An academic journal has retracted 18 genetic research papers from China due to ethical concerns [7cb95a6f]. The papers were published in the journal Molecular Genetics and Genomic Medicine, which is owned by the US academic publishing company Wiley. The retraction comes after an investigation found that the samples used in the research were obtained from populations considered to be 'vulnerable and oppressed', including Uyghurs and Tibetans. The investigation revealed inconsistencies between the research and the consent forms provided by the researchers. Yves Moreau, a professor of engineering at KU Leuven in Belgium, highlighted that some of the researchers involved in the studies had connections to Chinese law enforcement, which raises questions about the concept of informed consent [7cb95a6f].
This retraction adds to the growing concerns about the ethics of genetic research conducted on minority groups in China. The involvement of law enforcement in these studies raises red flags and calls for a closer examination of the ethical standards followed by academic publishers. Yves Moreau has been actively flagging studies that report the collection of biometric data from vulnerable or oppressed groups, particularly in China. However, the process of retraction has been slow, with only 12 out of 96 flagged papers being retracted so far. Moreau argues that the delays amount to editorial misconduct [75fae551].
The ethical concerns surrounding genetic research on minority groups extend beyond scientific publications. The data collected during these studies is often deposited into genetic databases, which are used by medical researchers, population geneticists, and law enforcement agencies. The Y-chromosome Haplotype Reference Database (YHRD), a public repository of genetic markers, has come under scrutiny for holding samples from oppressed minority populations without informed consent. Researchers are calling for a case-by-case assessment of the data sets in genetic databases to ensure that informed consent was obtained [43cea92d].