Creating identity with biotechnology: The xenotransplanted body as the norm

Public Understanding of Science

Volumn 11, Issue 4, 2002, Pages 333-345

  Lundin, Susanne ^a  

^a Department of European Ethnology ^*  (Sweden)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 0345754593     PISSN: 09636625     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1088/0963-6625/11/4/302     Document Type: Article

References (57)

1. C. G. Groth et al., 'Transplantation of porcine fetal pancreas to diabetic patients,'' Lancet 344 (1994): 1402-1404.
2. In the United States in 1995, five patients with Parkinson's disease were operated on with nerve cells from pigs. Panorama. Animal Transplants, BBC1, June 1996. See also Nuffield Council of Bioethcs, Animal-to-Hunian Transplants. The Ethics of Xenotransplantation (London: Nuffield Council of Bioethics, 1996).
3. In the United States in 1995, five patients with Parkinson's disease were operated on with nerve cells from pigs. Panorama. Animal Transplants, BBC1, June 1996. See also Nuffield Council of Bioethcs, Animal-to-Hunian Transplants. The Ethics of Xenotransplantation (London: Nuffield Council of Bioethics, 1996).
4. A. S. Daar, "Ethics of xenotrensplantation: animal issues, consent, and likely transformation of transplant ethics." World Journal of Surgery 21 (1997): C. Patience. Y. Takeuchi, and R. A. Weiss, "Infection of human cells by an endogenous retrovirus of pigs," Nature Medicine 3 (1997): 282-286.
5. A. S. Daar, "Ethics of xenotrensplantation: animal issues, consent, and likely transformation of transplant ethics." World Journal of Surgery 21 (1997): C. Patience. Y. Takeuchi, and R. A. Weiss, "Infection of human cells by an endogenous retrovirus of pigs," Nature Medicine 3 (1997): 282-286.
6. The interdisciplinary project Genetics, Gene Technology and Everyday Ethics was conducted from the Department of Ethnology by Susanne Lundin and Lynn Åkcsson (1997-2001). The medical project Treatment of Diabetes by Transplantation of Porcine Islets (1998-2003) was conducted from the Department of Transplantation Surgery, Huddinge Hospital, by C.G. Groth. and includes the ethnological subproject Cultural Perspectives on Xenotransplantation, in which Susanne Lundin and Markus Idvall are involved.
7. S. Lundin, "The boundless body. Cultural perspectives on xenotransplantation." Ethnos 64, no. 1 (1999): 5-31; S. Lundin, "The threatened sperm: parenthood in the age of biomedicine.'' in Kinship, Gender and the New Reproductive Technologies. The Beginning of the End. ed. L. Stone (Boston: Rowman and Littlefield, 2000).
8. S. Lundin, "The boundless body. Cultural perspectives on xenotransplantation." Ethnos 64, no. 1 (1999): 5-31; S. Lundin, "The threatened sperm: parenthood in the age of biomedicine.'' in Kinship, Gender and the New Reproductive Technologies. The Beginning of the End. ed. L. Stone (Boston: Rowman and Littlefield, 2000).
9. Z. Bauman, potmodern Ethics (Oxford: Blackwell, 1993).
10. See also the discussion of ethics and culture in terms of moral landscapes by 8 Cf. P. Rabinow. "The Icelandic genome debate," Trends in Biotechnology 19 (2000): 5.
11. Cf. P. Rabinow, Making PCR. A Story of Biotechnology (Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press, 1996).
12. Parkinson's disease is a serious neurodegenerative disease in which the body cannot produce dopamine. Without this hormone, important nerve cells in the brain cannot be regenerated, which results in the body being unable to function. Since 1987, nineteen patients have been transplanted with human fetal cells at Lund University. My informants belong to this group. Globally, about 350 people have been operated.
13. In diabetes, the body is unable to produce insulin, which results in the body gradually being broken down. Traditional treatment involves the injection of insulin, but modern research is attempting to solve the problem by transplanting insulin-producing cells (human or animal-derived) into the patients. My informants have undergone xenotransptantation at Huddinge Hospital. Ten diabetic patients were transplanted with pig cells between 1990 and 1993. which was then unique on a world scale (see A. Tibell. F. P. Reinholt and O. Korsgren, "Morphological identification of porcine islet cells three weeks after transplantation into a diabetic patient," Transplantation Proceedings 26, no. 3 (1994): 1121-1122; see also, M. Idvall, "Imagining xenotransplantation. The global economy of an emergent biotechnology." (forthcoming).
