60 Minutes - 1/31/2021: Left Behind, The Biodata Race, DNA For Sale

Episode Date: February 1, 2021

Scott Pelley speaks to the bereaved families of some of the 400,000 Americans who perished in the pandemic. And In a two-part story, Jon Wetheim reports that Chinese company, BGI Group, offered to build COVID labs in at least six states and U.S. intelligence officials issued warnings not to share health data with BGI. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With cruel isolation and outrageous speed, COVID-19 has become the nation's third leading killer. The accelerating vaccine campaign offers hope, but for the families of nearly half a million dead, there's no medicine for the pain. People are talking about, isn't it going to be great when this is over? And it occurs to me that for a lot of people in this country, it will never be over. What is normal? Normal is not a thing for a lot of us anymore. What's the likelihood you and I have been hacked by China? One hundred and ten percent. Personal data? Personal data. What's the likelihood you and I have been hacked by China? 110%.

Personal data? Personal data. So what does China plan to do with that intimate personal information, including your medical data? 60 Minutes has spent months investigating why the world's largest biotech firm, the BGI Group, based in China, offered American states overrun by COVID brand new testing labs. Intelligence sources we spoke with say it is all about China's quest to control our biodata. How close are we to that? I don't know how close we are, but I can feel it breathing down our neck.

I'm Leslie Stahl. I'm Bill Whitaker. I'm Anderson Cooper. I'm John Wertheim. I'm Scott Pelley. Those stories and more tonight on 60 Minutes. There are very few things that you can be certain of in life, but you can always be sure the sun will rise each morning. You can bet your bottom dollar that you'll always need air to breathe will rise each morning. You can bet your bottom dollar that you'll always need air to breathe and water to drink. And of course, you can rest assured that with Public Mobile's 5G subscription phone plans, you'll pay the same thing every month. With all of the mysteries that life has to offer, a few certainties can really go a long way. Subscribe

today for the peace of mind you've been searching for. Public Mobile, different is calling. Podcasts are great because they help us make the most out of our routine. We learn about the fall of the Ottoman Empire while we drive, keep up with news while we take the dog for a walk, or turn folding laundry into a comedy show. Make the most out of your time with the PC Insider's World Elite MasterCard, a credit card that can get you unlimited free grocery delivery and the most PC optimum points on everyday purchases. The PC Insider's World Elite MasterCard, the card for living unlimited. Conditions apply to all benefits. Visit PCFinancial.ca for details. The Biden administration has a new goal of inoculating nearly all Americans against COVID-19 by the end of summer. To that end, last week, the U.S. ordered an additional 200 million vaccine doses. This month marks the anniversary of COVID in America. Last year, on January 31, there were eight confirmed cases. Now it's 26 million. A year ago, there were no reported deaths,

but today, nearly 450,000 Americans are gone. As vast as these numbers are, there is a third, even larger group of pandemic sufferers. They are the bereaved, the family members left behind. They did not die, but they lost their lives, the lives they had so carefully planned. Tim Branscombe opened a tiny box and released a cheer. On a cruise in September 2019, Lauren Thomas collapsed into his arms, in part because he actually did get the ring she sent him in a picture. And I sent him screenshots just messing with him, like, you know, if you ever want to propose,

like, these are rings that I like. How did you meet? We actually met in high school. He was always looking for me, and I was always running the other way. Later on, we reconnected on Facebook, and I realized, like, oh, okay, you know. Tim, a 32-year-old security guard, and Lauren, a Chicago health insurance administrator, set their date, December 2021. I called him Teddy because he was

just like a big teddy bear. He called me Kitty. He was a big guy, 6'7", like 417 pounds. On the surface, it's like, wow, oh, that's a big scary guy. But then when he got to know him, like, oh, you're just so cuddly. But last April, when doctors were struggling to understand treatment, the big man fell hard after six days in the hospital. I got a call, and it was a doctor, and I just heard, like, all these, like, machines going off, like, all these beeps, and she was asking me to have his mom call

because it was an emergency. Tim's kidneys were failing. Then a few minutes later, like, the doctor called back, and when she called that time, it was quiet. The machines had stopped. The machines had stopped. The beeping had stopped. You could tell the room was quiet. So I knew, like, it was real.

He was gone. Two weeks before, she picked flowers for the wedding. Now she was choosing funeral wreaths. I had to contact our wedding venue and let them know, like, hey, he passed away. There won't be a wedding. And I had to get that deposit back from them. And then in turn, contribute that money to his burial. Tell me about Tim's funeral.

