Immunitary bioeconomy : the economisation of life in the international cord blood market

Brown, Nik and Machin, Laura and McLeod, Danae (2011) Immunitary bioeconomy : the economisation of life in the international cord blood market. Social Science and Medicine, 72 (7). pp. 1115-1122. ISSN 1873-5347

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Abstract

This paper examines an emerging bioeconomy centred on the international banking and trade in cord blood. Since the late 1980s cord blood has been used in an expanding range of treatments and as an alternative to the use of bone marrow stem cells. This is particularly the case in treating ethnic minority populations who have historically been under-represented in bone marrow registries. The paper explores the mobilisation and commercialisation of an increasingly important bioeconomic resource with cord blood units trading internationally at high prices. This is a market mediated through a sophisticated global network of immunologically typed and matched bodily matter in which immunity has become a form of 'corporeal currency'. Based on recent international figures we reflect upon the balance of trade between imports and exports across the world's cord blood bioeconomy. Theoretically, this case is, we suggest, an extension of what Roberto Esposito (2008) has termed an 'immunitary paradigm' in which immunity has become the basis for new forms of bioeconomic flow, circulation and exchange. Esposito (2008). Bios: Biopolitics and Philosophy. Minnesota, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Social Science and Medicine
Additional Information:
Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/3300/3306
Subjects:
?? biological specimen bankscommercecosts and cost analysisfetal bloodhumansinternationalitypoliticsregistriessociologyhealth(social science) ??
ID Code:
50104
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
30 Sep 2011 09:11
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
15 Jul 2024 12:21