14. In diabetes, the body is unable to produce insulin, which results in the body gradually being broken down. Traditional treatment involves the injection of insulin, but modern research is attempting to solve the problem by transplanting insulin-producing cells (human or animal-derived) into the patients. My informants have undergone xenotransptantation at Huddinge Hospital. Ten diabetic patients were transplanted with pig cells between 1990 and 1993. which was then unique on a world scale (see A. Tibell. F. P. Reinholt and O. Korsgren, "Morphological identification of porcine islet cells three weeks after transplantation into a diabetic patient," Transplantation Proceedings 26, no. 3 (1994): 1121-1122; see also, M. Idvall, "Imagining xenotransplantation. The global economy of an emergent biotechnology." (forthcoming).
15. In 2001. the research project "Cultural Perspectives on Xenotransplantation" (Susanne Lundin. Markus Idvall and Lynn Åkesson) initiated a study focusing on members of the general public in Sweden. Through a Swedish Institute for Public Opinion survey (SIFO Research & Consulting AB), 1.000 randomly selected individuals aged 15 and upwards were interviewed by telephone. Seven questions were put within the framework of a nationwide so-called telephone omnibus, a telephone survey that SIFO Research & Consulting runs Monday to Thursday every week - and through which the interviewees are confronted with a collection of questions relating to a large number of subjects and to the different clients of the institute. The main aim was to capture the attitudes of ordinary people to transplants of organs, cells, and genes from human to human and from animal to human. In contrast to earlier studies by the research group, "Attitudes of the General Public to Transplants" has been done primarily using quantitative methods. This attitude survey stems from a need to gain further insight into the in-depth interviews that had been conducted earlier with a broad empirical material. See also S. Lundin and M. Idvall, "Attitudes of Swedes to transplants and transplantation research' (forthcoming).
16. All citations except source references are taken from my fteldwork.
17. H. Widner, "The case for embryonic neural tissue transplantation is a therapy for Parkinson's disease,'' Advances in Neurology 80 (1999): 641-649.
18. Lag om transpiantationer mm (Law on transplantations etc.) (1995): 831, §11.
19. Overall, the ten cell transplants have met with only limited success. With Birgit, there was a temporary insulin upswing, which could possibly be attributed to the porcine cells. The gains of the clinical study should be regarded as an attempt to find the best way forward for continuing research.
20. Patience et al., "Infection of human cells by an endogenous retrovirus of pigs."
21. Sydsvenska Dagbladet (March 7, 1997: 15).
22. The mission of Health Care is to make people healthy or at least reduce their symptoms. That most drugs don't just give relief - but also have side effects-is well known by both experts and laymen. With biomedical treatments, however, and particularly those that are relatively unproven, this knowledge is especially important. In the wake of biotechnology, it is not only new medical problems that crop up. bat also a new definition of medical science: an image in which medicine is seen not just as a healer, but also as a direct threat.
23. M. Sanner, "Giving and taking - to whom and from whom? People's attitudes toward transplantation of organs and tissues from different sources," Clinical Transplantation 1 (1997): 51-52: L. Åkesson. "The message of dead bodies." in Bodytime. On the Interaction of Body. Identity, and Society, eds. S. Lundin and L. Åkesoon (Lund: Lund University Press. 1998).
24. M. Sanner, "Giving and taking - to whom and from whom? People's attitudes toward transplantation of organs and tissues from different sources," Clinical Transplantation 1 (1997): 51-52: L. Åkesson. "The message of dead bodies." in Bodytime. On the Interaction of Body. Identity, and Society, eds. S. Lundin and L. Åkesoon (Lund: Lund University Press. 1998).
25. Cf. E. Martin, Flexible Bodies: The Role of Immunity in American Culture from the Days of Polio to the Age of AIDS (Boston: Beacon Press, 1994).
