EXCLUSIVE: Senators Sound Alarm Over US Funding to Chinese Biotech Firm Over National Security Threats

The Chinese genomics giant, which has been blacklisted by both the Defense and Commerce departments, has been working with the USDA since as early as 2018 on the Earth BioGenome Project, which aims to sequence the genomes of more than 1.5 million species over a 10-year span to catalog the earth’s biodiversity.

Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) speaks with reporters during a press conference in the U.S. Capitol in Washington on July 11, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

A group of Republican senators is probing the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) over its partnership with Chinese biotech firm BGI, warning that the collaboration could give China a competitive edge while putting U.S. security in danger.

The Chinese genomics giant, which has been blacklisted by both the Defense and Commerce departments, has been working with the USDA since as early as 2018 on the Earth BioGenome Project, which aims to sequence the genomes of more than 1.5 million species over a 10-year span to catalog the Earth’s biodiversity.