I don't even refer to it as a funeral because he couldn't even have like a proper decent funeral. It was just a viewing. Because of the pandemic. And that's like what hurts me the most because he was so personable. He was so charitable. He was so warm. And yet he had to die alone on a ventilator and couldn't even get a proper celebration of his life. With cruel isolation and outrageous speed, COVID has become the nation's third leading killer.

Cancer and heart disease kill more, butish and their four children suffered at home. Body aches, migraines, vomiting, everything. And then two days after my dad went in, I went into the hospital. Trish, you had Andy and Colin in the hospital at the same time. And you must have thought you could have lost them both. Yeah. And my father-in-law was in the hospital too. Andy's father? Andy's father passed away from COVID on April 28th. And then Andy passed? May 31st.

Andy Phillips was a six-day-a-week runner. Andy passed away at what age he turned 53 the week before he endured the marathon in the hospital for 65 days weeks later trish received a hefty envelope in the mail it was addressed to andy it was an itemized bill from the hospital for about four weeks of his hospital stay. What did it come to? It came to a little over $4 million. It was months before she learned that insurance would pay.

It was unsettling at the worst time, but her husband's memory helped her through it. Andy's battle really touched and changed a lot of people. And I think he'll continue to help us. How has it changed you? I'm definitely stronger than I thought. But, um, you know, I kind of always leaned on him. He was kind of our rock.

It's just a different, different future for me. A different future and an uncertain one for the bereaved, including Jamie Dresick. We don't have the center of our universe anymore. We wanted to grow old with the grandkids, and we had plans, and those are all gone. In June, Jamie lost her 49-year-old husband, Craig. He was a college administrator in Connecticut. At some point, inevitably, you have to begin worrying about practical things. And Craig was the biggest part of your income.

You know, we had life insurance, but 80% of our income was lost. And you hate to look at it like, you know, you think about the emotional parts, and then you have to think of the practical thing, like how am I now going to raise five children in this life that we've built together? We asked the five to join us. Alex, Sydney, Colby, Caden, and Kylie. My youngest is only 12 years old. I have a long way to go still.

I can hear them, don't ask Mom for that. That's too expensive. That makes me feel even worse because I don't want them to. It's hard enough dealing with losing your father. It's a lot to deal with having such a large family. On the other hand, many hands make light work. Yeah, as much work as they create, they help at the same time. Not only the physical things that need to get done,

but just to be able to share all of our different stories. It's going to help keep my husband alive and with us. Craig is sitting all around you. And when I look at them, I can see it. I see the mannerisms, I see the behaviors, I see a little bit, a lot of him in each of them. Caden Dresick told us about his dad's last words to him. As of right now, you're the man in the house, and you've got to take over and take all my responsibilities.

It's still a lot of pressure, but I feel like it's kind of my job to do. At the age of 15? Yeah. When a parent dies too young, children age too soon. COVID made Emmerich Folta an orphan. Me and my mom, we were best friends. She loved kids and she loved working with other people. After his father died years ago, his mother, his best friend, Emmy, raised him in New

York. Last week, deaths in the city averaged 70 a day. But last spring, Emmy Falta was sick when 700 were dying each day. As a college junior, Emmerich eased her journey to the end. They told me that I was the person in charge of my mom and her medical decisions. She was 41. Their last touch was through a screen. And throughout that entire FaceTime call, I tried to smile. I tried so hard to make, you know, if this was my last memory with her,

I really wanted it to be me smiling. I wanted it to be me hopeful. And I said, mom, you're gonna make it through this. And I said, Mom, you're going to make it through this, and I love you. How has losing your mother, your last remaining parent, changed your young life? I've always been independent. I've always been able to help out others when the help is needed. Now that I'm fully on my own, although it feels lonely, I feel like I can manage. Jake Shofstall shares the loneliness

and the need to manage. He told his dad there was no need to worry anymore about the family business. I said, dad, I got it from here. Give me the torch and let me take care of Mom and Jaden and everybody. And I said, I'll keep the deer barn open no matter what. And how old are you now? I'm 17.

The deer barn is a feed store in rural Indiana. Jake and his dad started it to add to John Schofstahl's pay as a firefighter. When do you miss John the most? At night, when I remember he's not coming home. Jennifer Schofstahl told us John got sick in March. Today, Indiana has vaccinated about 6% of the state, half a million people. But last spring, COVID seemed like just a curiosity on the news. We're Terre Haute, Indiana.

