Troubles with biocitizenship?

Plows, Alexandra; Boddington, Paula

doi:10.1186/1746-5354-2-3-115

Cited by 34 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…This is in contrast to its more popular framing as novel forms of political and social engagement within an economy of hope ( Rose and Novas, 2005 ). Despite the latter authors' focus on ‘bottom up’ engagements with governance, Charles and others ( Nadesan, 2008 , Plows and Boddington, 2006 , Raman and Tutton, 2010 , Wehling, 2010 ) have emphasized the interaction of such new forms of biopolitics with more ‘traditional’ forms of governance such as expert knowledge and state-led health promotion policies that frame ‘acceptable’ forms of choice. In this study of TEPs – young women travelling from South Africa to provide eggs – we find a similar ‘messy’ reality and state/citizen/health expert interactions ( Colvin et al, 2010 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gendered bio-responsibilities and travelling egg providers from South Africa

Pande¹,

Moll²

2018

Reproductive Biomedicine & Society Online

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‘Unsuspecting young South African women are heading overseas to donate their eggs to infertile couples and earn a free international holiday in the process. But, at what cost?’ This was the voice-over during a news show in South Africa in 2016 that described the phenomenon of young white South African women going abroad to ‘donate’ their eggs. Through the media, medical professionals sought to warn ‘naïve girls’ about ‘unscrupulous agencies’ taking advantage of them, and in doing so putting them at grave medical risks in ‘Third World’ clinics. Yet owners of agencies and egg providers themselves countered this imagery; here, the egg provider becomes a far more complex biocitizen who finds an opportunity to combine an act of altruism with an opportunity to earn money and travel. Through interviews with travelling egg providers, doctors and egg agencies, and analysis of public and social media, we analyse these competing discourses critically by situating them within the specific context of egg provision in South Africa. We argue that travelling egg providers' defence of their involvement may challenge some gendered assumptions made by the media and medical staff, but at the same time reaffirm what we call ‘gendered bio-responsibilities’, or the gendered nature of the emphasis on (individual) responsibilization of biological citizens. By focusing on a relatively understudied aspect of the burgeoning literature on biocitizenship, we argue that the project of biocitizenship assists the expansion and normalization of new biomedical technologies, often without proper emphasis on the disproportionate obligations on the women involved.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gendered bio-responsibilities and travelling egg providers from South Africa

Pande¹,

Moll²

2018

Reproductive Biomedicine & Society Online

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“…This is particularly relevant since automated DNA searches and exchange of information between EU countries was enacted into EU law through the so-called Prüm decisions. As such, a virtual EU forensic DNA database constructed with different legislative understandings of proportionality, bodily integrity, right to individual privacy and presumption of innocence, may present an example of increasing inequalities among EU’s “biological citizens” (Plows and Boddington 2006 ; Prainsack and Toom 2013 ). The S. & Marper v. UK decision of the ECHR, which binds the signatory countries to its ruling, is thus far the most important decision regarding DNA databases in Europe.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forensic DNA databases in European countries: is size linked to performance?

Santos

Machado

Silva

2013

Life Sci Soc Policy

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The political and financial investments in the implementation of forensic DNA databases and the ethical issues related to their use and expansion justify inquiries into their performance and general utility. The main function of a forensic DNA database is to produce matches between individuals and crime scene stains, which requires a constant input of individual profiles and crime scene stains. This is conditioned, among other factors, by the legislation, namely the criteria for inclusion of profiles and the periods of time and conditions for their retention and/or deletion. This article aims to provide an overview of the different legislative models for DNA databasing in Europe and ponder if wider inclusion criteria – and, consequently, database size – translates into more matches between profiles of crime scene stains and included individuals (performance ratio). The legislation governing forensic DNA databases in 22 countries in the European Union was analysed in order to propose a typology of two major groups of legislative criteria for inclusion/retention of profiles that can be classified as having either expansive effects or restrictive effects. We argue that expansive criteria for inclusion and retention of profiles do not necessarily translate into significant gains in output performance.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/2195-7819-9-12) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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“…QS individuals indirectly contributed to the emergence of biocitizenship [ 20 ], a movement dedicated to empower individuals to take care of their own health [ 21 , 22 ] . Self-trackers are also part of the larger field of digitally engaged patients [ 23 ] advocating self-monitoring and self-care as an alternative approach to medicine.…”

Section: Main Textmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-tracking the microbiome: where do we go from here?

Gimbert

Lapointe

2015

Microbiome

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The quantified self community brings together enthusiasts who are using technological devices to monitor their health and social media to share their personal data with others online. In light of the growing popularity of this movement, self-trackers are challenging the health-care system by raising important questions about data ownership and risk-taking. As we enter a new era of consumer genomics, a significant number of quantified self (QS) individuals are now interested in the monitoring of their microbiome and performing personal interventions. In this paper, we discuss the scientific validity of experiments involving serial observations of a single individual as opposed to randomized clinical trials. We look at self-tracking from an ethical standpoint by questioning the risks and assessing the potential benefits for personalized medicine in general and for microbiome research in particular.

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Troubles with biocitizenship?

Cited by 34 publications

References 12 publications

Gendered bio-responsibilities and travelling egg providers from South Africa

Gendered bio-responsibilities and travelling egg providers from South Africa

Forensic DNA databases in European countries: is size linked to performance?

Self-tracking the microbiome: where do we go from here?

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