of the country and is likely to cancel the contract it has with CEGC. He added that the final decision, still to be approved by the funding institutions, was expected within the next week or two.
CEGC did not respond to requests for comment. Poznan-based biotech company Inno-Gene S.A., which holds a minority stake in CEGC, said it did not know of a possible cancellation.