26. S. J. Youngner, C. Fex, and L. O'Connell, eds. Organ Transplantation: Meanings and Realities (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1995).
27. Cf. M. Lock, "Displacing suffering: the reconstruction of death in North America and Japan," in Organ Transplantation: Meanings and Realities, eds. S. J. Youngner. C. Fox. and L. O'Connell (Midison: University of Wisconsin Press. 1995); A. Deguchi. "Organ transplant, identity and the community," JASO (forthcoming); Sanner, "Giving and taking."
28. Cf. M. Lock, "Displacing suffering: the reconstruction of death in North America and Japan," in Organ Transplantation: Meanings and Realities, eds. S. J. Youngner. C. Fox. and L. O'Connell (Midison: University of Wisconsin Press. 1995); A. Deguchi. "Organ transplant, identity and the community," JASO (forthcoming); Sanner, "Giving and taking."
29. Cf. M. Lock, "Displacing suffering: the reconstruction of death in North America and Japan," in Organ Transplantation: Meanings and Realities, eds. S. J. Youngner. C. Fox. and L. O'Connell (Midison: University of Wisconsin Press. 1995); A. Deguchi. "Organ transplant, identity and the community," JASO (forthcoming); Sanner, "Giving and taking."
30. Lundin, "The threatened sperm."
31. N. Brown. "Xenottansplantation: normalizing disgust." Science as Culture 8. no. 3 (1999): 327-355: Martin, Flexible Bodies.
32. N. Brown. "Xenottansplantation: normalizing disgust." Science as Culture 8. no. 3 (1999): 327-355: Martin, Flexible Bodies.
33. A. Melucci, The Playing Self. Person and Meaning in the Planetary Society (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1996).
34. L. Sachs, "The visualization of the invisible body,'' in Identities in Pain. eds. J. Frykman. N. Serementatis, and S. Ewert (Lund: Nordic Academic Press, 1998).
35. M. Lock, "Genetic diversity and the politics of difference." Chicago Kent Law Review 75, no. 1 (1999): 83-111.
36. A. Giddcns. Modernity and Self-ldnitity. Self and Society in the Late Modern Age (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1991): J. Frykman, "On the hardening of men," in Identities in pain. eds J. Frykman, N. Serementatis. and S. Ewrt (Lund: Nordic Academic Press, 1998).
37. A. Giddcns. Modernity and Self-ldnitity. Self and Society in the Late Modern Age (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1991): J. Frykman, "On the hardening of men," in Identities in pain. eds J. Frykman, N. Serementatis. and S. Ewrt (Lund: Nordic Academic Press, 1998).
38. S. Lundin, "The body is worth investing in," in Gene Technology and Economy, eds. S. Lundin and L. Åkcnson (Lund: Nordic Academic Press, 2002); Martin, Flexible Bodies.
39. S. Lundin, "The body is worth investing in," in Gene Technology and Economy, eds. S. Lundin and L. Åkcnson (Lund: Nordic Academic Press, 2002); Martin, Flexible Bodies.
40. Lundin, "The body is worth investing in."
41. M. Ideland. Dagens gennyheter. Hur massmedia berätaar om genetik och genteknik. (The daily gene-news. How the mass media rtport genetics and gene technology) (Lund: Nordic Academic Press, 2002).
42. M. Black, "Nothing new," in Ethics in an Age of Pervasive Technology, ed. M. Kranzberg (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1980). 26-27,
43. Lundin, "The boundless body,"
44. Panorama, Animal Transplants, BBC1, June 1996.
45. Lundin, "The threatened sperm."
46. Bauman, Postmodern Ethics.
47. J. Durant et. al., Biotechnology in the Public Sphere. A European Sourcebook (London: Science Museum, 1998).
48. The Swedish Xenotransplanlation Committee (Swedish Government official Report no. 1999; 120) Från en art till en annan - transplantation från djur till manniska. (From one species to another - transplantation from animal to human). SOU 120 (Stockholm: Socialdepartement, 1999); SIFO Research & Consulting AB. Gene Technology. Project number 647/1300/A.S. Olsson (Stockholm, 1997); M. Omnell Person, "Attitudes towards organ donation and transplantation - a study involving Baltic physicians," Transplantation International 11 (1998): 419-423.
