{"id":12994,"date":"2024-01-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-02T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/nieuws\/us-company-halts-dna-collection-kit-sales-in-tibetan-region\/"},"modified":"2024-01-03T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-01-02T23:00:00","slug":"us-company-halts-dna-collection-kit-sales-in-tibetan-region","status":"publish","type":"nieuws","link":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/news\/us-company-halts-dna-collection-kit-sales-in-tibetan-region\/","title":{"rendered":"US company halts DNA collection kit sales in Tibetan region"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a victory for Tibet activists &#8211; led by Students for a Free Tibet, Free Tibet and the International Tibet Network &#8211; US biotechnology firm Thermo Fisher Scientific says it has stopped selling kits reportedly used for mass DNA collection in a region of Chinese-occupied Tibet.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cBased on a number of factors we made the decision in mid-2023 to cease sales of [human identification] products in the region and no longer sell our human identification technology in the Tibet Autonomous Region,\u201d a spokesperson for the Boston-based company told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2024\/01\/03\/tibet-thermo-fisher-halts-dna-collection-kit-sales&quot; \/t &quot;_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Axios<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to reports, China\u2019s police collected DNA from about 1 million residents of the so-called Tibet Autonomous Region, which spans roughly half of Tibet.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ICT President Tencho Gyatso said: <em>\u201cThis is a victory that shows collective activism for Tibet makes a real difference. Now we must go further, from pressuring businesses to end their complicity in China\u2019s human rights abuses against Tibetans, to pushing the Chinese government to resolve its decades-long occupation of Tibet through peaceful dialogue with Tibetan leaders.\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Mass DNA collection in Tibet<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In September 2022, <a href=\"https:\/\/citizenlab.ca\/2022\/09\/mass-dna-collection-in-the-tibet-autonomous-region\/&quot; \/t &quot;_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Citizen Lab<\/a> reported that China\u2019s police may have gathered about 920,000 to 1.2 million DNA samples in the Tibet Autonomous Region over the prior six years. Those figures represent one-quarter to one-third of the region\u2019s total population.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That same month, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hrw.org\/news\/2022\/09\/05\/china-new-evidence-mass-dna-collection-tibet&quot; \/t &quot;_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Human Rights Watch<\/a> said that China\u2019s authorities were systematically collecting DNA from residents of the TAR, including by taking blood from children as young as 5 without their parents\u2019 consent.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to Citizen Lab, China\u2019s DNA collection program is unrelated to criminal justice. Police were also not targeting specific groups like activists or government critics, but were instead collecting DNA from entire communities. Moreover, Human Rights Watch says that no available public evidence suggest that people can decline to participate in the DNA collection.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In statements delivered at the UN Human Rights Council last year, the EU and Belgium had both expressed their concern about the DNA sampling in Tibet.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Tibetan activism<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thermo Fisher\u2019s statement that it has stopped selling its DNA collection kits in the TAR follows a year of heavy campaigning by Tibet activists and notably Students for a Free Tibet, Free Tibet and the International Tibet Network.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Starting in late 2022, Tibet groups carried out global demonstrations at Thermo Fisher offices, including huge rallies in Boston during the company\u2019s annual general meeting in May 2023. These groups also worked with Thermo Fisher shareholders, building a coalition that helped lead to Thermo Fisher halting the DNA collection kit sales.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The International Campaign for Tibet joined to support these groups to address the mass DNA collection with US officials and to encourage them to take action, including via a letter to House members in 2022 encouraging them to support Tibet-related portions of the America Competes Act, which called for export controls of items used in human rights abuses involving DNA sequencing.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thermo Fisher has locations all over Europe, including 9 in the Netherlands.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a victory for Tibet activists, US biotechnology firm Thermo Fisher Scientific says it has stopped selling kits reportedly used for mass DNA collection in a region of Chinese-occupied Tibet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":12995,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"categorie":[691],"news_tag":[],"class_list":["post-12994","nieuws","type-nieuws","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","categorie-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - 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