We're not a big city. We're not rural travelers. We're Midwest, rural country folks. So I can't say that we really took it serious. She couldn't visit the hospital. So to be near him, she and others in the family sat in a car outside his room all day and all night, every day. I sent one text to one firefighter and said, eight o'clock tonight, I'll be at the hospital praying for John.

And so that night, the entire fire department came. The vigil stood for more than a week. Lord, we lift John Shostal up to you, and we thank you with everything we've got. But 41-year-old John Shostal died before dawn on a Sunday. Jennifer was with him on a FaceTime call. They were doing CPR at that time, and I was with him on a FaceTime call. They were doing CPR at that time, and I was telling him to stop.

Don't go. I needed him. And then they said, we lost him. And that was Easter Sunday. He's one of the only people I have ever known to be able to go be in heaven on Resurrection Sunday, and that's pretty powerful to me. These are early days, days when the bereaved still expect to hear the key in the door or catch themselves thinking about something they'll say

when the one who's gone comes home. They are days that Lauren Thomas lives in the past tense. I can't help but notice you're wearing your engagement ring. Yes. I cannot take it off. Even though I saw him in the casket, I saw them lower that same casket into the ground. But taking this ring off just confirms that all of this is real. He is really gone.

So I don't know how long it's going to be on my hand, but I'm in no rush to take it off. All over the country, people are talking about, isn't it going to be on my hand, but I'm in no rush to take it off. All over the country, people are talking about, isn't it going to be great when this is over? And it occurs to me, speaking to you, that for a lot of people in this country, it will never be over. Never be over. What is normal? Normal is not a thing for a lot of us anymore. Wendy's most important deal of the day has a fresh lineup. Pick any two breakfast items for $4.

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Service fees, exclusions, and terms apply. Instacart. Groceries that over-deliver. For all the polarization that grips Washington, here's a source of rare consensus. The emerging threat of China's push to acquire our health care data, including the DNA of American citizens. U.S. officials tell us the communist regime's aggressive collection of our most personal information presents a danger both to national security and our economy. As alarm bells ring across agencies, parties, and presidential administrations, different branches of government have taken action over the past year to stem the tide of our medical data flowing to China.

The quest to control our biodata, and in turn control healthcare's future, has become the new space race, with more than national pride in the balance. Our investigation begins with an unsolicited and surprising proposal that came from overseas at the onset of the COVID crisis. Early last March, the state of Washington was the site of the first major coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. As COVID rates and the need for tests were spiking, BGI Group, the world's largest biotech firm, a global giant based in China, approached the state of Washington with an enticing offer. In a strikingly personal letter to the governor, BGI proposed to build and help

run state-of-the-art COVID testing labs. BGI would, quote, provide technical expertise, provide high-throughput sequencers, and even make additional donations. It seemed like an offer the state couldn't refuse, especially given the desperate need. But officials were suspicious about BGI and its connections to the Chinese government. They are the ultimate company that shows connectivity to both the communist state as well as the military apparatus. Bill Evanina recently stepped down as the top counterintelligence official in the U.S., a veteran of both the FBI and CIA. He was so concerned by BGI's COVID testing proposals,

and who would ultimately get the data, that he authorized a rare public warning. Quote, Foreign powers can collect, store, and exploit biometric information from COVID tests. We put out an advisory to not only every American, but to hospitals, associations, and clinics, knowing that BGI is a Chinese company, do we understand where that data is going? Tens of millions of Americans getting COVID tests this year. You don't think a lot of them are thinking, boy, where is this data going?

What third party is involved in it? I would proffer no one's thinking that. But this shows the nefarious mindset of the Communist Party of China to take advantage of a worldwide crisis like COVID. Bill Avenina suspects these lab offers are modern-day Trojan horses. BGI comes to the U.S. bearing gifts, but harboring other motives. It's unclear whether BGI or any COVID tester would get DNA from nasal swabs, he says. But the labs are a way to establish a foothold to bring their equipment here, start mining your data, and set up shop in your neighborhood. You have to take a step back and ask yourself, who has access to that data? Supervisory Special Agent Edward Yu is a former

biochemist turned FBI investigator. And with that, there's a very uncomfortable truth that comes out, that in the last decade or so, you'll see that China has heavily invested through the purchase or acquisition of actual companies, access to our data. Question is, where is this data going? All roads lead to China. They are the biggest player right now. The authoritarian government of China and its leader, Xi Jinping, have been boldly open about their ambitions to beat the West and reap the benefits of advances in DNA science and technology.

