Outlining the need for the research, the authors suggested that better DNA sequencing could help the police identify suspects in cases. “A clear knowledge of the genetic variation is important for understanding the origin and demographic history of the ethnicity of the populations in Xinjiang … [which] may offer an investigative lead for the police.”
Actually worse than I was expecting from the headline
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The study by Chinese and Danish researchers used blood and saliva samples from 203 Uyghur and Kazakh people living in Ürümqi, the capital of Xinjiang, to evaluate the use of genetic sequencing technology developed by Thermo Fisher Scientific, a US biotech company, on the two minority ethnic groups.
Duarte Nuno Vieira, the co-editor-in-chief of FSR, denied that financial support from China’s ministry of justice had any impact on the journal’s editorial policies, calling the suggestion “ethically objectionable”.
The Biden administration recently lifted sanctions on the Chinese ministry of public security’s institute of forensic science in an attempt to ease cooperation on fentanyl control.
Two other papers about Uyghur and Kazakh genetic data by Simayijiang, Morling and Børsting, along with a fourth author, Vania Pereira, also from the University of Copenhagen, are officially under ethical review by the journal in which they have been published.
Bräuner said his faculty was only made aware of the concerns about these papers, which are published in Forensic Sciences International: Genetics, in December, but was in touch with the journal’s editor-in-chief to clarify the matter.
Experts say the papers are the tip of the iceberg of scientific research that may not meet ethical standards for data collection, and which, in some cases, may help to develop surveillance technologies that can be used to breach human rights, particularly among minority groups.
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