By Stephen Nellis
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 12 (Reuters) – A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers this week introduced bills that would require U.S. firms to obtain a license before exporting sequences of synthetic DNA.
DNA research is foundational to the biotech industry, where researchers use powerful computers and, increasingly, artificial intelligence software to come up with new DNA sequences not found in nature that could be used to treat diseases. Those digital DNA sequences are then sent to labs where they can be synthesized into physical molecules and used in research.
This week, three U.S. senators and two U.S. representatives introduced bills in both houses of Congress that would require U.S. firms to obtain an export license before sending those digital synthetic DNA sequences to countries such as China and Russia.
“It’s essential that we protect cutting-edge American proprietary research from our chief foreign adversaries,” Senator Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican, said in a statement. He was among the lawmakers who introduced the bills.
“Our bill will ensure that Communist China doesn’t have access to the intellectual property that drives American biotech innovation,” Cotton said.
The other lawmakers helping to introduce the bill were: Senator Maggie Hassan, a New Hampshire Democrat; Senator Ted Budd, a North Carolina Republican; Representative Warren Davidson, an Ohio Republican; and Representative Chrissy Houlahan, a Pennsylvania Democrat.
(Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San FranciscoEditing by Matthew Lewis)
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