How American experts helped China to establish a state monitoring of DNA

China is relying on US know-how to set up a sprawling surveillance program in Xinjiang province, according to the New York Times.

Crack down: The Chinese authorities have created "a massive Chinese surveillance and oppression campaign" targeting the Uighurs, a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority living in the northwestern province. A complete DNA database is part of the plan to keep the resistant group under control.

American role: Scientists working with the Chinese police are using equipment from Thermo Fisher, a Massachusetts biotechnology tool provider. They also shared genetic survey data with Kenneth Kidd, a geneticist from Yale University.

The genetic data was used to be able to determine, from a blood sample, if anyone had a Uygur ancestry. Chinese scientists have even filed a patent on this idea.

backlash: The role of Thermo Fisher in China has been known for some time, thanks to reports from Human Rights Watch. In November, US Senator Marco Rubio called on the company to a tweet to "earn a lot of dollars by helping the Xinjiang authorities carry out mass detention …"

But society seems to have yielded only under the watch of the Times. According to the newspaper, Thermo Fisher announced on Feb. 20 that it would stop selling its equipment in Xinjiang. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Not only in China: The issue of confidentiality of genetic data is also a concern in the United States, where some commercial databases of genetic information are used by the police to identify rapists and murderers. In theory, these tools could also be used for ethnic profiling.