Thermo Fisher Backs Down on Tibet DNA Kit Sales

Tibet rights campaigners have welcomed a commitment by Boston-based biotech giant Thermo Fisher Scientific to halt sales of its DNA test kits (“HID”) products to police in occupied Tibet.

Thermo Fisher communicated this commitment to shareholders in a letter in December and it took effect on 31 December 2023.

The announcement comes after more than a year of campaigning by Tibet groups.  The campaign was prompted by reports in 2022 revealing that Chinese police forces in occupied Tibet had been extensively using Thermo Fisher’s HID products, including DNA testing kits and DNA sequencing equipment to carry out a widespread, ethnically-targeted collection of DNA samples from Tibetans.

Research group Citizen Lab estimated that samples had already been taken from as many as 1.2 million Tibetans to build a massive DNA database holding the genetic information of men and boys. A separate report from Human Rights Watch found that children as young as five were made to submit samples.

Following these revelations, Tibet groups reached out to Thermo Fisher’s CEO, Marc Casper, seeking a meeting to discuss the dire human rights situation in Tibet. The lack of engagement from the company prompted the launch of a full campaign in winter 2022. Over the following 12 months, Tibet groups carried out global demonstrations at Thermo Fisher offices, including huge rallies in Boston during the company’s annual general meeting in May 2023, while nearly 80,000 people sent messages to Mr. Casper, urging him to halt sales of HID products to Tibet.

Tenzin Rabga from Free Tibet said: “After over a year of determined campaigning, 2023 ended with a huge victory for Tibet. These commitments from Thermo Fisher will have a real-world impact that reverberates from its offices in Boston to Tibetans in occupied Tibet. We hope that other companies collaborating in the repression in Tibet will take notice of this victory because we are coming for them next.”