Washington: The US has banned thousands of Chinese researchers from accessing the world’s largest cancer database, the South China Morning Post reported on Wednesday.
According to Anadolu Agency, since Friday, researchers from China attempting to access the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database, managed by the US National Cancer Institute, have been denied entry.
The database, which covers 48% of the US population and offers nationwide data on cancer incidence, survival rates, and treatments to support research and epidemiological studies, was previously accessible to researchers worldwide. However, access has been fully blocked to institutions in China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea following a security update released last week by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the US.
The security update was issued the day after Jay Bhattacharya was appointed as the 18th director of the NIH. When he assumed office on April 1, several hundred employees were either laid off or encouraged to resign voluntarily.
Earlier in February 2024, the Joe Biden administration had issued an executive order to safeguard sensitive data from being exploited by “countries of concern,” restricting data access.