[FreeBeacon] The FBI says a genetics testing company with tens of millions of dollars in federal contracts is most likely providing Americans' health data to China.The agency told Los Angeles County officials last week it had obtained "very concerning information" about Fulgent Genetics, a California-based firm founded by Chinese-American billionaire Ming Hsieh. Los Angeles County sheriff Alex Villanueva said the FBI warned him and other county officials that Fulgent likely shares the health data it collects with the Chinese government.
U.S. officials have expressed concerns over state-sponsored harvesting of genetic data. China has collected DNA samples of Uyghurs, a repressed Muslim minority group, for surveillance purposes. The authoritarian regime is also building massive databases of genetic data from across the globe, which would give China an advantage in developing treatments for future pandemics.
Villanueva called for the county to cancel contracts with Fulgent to test county employees for COVID-19 and to keep track of their vaccination records. He did not say whether the FBI suspects Fulgent of proactively providing the data to China, or whether the company turns it over to comply with Chinese law.