DNA on ancestry sites can be used to develop bio-weapons

PEOPLE sharing their DNA on ancestry websites risk being targeted by bespoke bio-weapons that can be made to kill a specific person, a conference was told.

The Chinese or Russians could use the information to kill the individuals and their families, said a Democratic congressman who is a member of the US House intelligence committee.

“There are weapons under development, and developed, designed to target specific people,” Jason Crow told the Aspen Security Forum last week.

“You can take someone’s DNA, you know, their medical profile, and you can target a biological weapon that will kill that person or take them off the battlefield or make them inoperable.”

At least 25million Americans are believed to have submitted their DNA to ancestry websites. The figure for UK citizens was 4.7million in 2019 and is now likely much higher. “People will very rapidly spit into a cup,” Mr Crow added. “Their DNA is now owned by a private company. It can be sold off with very little intellectual property protection or privacy protection and we don’t have regulatory regimes to deal with that.”

US politicians fear that the data, on websites where testing is subcontracted to Chinese and Russian laboratories, is putting the country at risk.

Gen Richard Clarke, who heads the US Special Operations Command, told the conference that the Salisbury poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal demonstrated the Russians were willing to use sophisticated chemical weapons on Nato soil.

“As we go into the future, we have to be prepared for those eventualities. And I don’t think we talk about it as much as we should and look for methods to continue to combat,” he said.