German lab Eluthia says suspends use of BGI prenatal tests for privacy probe

BGI AD

12/07/2021 10:55

FRANKFURT, July 12 (Reuters) - German laboratory operator
Eluthia GmbH said on Monday it would suspend the use of Chinese
gene company BGI Group's prenatal blood test for pregnant women
while it looks into potential measures to protect its customers'
data privacy.
    "Eluthia will suspend the mediation of tests to the BGI
laboratory on a preliminary basis to clarify published claims
and to consider potential further measures for patient
protection," the company said in a statement.
    A Reuters review of scientific papers and company
statements, published last week, found that BGI developed
prenatal tests in collaboration with the Chinese military and is
using them to collect genetic data from millions of women for
sweeping research on the traits of populations.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2OJ350
    Eluthia, which offers diagnostic blood tests of possible
genetic abnormalities in foetuses, added that under its current
contracts, it could not ask its German customers to agree to a
use of their data or blood samples for research purposes. 
         

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SPECIAL REPORT-China's gene giant harvests data from millions of
women     urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2OJ350
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 (Reporting by Ludwig Burger
Editing by Kirsti Knolle)
 ((ludwig.burger@thomsonreuters.com; +49 30 220133634; Reuters
Messaging: ludwig.burger.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))