Anchoring hopes in a regime of truth. The legitimizing use of cord blood-derived products in Italy

Beltrame, Lorenzo

doi:10.1080/14636778.2019.1686969

Cited by 5 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Sustaining active operations requires devoting efforts to maintaining expectations and constructing value. As Williams (2015) and Beltrame (2020aBeltrame ( , 2020b have discussed with regard to public CB banks in the UK and Italy, respectively, such practices and attempts may focus on reassembling banking practices to push for the circulation of rare and sought-after CB samples or new CB-derived products. However, in the case of the German Z-Bank, these efforts do not have much to do with valuing or valorizing CB itself.…”

Section: Cryo-arrangements As Assetsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cryovalues beyond High Expectations: Endurance and the Construction of Value in Cord Blood Banking

Liburkina

2022

Science, Technology, & Human Values

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Cryopreservation attracts attention as a practice grounded in high expectations: current life is suspended for future use—to generate life, to save life, and to resurrect life. But what happens when high expectations in cryobanking give way to looming uselessness and the risk of failure? Based on ethnographic insights into the case of umbilical cord blood (CB) banking in Germany, this contribution investigates the liminal state of “non-failure.” Averting failure amid a lack of success in this field requires putting effort into the construction of value. The resulting practices and dynamics overflow generic stories of commercialization and instrumentalization of biological material and are best grasped as an expanded version of the recently coined notion of “cryovalue.” The long-term availability of cryopreserved CB facilitates the steady yield of social and economic capital beyond and after promise. Moreover, the value construction is reoriented from CB itself toward the socio-technical cryo-arrangements in which it is embedded. In exemplifying how it expands the understanding of the diversity of valuation and valorization practices, continuities, and economic endurance in cryoeconomies and bioeconomies, the paper advocates the study of their ambivalent and allegedly uneventful sites.

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Section: Cryo-arrangements As Assetsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cryovalues beyond High Expectations: Endurance and the Construction of Value in Cord Blood Banking

Liburkina

2022

Science, Technology, & Human Values

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“…This is noted when private companies label themselves as "family" banks [8,20,29,35]. On the other hand, donating blood to public banks can often be an unacknowledged process, and some have argued that it requires significant improvement [21,[36][37][38][39]. Ultimately, an individual's decision on what to do with cord blood can largely hinge on obtaining accurate, up-to-date knowledge.…”

Section: Background -The Problemmentioning

confidence: 99%

The law and problematic marketing by private umbilical cord blood banks

2020

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Background: Private umbilical cord blood banking is a for-profit industry in which parents pay to store blood for potential future use. Governments have noted the tendency for private banks to oversell the potential for cord blood use, especially in relation to speculative cell therapies not yet supported by clinical evidence. We assessed the regulatory landscape governing private cord bank marketing in Canada. Main body: Because the problematic marketing of private cord blood banking for future use often relates to speculative future cell therapies that do not exist and are not being advertised for current clinical use, most private blood bank marketing seems to fall outside Health Canada's regulatory scope. However, this problematic marketing is regulated by the Competition Bureau pursuant to the Competition Act. While representations relating to future hypothetical treatments may not always be subject to the legal requirement for claim substantiation, the law also prohibits individuals and companies from knowingly or recklessly making representations that are "false or misleading in a material respect." A representation is materially false or misleading when it could "influence a consumer's behavior or purchasing decisions," and consumers are likely to be considered to be "credulous and inexperienced" for the purposes of assessing an advertisement's general impression. Because all of the potential benefit of the banking is derived from the potential future use of the biological material for health interventions directed toward the customers and their relatives, and because we know the best available medical evidence indicates a very low probability of utility in this context, we can say with confidence that some private cord blood banking claims are materially misleading. Moreover, to the extent that medical professionals are involved in private bank interactions with customers or hold ownership stakes in private banks, they are subject to professional codes, standards of practice, and potentially fiduciary obligations that further prohibit misleading marketing. Conclusions: Private cord blood bank marketing that advertises hypothetical future treatments can be misleading and may influence consumer behaviour. This marketing may breach existing advertising law. Regulatory bodies should enforce the law in order to help prevent public health and personal financial harm.

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“…Notably, a range of critical commentary also exists around public banking processes (Allan et al 2016 ; Brown 2013 ; Isasi et al 2013 , 2018 ). In some contexts, critiques of drawing absolute distinctions between public and private banks have been raised, noting that similar marketing efforts are present in both (Beltrame 2020 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The objective of this research was to analyze the marketing on the seven cord blood companies’ websites offering services in Canada. While research on the marketing of cord blood exists for other contexts or periods (i.e., Beltrame 2020 ; Brown 2013 ), there is no research for the current Canadian context. Given the concerns raised around private-banking marketing, we considered it valuable to analyze the manner in which the companies are marketing their services to the public.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Peddling promise? An analysis of private umbilical cord blood banking company websites in Canada

2021

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Private umbilical cord blood banking is growing around the world. A family’s decision to bank cord blood publicly or privately can be influenced by numerous sources including healthcare practitioners, personal networks, the popular press, social media and marketing discourse from private entities. Issues have been raised concerning how private banks market their services, particularly with regards to the likelihood of use and for what purposes cord blood can be used. The objective of this study was to analyze the marketing on the seven company websites offering private cord blood storage in Canada. We performed a mix of content and general qualitative analysis on the seven websites. Our analysis shows substantial hype around cord blood uses, amplifying the promise of speculative uses and distorting the likelihood of use. Findings show that this promotional messaging often deploys communication strategies which draw on testimonials and emotionally-charged narratives. Questions should be asked about whether the promissory aspects of these websites constitute breaches of Canadian law or regulation. Careful monitoring of the private cord blood space is important for ensuring that the Canadian public is adequately and accurately informed of the services being offered.

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Anchoring hopes in a regime of truth. The legitimizing use of cord blood-derived products in Italy

Cited by 5 publications

References 26 publications

Cryovalues beyond High Expectations: Endurance and the Construction of Value in Cord Blood Banking

Cryovalues beyond High Expectations: Endurance and the Construction of Value in Cord Blood Banking

The law and problematic marketing by private umbilical cord blood banks

Peddling promise? An analysis of private umbilical cord blood banking company websites in Canada

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