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Two Republican senators are asking whether the Department of Health and Human Services might have compromised national security by indirectly doing business with genomics companies tied to China, the latest escalation in Washington’s efforts to limit overseas access to American intellectual property.

In a letter to the HHS inspector general, Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) name-checked WuXi Nextcode and BGI, two Chinese-founded genomics companies that have relationships with U.S. companies that have received payments from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Grassley and Rubio want to know whether any of those funds went to WuXi and BGI, which they call “entities connected to the Chinese government,” and whether the two firms have access to Americans’ genomic data.

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  • Waw, this is strange, how come that Chinese companies are doing business with another Chinese company such as Huawei. Totally strange, they should do business with American companies.

  • Curiously, they are not expressing the same concern when, companies like 23andMe and MyHeritage collect genomic data of citizens from around the world. Not to mention all the digital personal data collected by Facebook, Google, etc…

  • I am not ‘up on this type of information’ but it seems to me, a 90 yr. old woman, that in the world today we must be extremely careful of ‘all decisions made’ by our business community and especially our government agencies, Not that it has not been also true In the past. BUT, at my age I can look back and remember how it ‘used to be’ .. we are living in much more dangerous times now that ever before and must make decisions with many more considerations than in the past. Perhaps I’m wrong and need more ‘education’ but this is just my opinion after living 90+ yrs.

    • For NanVan…..KUDOS to you who at the age of 90 are interested in this type of information. I am 79 and am still very much interested and feel the same way about the dangerous state of affairs in our country and the world affairs. I am also very disturbed that “the world” does not seem to have learned or are ignoring the lessons of the past and that “history repeats itself over and over again”. affairs in our country and the world affairs. I am also very disturbed that “the world” does not seem to have learned or are ignoring the lessons of the past and that “history repeats itself over and over again”. I used to think that America was invincible and that the things that happened in history to other great countries would never happen here. Now I am fearful that I may have been wrong, we seem to be treading down a dangerous path that we have not traveled before.

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