The communist regime even has a published manifesto with a catchy name. They have something called Made in China 2025. And in these national strategies, they absolutely call out wanting to be the dominant leader in this biological age. So wanting to be the leader in being able to develop vaccines, precision medicine. For all the classified briefings about China that Bill Evanina received, the threat really hit home when he called home. This is the argument I would have with my dad. It's 10 years from now. My dad gets a phone call and is told, hey, by the way, we understand you are going to develop hypertension,

and you're on the verge of Parkinson's. Here are three medicines you should take moving forward to help alleviate some of the symptoms. My dad's like, well, how do they know this? And the company's from China, because they've already micro-targeted my dad based upon his DNA. And my dad says, OK, I'll do it. DEMOCRAT 2.0 DAVID SANGER- The devil's advocate argument would say, listen, if you're able to pinpoint something in my DNA, I'll sign up for that.

DEMOCRAT 3.0 DAVID SANGER- That's exactly what my dad said. And so my argument is to him, from a long-term existential cost to our nation, do we want to do that? Do we want to have another nation systematically eliminate our health care services? Are we okay with that as a nation? If we are as a nation, then so be it. But that's what's happening. Our dependence on China during COVID for PPE, for masks, will pale in comparison to our potential health care dependence going forward, according to Edward Yu of the FBI.

What happens if we realize that all of our future drugs, our future vaccines, future health care are all completely dependent upon a foreign source? If we don't wake up, we'll realize one day we've just become health care crack addicts and someone like China has become our pusher. Health care crack addicts, you say? Right. If they're in a position to be able to offer you personalized, effective, low-cost healthcare, would we be in a position to say, no, I don't think so? How close are we to that?

I don't know how close we are, but I can feel it breathing down our neck. This sounds a little xenophobic. I mean, if China is the industry leader here, why wouldn't you do business with it? Well, at the end of the day, it's not about the Chinese people. It's about the Chinese government. He says China's government understands that their future success hinges on accumulating large amounts of human DNA. They are building out a huge domestic database. And if they are now able to supplement that with data from all around the world, it's all about who gets the largest, most diverse data set.

And so the ticking time bomb is that once they're able to achieve true artificial intelligence, then they're off to the races in what they can do with that data. You're saying biggest data set wins. Correct. Think of DNA as the ultimate treasure map, a kind of double helix chart containing the code for traits ranging from our eye color to our susceptibility to certain diseases. If you have 10,000 DNA samples, scientists could possibly isolate the genetic markers in the DNA associated with, say,

breast cancer. But if you have 10 million samples, your statistical chances of finding the markers improve dramatically, which is why China wants to get so much of it. It is one-sided, though, that China passed a law last year. The Chinese government has absolutely clamped down on any access to their biological data or their biological sample. So it is a one-way street. So their data is not leaving China, but they're sucking it in from all over the world. Right.

It's not just DNA, according to Bill Evanina. He and his colleagues have been tracking China as the country uses less-than-honorable methods to vacuum up all sorts of data from outside their borders. They do it both legitimately and illegitimately. They steal some data, but they're very strategic in how they acquire it throughout the world. You're saying at least in some cases, China's hacking to get this information. China is number one in the world at any kind of hacking capability, and they're brazen about it. In December, John Ratcliffe, then the director of national intelligence, went so far as to name China as the number one national security threat

to America, citing specifically their theft of data and technology. We have probably five or six health care companies the last five years who have been, I would say, penetrated, exfiltrated, hacked by China. What's the likelihood you and I have been hacked by China? 110 percent. Personal data? Personal data. Current estimates are that 80 percent of American adults have had all their personally identifiable information stolen by the Communist Party of China. The concern is that the Chinese regime is taking all that information about us, what we eat, how we live, when we exercise and sleep, and then combining it with our DNA data. With information about heredity and environment, suddenly they know more about us than we know about ourselves. And bypassing doctors, China can target us with treatments and medicine we don't even know we need. Think about the dawn of the Internet of Things and the 5G networks and smart homes and smart cities.

