The bill, now going to the governor’s desk, aims to ban health insurance coverage on transplant operation and care linked to China.
Tennessee lawmakers unanimously approved a bill to prevent the state from facilitating forced organ harvesting abuses by China’s ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The Tennessee Genomic Security and End Organ Harvesting Act, sponsored by eight legislators in the state House and three in the Senate, passed in both chambers with votes of 90-0 and 27-0 respectively. It is now headed to Gov. Bill Lee’s (R) desk.
The bill addresses two separate issues that have caused concern around the world: the Chinese state’s access to mass collections of genetic data, and the human rights atrocity of state-sponsored harvesting of vital organs from prisoners of conscience.
The new law would ban Tennessee health insurers from knowingly providing coverage for transplants and post-transplant care for operations performed in China, or involving organs that come from China through either sale or donation. The legislation would also authorize the state’s health commissioner to apply the policy to other countries that facilitate or sponsor such abuses.
The measure also bans medical or research facilities from using genetic sequencers, or operational or research software, if the devices originate from a foreign adversary nation or a company that could come under the adversary state’s control. The targeted countries include mainland China and Hong Kong, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Russia. Institutes would need to remove and replace non-compliant devices within 180 days after the law comes into effect.
Lawmakers also intend to restrict storage of genetic sequencing data through the act, which would ban remote access to data storage that isn’t public from outside the United States without written approval from the state health commissioner.
The measure allows the state’s attorney general, Jonathan Skrmetti, to investigate any potential violations. Facilities face a fine of $10,000 each time they use a banned device to analyze genetic sequencing data or knowingly store American-sourced genetic sequencing data in a foreign country. A health insurance provider that willfully breaches the law faces fines of $100,000 for each infraction.
From an entity found guilty of violating the bill, a patient could seek at least $5,000 in statutory damages for “each unique use of the person’s genomic information.”
State Sen. Adam Lowe in a March 10 floor session said he’s worried that the CCP could use Americans’ genetic material for “anything from biowarfare to … matching a black market organ transfer.”
Preventing foreign adversaries’ access to U.S. citizens’ genetic materials is important, because “there has been little good will and transparency with regard to how that material is used and there is some evidence that there may be nefarious intent,” Lowe told The Epoch Times.
“As Tennesseeans, we cannot contribute to the risk of biowarfare or illegal organ trafficking.”
By Eva Fu
