10/24 – Asian
Regeneration: Asia's Stem Cell Bloom (notes by Stephen Rong)
Midterm
Feedback. Discussion good. Blog enjoyable. Respond to other posts as
your second post. Readings dense. Last session on bench
science/biomedical complex! Next up, science fiction and virtual
ethnographies. More media and popular articles.
Ethnography 1
Due Next Week. Include cover letter addressing feedback and
revisions. Also, Trekkies! And Ursula Le Guin science fiction short
stories (who's father was an anthropologist). Open for suggestions
for science fiction shorts. Open office hours on Friday.
Discussion Time!
Wrapping up
clinical trial discussion, biomedical science production. Later,
geopolitics of stem cell treatment, in Asia.
Recap: Watershed
developments in the development of ethical guidelines. Sub-Saharan
African HIV/placebo trials vs standing HIV treatments. Resulted in
two competing standards:
1) Helsinki
Declaration (2000) – new treatment methods should be tested against
best current methods, not placebo (ie. African trials were
unethical). Ethical imperialism. Dangerous to hold research carried
out in marginal societies to different ethical standards.
2) A different
standard for most current clinical trials from International
Conference on Harmonization, expediting data for international
regulation. Concluded ethical standards should be contingent on local
ethical standards (ie. unfeasible in African trials to give them the
best care, but something is provided; placebo comparison is much
clearer). Relativization of ethics.
Exploitation?
Takes advantage of disadvantaged populations which have limited
access to health care otherwise. Stopping trial midway is
problematic, because it takes away their treatment, and may lead to
drug resistance.
Necessary?
Necessary to do studies, health care from trials is better than no
health care.
eg. Poland
(from Petryna article)
Ethical
discussion too focused? On say, consent. But what about justice and
remittance. eg. Song's stem cell research.
Ethical vs
functional feasibility. Long course HIV treatment expensive, do
people actually finish treatment.
The social life
of pharmaceuticals. eg. People sharing doses with people who didn't
have access to trial. Local conceptions of disease. What happens on
the ground is complex. Argument for anthropologists on trial research
teams. Argument for placebo?
Are we
privileging biomedical knowledge? Are there alternative or local
models that are better than this expedited model that conforms to
International Conference on Harmonization.
Tibetan Case:
Alternative
medicine, quacks, not licensed or regulated. Crime? Translation of
knowledge. Tibetan medical knowledge being exploited by
pharmaceutical companies. Use of medicine taken out of context,
mapped to Western conceptions of body and disease. Extracting active
agents, taking out of context of other agents and local diagnostic
categories. No efficacy or money compensation for their local
knowledge. Biopiracy. Privileging biomedical conceptions of knowledge
over local holistic knowledge. eg. Western representation of body vs
Eastern representation (acupuncture). Translation error. Eg. Western
pulse taking (one vital sign) vs Chinese pulse taking (multiple
pulses and their variations). Scientific knowledge or cultural
heritage? Recall distinction between what happens at bench in a
laboratory and what is formally published.
Break Time!
Discussion of
Asian stem cell research and treatment geopolitics. Interesting case
study of intersection of biocapital, biopolitics, biotechnology.
Globalization, business, state, markets. Challenge the idea that
there is an “Asian” approach to stem cells, however, quite
divergent between regions.
Japan Stem
Cells:
High valuation
of unborn individuals by some groups, though a lot of people don't
believe it. Ethical problems. Regulated but hard to do research.
Induced pluripotent stem cells revitalized research But egg basket,
is scientifically reckless, in that science should be diverse. Stem
cells are really attractive, “holy grail” of biomedical research.
Problem of
balancing people's beliefs and religious tenets and potential of
science.
NYT article,
when iPSC was getting a lot of media attention. Presented as a way to
sidestep ethical problems of ESC. Questions of media representation.
Interesting that
in US stem cells is an issue of public concern and debate, but in
Japan this ethical discomfort is expressed very differently.
Korean vs
Singapore:
US Bush era
regulations. No more funding. Obama reversed. Have other countries
been given head start, or in the case of South Korea dissolved in
scandal?
Confucian
ethical principles guiding stem cell research. In these countries,
science and technology going fast, and culture, society, and law
catching up. Trying to get society to catch up to science (vs US
where science is kept back in line with society). South Korean fraud
case brings to questions views of science in society, politics,
nationalism and pride.
Recent case of 6
Italian seismologists convicted of manslaughter for failing to
provide adequate warning for earthquake. Scientist as omniscient
authority in public perception.
History of
science, scientists can not escape social component, contingent on
funding, discourse of importance of science in seeking funding.
Intent to further knowledge, but appropriated by society and
politics. Harvard stem cell lab case, two sets of equipments, one for
privately funded research, one for government funded research.
South Korean
case. Nationalistic sentimentality. Felt like author over emphasized
religious/Confucian aspect. Author not accustomed to doing research
in Asia.
China:
Interesting how
companies were using ethics as a marketing strategy, when they used
adult stem cells in place of embryonic stem cells. Justify practices
by claiming they allow a way to get around the red tape of new
therapies in other countries and that they provide hope. Despite
sketchy practices and claims. Medical pilgrimage. Practice of renting
out hospitals reminds of illegal organ transplants.
IVF, status of
children in Japan, source of embryonic stem cells. Reproductive
technologies not well regulated in US.
Back to the low
key public discourse in Japan. Taboo of talking about abortion.
Surprising, given our situation in the US context.
China: What can
hospitals do when they aren't being given as much funding, but can't
charge too much for essential care? Clinical economy promotes the
research practices of new therapies that we see.
Articles:
Thompson, Asian
Regeneration? Nationalism and Internationalism in Stem Cell Research
in South Korea and Singapore
Liu, Making
Taiwanese (Stem Cells): Identity, Genetics, and Hybridity
Song, The
Proliferation of Stem Cell Therapies in Post-Mao China:
Problematizing Ethical Regulation
Sleeboom-Faulkner:
Regulating Cell Lives in Japan: Avoiding Scandal and Sticking to
Nature
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