There are going to be sensors everywhere. It's going to be tracking your movement, your behavior, habits, and ultimately it's going to have a biological application, meaning that based on the data that gets collected, they'll be able to analyze it and look at improving your health. That data becomes incredibly relevant and very, very valuable. You're describing data almost as a commodity. Data is absolutely going to be the new oil. All this may sound like a premise for a dystopian, futuristic science fiction movie. But U.S. government officials say

the picture gets even scarier given how China is already using DNA strategically against its own citizens today. These are some of the most serious abuses that the Chinese government has committed in modern history. Sophie Richardson, director of the China Program for Human Rights Watch, says China has rounded up more than a million Uyghurs, Chinese citizens who are a Muslim minority, and jailed them in camps. The U.S. government calls this a crime against humanity. They're being subjected

to political indoctrination. They can't use their own language. They're not allowed to worship. Those people are highly restricted in how they can live their lives. This is a population under constant surveillance. Yeah, it's a region that's awash in surveillance technology ranging from facial recognition software, surveillance cameras, data doors, Wi-Fi, sniffers. Part of the social control includes the forced collection of DNA. Under the guise of free physicals for Uyghurs, Richardson says China is actually collecting DNA and other biometric data that's then used specifically to identify people, target other family members, and refine facial recognition software.

And those, national security officials say, are just the uses we know about. In response to the Uyghur repression, last July, the U.S. Department of Commerce sanctioned two subsidiaries of a Chinese biotech company. That company? BGI. The same one offering Washington State the COVID testing lab. Those companies were identified to have been facilitating the collection of genetic information of ethnic Uyghurs. If anything, that should serve as a warning signal for all of us that that is potentially what can happen if our data gets out of our hands,

how it could be used. It's not a coincidence BGI is involved in the Uyghur crisis, given the company's close relationship with the communist regime. In 2010, after receiving $1.5 billion from China's government, BGI was able to expand dramatically. They're monstrous. They have contracts with over 60 countries globally to provide not only genomic sequencing, but also to provide analytics. They say we're a private company. Are they? There's no such thing as a private company in the Communist Party of China. Under a series of laws unthinkable in Western democracies, Chinese companies like BGI are obligated to share data with the Chinese regime. It's as if, say, Google, Amazon, and Facebook had to turn over their data

to the CIA on demand. So you're trying to tell me the Chinese government, whether it's biotech or they can say, hey, we want your information, please provide it? Absolutely. You must provide any and all data that's asked for by the Communist Party in China, which the scary part is sometimes it's not all their data. If you are in a joint partnership, a joint venture, their data is not susceptible to go to the Chinese Communist Party. As BGI touts on its own website, the company has been steadily developing partnerships with hospitals and biotech companies inside the United States, giving BGI, and by extension the Chinese government, potential access to our DNA data, sequencing technology, and analytics. How does BGI partner with U.S. companies?

So they do it, first of all, with money. So investment. I want to invest $10 million, $20 million, $80 million in your company. Every company says yes, come on in. At the same time, they're going to have an unwritten rule that they're going to be able to take that data, your sequencing capabilities, and what they don't know is China's keeping it, and they're giving you a copy back. BGI declined our request for an interview and said in a statement, quote,

the notion that the genomic data of American citizens is in any way compromised through the activities of BGI in the U.S. is groundless. They said they are a private organization founded to benefit human health and well-being. Remember BGI's proposal to build COVID testing labs for the state of Washington? 60 Minutes learned that the company made similar proposals to more than five other states, including New York and California. And after federal officials warned against partnering with BGI, each state said no to BGI's labs. Hit pause on whatever you're listening to and hit play on your next adventure.

Stay three nights this summer at Best Western and get $50 off a future stay. Life's a trip. Make the most of it at Best Western. Visit bestwestern.com for complete terms and conditions. The financial stakes for dominating the global biotech sector, the industry that's bringing us the COVID vaccine, are staggering.

Estimated to be worth up to $4 trillion a year. For perspective, that's more than the valuation of Amazon and Apple combined. Not surprisingly, many U.S. companies want a piece of that pie and recognize that control over the future of health care lies in collecting and then analyzing massive quantities of data. So, like China, they too are building up vast libraries of health information. There are undeniable benefits to this, potential cures and treatments, some already in use. But there's also a darker truth buried in the fine print.

Companies, including some of the ones that sell those popular genealogy test kits, could profit off of consumers and their private medical data. Sometimes Americans or people on the globe don't even know their value or their DNA, that it even has value. But it's your single sole identifier of everything about you as a human being. Bill Evanina just stepped down as the top counterintelligence official at the Directorate of National Intelligence. I'm a victim of identity theft.

I can get a new visa or Amex. You get my genetic identity. I don't have of identity theft. I can get a new visa or Amex. You get my genetic identity. I don't have a backup. That's correct. So it's your past and your future as well as your children's future. So in recent years, millions of Americans have given away their DNA for ancestry searches. Is that risky? It's very risky. And I think the unknown is probably the riskiest part. So risky, in fact, that the U.S. military recently issued a warning to all service members, instructing them not to use direct-to-consumer genealogy tests like those offered by Ancestry, 23andMe, and other companies. Quote,

these genetic tests are largely unregulated and could expose personal and genetic information. Outside parties are exploiting the use of genetic data. The Department of Defense issued that proclamation saying, please do not use these genetic services because we are not comfortable yet as a government to understand where that genetic data goes. If it's bad for the military, we wondered why there are not government warnings to American consumers. Already, an estimated 50 million Americans have paid a small fee and sent in their saliva, hoping for clues to what country their ancestors came from,

relatives they may not know they have, or some other information about their health. Genealogy firms are selling us on the use of DNA as a consumer product. But Supervisory Special Agent Edward Yu of the FBI says what they are really selling us is something else entirely. The return on investment is aggregating the data and what they can do with it once they have enough of it. You're saying these genealogy companies, the real value is everything you can do with this data set.

The value is in the data. It's not just the genealogy companies. Everybody is looking at what kind of data do I have access to, how much do I have, and then how can I turn around and monetize it. That's where the money is. Absolutely. For example, just this past week, 23andMe was reported to be in talks to go public with a valuation of $4 billion. It's a common refrain in the world of biotech. Data is the new oil. And it's all types of health data that might come from your smartwatch, your social media, your credit card. UC Davis professor of law Lisa Ikemoto specializes in bioethics and is studying how the new market for DNA and health data is taking shape.

It seems like a bit of a bait and switch. We pay a hundred bucks, whatever it is, for our ancestry reports, and then they actually want to turn around and sell our genetic data. That's what's being hidden, that you're allowing your personal information to be used by others, and that information's being transferred to third parties, and it's being for uses that you never imagined. Professor Ikemoto is skeptical about whether true informed consent is being granted when we provide our DNA, and points out that most customers click yes, giving permission for their data to be used for research. But Ikemoto wonders if they realize what that really means. We printed out the privacy

forms for 23andMe and Ancestry. I mean, this is just a blizzard of paperwork and fine print. Does anyone read these things? We're so used to filling, sort of scrolling through these long documents online to upload the app or whatever it is, and then just clicking the I agree button at the end. This is an ancestry form. You grant royalty-free worldwide sub-licensable transferable license to host, transfer, process, analyze, distribute, and communicate your genetic information. What does that mean in English? I think you're giving up all rights and any potential commercial interest in the use of your DNA by Ancestry DNA. Who are they selling the data to? Who are the buyers here? Most of the genealogy companies are partnering with pharmaceutical companies, biotech startups, established research institutions.

Ancestry declined our interview request and said Ancestry does not sell consumer DNA data and we do not have any for-profit research partnerships. Genealogy companies told us that the data they do share for research is made anonymous and that the research is a force of good. But with those third-party agreements to study disease and develop treatments can come investment dollars. 23andMe has a partnership with GlaxoSmithKline, $300 million to develop drugs based on this DNA. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? They might produce something very useful. In that sense, it's good. It means that 23andMe and GlaxoSmithKline will make a huge amount of money.

The people who provided all the cells and tissues or DNA that's being used will make none. They'll probably be charged a lot of money for the drugs if they ever need them. So we're providing the raw materials to create this product, and then we have to pay for the product. Yeah, that's exactly right. People are now being mined for their raw materials. It raises concerns about what it means to be human in this world. From the foundation of the company, we have always said if our customers can't trust us, we don't have a business. CEO and founder of 23andMe, Ann Wojcicki, says her customers are making a conscious decision to contribute their DNA for the benefit of society. When we started the company, we sat down with the leading privacy experts.

And what they taught me was that, Anne, privacy doesn't mean that your data is not shared anywhere. It means that we have choice. What percent of your customers are opting in and then saying, go ahead, use my DNA for your research? Over 80% of our customers opt in. But you're still choosing how and when and where their data is being used. We give people, so for instance, we have entered into a large collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline for therapeutic development. When we did that, we specifically emailed all of our customers and we gave them the opportunity to either opt into research or to opt out of research.

But this idea that the value of this company is in the data, this is where the real growth potential is. Your chief scientist said it's genius. People were paying us to build databases. What we have done is we have empowered individuals with this opportunity to come together to crowdsource research. And I absolutely stand behind.

We are going to develop drugs so that everyone is actually benefiting from the human genome. So absolutely, the data is valuable. I want to keep pushing you on this point. You're relying on the kindness of strangers. You're not paying them. They don't have a stake in potential profits.

Is that a fair exchange? I believe our customers feel that the number one thing that we can do that is going to benefit them is the end result, which is the end result is actually develop a drug. That's a long way from learning more about your family's country of origin. And though they are using our DNA, what's essentially our barcode for drug development, genealogy firms like 23andMe are not subject to HIPAA regulations. But Wojcicki asserts her company's privacy policies are stronger than HIPAA anyway. Other federal laws about the security of our data, they're patchwork and incomplete, according to Lisa Ikemoto. This message of trust us, what's your response to that?

Given 30 years of research, I'm not willing to give my trust to the biotech industry. I think it's probably true that the researchers who do this work have the best intentions in most cases, but that doesn't mean that I can't be exploited in the process. And then there's the issue of security. Multiple consumer genealogy firms have been targeted by hackers in the past few years, putting our DNA data at risk. Both Ancestry and 23andMe told us they have not been breached. You agree the possibility of a hack is a serious, serious concern? Anyone who tells you that a hack is not possible is lying. And so I have to make sure I'm doing everything that is reasonably possible on data

security and that I'm doing everything I can with transparency to make sure you trust us and that you are never surprised. But you may be surprised about another potential security risk. How much money foreign firms, particularly Chinese, are investing into U.S. companies that collect our bio data, according to former intelligence official Bill Evanina. So the amount of effort that the Chinese government has put into investing in companies in the U.S., current estimates are 23 Chinese-based or affiliated companies are operating inside the U.S. in consultation, collaboration, partnership, investment with U.S.-based companies. China's reach has gotten so vast it's drawn the attention of a little-known but increasingly

busy branch of the Treasury Department, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS. Among its duties? Sniffing out suspicious business deals. Just a few months ago, a Chinese firm was set to buy a San Diego fertility clinic. In part because the fertility clinic is located near six U.S. military bases, CFIUS blocked the sale before it could take place. What if that fertility clinic sells all their capabilities and data to a company in China? All that data is gone. So all that capability of your unborn fetus are now owned and operated by the Chinese company.

In other words, the company could have had access to the DNA not just of U.S. soldiers, but of their unborn babies. Evanina also expressed his concern to us that 23andMe has some Chinese investors. We know there's an investment in a Chinese company in 23andMe. What we don't know is there is a data sharing agreement with that company or not. We asked 23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki. She told us that the Chinese investors have no access to the

genetic information of the company's customers. But she does agree with Bill Evanina on one critical point. The Chinese threat to U.S. biotech is real, and it's no exaggeration to say our future might depend on how we address it. What I've been most worried about, frankly, is that China is very publicly stating that they want to win in the genetic information revolution. We need to be super vigilant about China, you know, with any kind of data. But the issue is more that China's putting billions of dollars into their own genetic programs, and we are not. Why aren't we investing like this?

It's leadership. I need leadership at the top to say we need to have these types of large programs. I absolutely share the concern that the United States is underfunding genetic research. And I think that if we want to win the biotech genome revolution, we need to start funding it. Now an update on a story we reported in October when we interviewed Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader whom we called Putin's public enemy. Navalny was medevaced to Berlin after being poisoned in Siberia with the Russian nerve agent Novichok. It's a banned substance.

It's a banned substance. I think for Putin, why he's using this chemical weapon to do both, kill me and, you know, terrify others. The Russian government denies responsibility for the near-fatal attack. This month, Alexei Navalny returned to Russia and was thrown into jail, sparking protests in over 100 Russian cities. On Tuesday, President Biden, in his first phone call with Vladimir Putin, pressed the Russian president on Navalny's poisoning and imprisonment, subjects not pursued by the previous White House. I'm Leslie Stahl. Next Sunday, CBS Sports will be here with coverage of Super Bowl 55.

We'll be back in two weeks with another edition of 60 Minutes.