49. The Swedish Xenotransplanlation Committee (Swedish Government official Report no. 1999; 120) Från en art till en annan - transplantation från djur till manniska. (From one species to another - transplantation from animal to human). SOU 120 (Stockholm: Socialdepartement, 1999); SIFO Research & Consulting AB. Gene Technology. Project number 647/1300/A.S. Olsson (Stockholm, 1997); M. Omnell Person, "Attitudes towards organ donation and transplantation - a study involving Baltic physicians," Transplantation International 11 (1998): 419-423.
50. The Swedish Xenotransplanlation Committee (Swedish Government official Report no. 1999; 120) Från en art till en annan - transplantation från djur till manniska. (From one species to another - transplantation from animal to human). SOU 120 (Stockholm: Socialdepartement, 1999); SIFO Research & Consulting AB. Gene Technology. Project number 647/1300/A.S. Olsson (Stockholm, 1997); M. Omnell Person, "Attitudes towards organ donation and transplantation - a study involving Baltic physicians," Transplantation International 11 (1998): 419-423.
51. The research project "Cultural Perspectives on Xenotransplantation" (project leader S. Lundin. see footnote 11) is part of a larger interdisciplinary project coordinated by the Department of Transplantation Surgery at Huddinge Hospital; There are many reasons why people answer "yes" rather than "no," reasons that can be difficult to catch using statistical methods ( cf. M. Strathem. "Finding out what people would choose: a comment on the gathering of opinion." Paper presented at the conference Reproductive Values: The Individual and Society (Manchester: Centre for Social Policy, 1997). No less important, it is worth pointing out that the same kinds of tendencies concerning acceptance as opposed to non-acceptance are present in quantitative as well as qualitative studies: see also, Lundin et al,. "Cultural Perspectives on Xenotransplantation."
52. The research project "Cultural Perspectives on Xenotransplantation" (project leader S. Lundin. see footnote 11) is part of a larger interdisciplinary project coordinated by the Department of Transplantation Surgery at Huddinge Hospital; There are many reasons why people answer "yes" rather than "no," reasons that can be difficult to catch using statistical methods ( cf. M. Strathem. "Finding out what people would choose: a comment on the gathering of opinion." Paper presented at the conference Reproductive Values: The Individual and Society (Manchester: Centre for Social Policy, 1997). No less important, it is worth pointing out that the same kinds of tendencies concerning acceptance as opposed to non-acceptance are present in quantitative as well as qualitative studies: see also, Lundin et al,. "Cultural Perspectives on Xenotransplantation."
53. The research project "Cultural Perspectives on Xenotransplantation" (project leader S. Lundin. see footnote 11) is part of a larger interdisciplinary project coordinated by the Department of Transplantation Surgery at Huddinge Hospital; There are many reasons why people answer "yes" rather than "no," reasons that can be difficult to catch using statistical methods ( cf. M. Strathem. "Finding out what people would choose: a comment on the gathering of opinion." Paper presented at the conference Reproductive Values: The Individual and Society (Manchester: Centre for Social Policy, 1997). No less important, it is worth pointing out that the same kinds of tendencies concerning acceptance as opposed to non-acceptance are present in quantitative as well as qualitative studies: see also, Lundin et al,. "Cultural Perspectives on Xenotransplantation."
54. Durant et al., Biotechonology in the Public Sphere.
55. The Swedish Xenotransplantation Committee.
56. In the multidisciplinary research project "Genetics, Gene Technology and Everyday Ethics" led by myself and the ethnologist Lynn Åkesson (1998). amongst other things, we are studying why certain innovations are judged as being unproblematic while others are provocative. It has become apparent that in the medical field, a pragmatic outlook usually prevails in which the advantages have preference over possible misgivings. Gene technology applied in plant breeding is criticized in a totally different way and can result in the closest militant opposition groups. Here, hopes of medical breakthroughs are confronted by the idea that the technique is a risky encroachment into natural processes that can easily go out of people's control - or that can be exploited in the wrong way.
57. Cf. E. Keller. The Century of the Gene (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. 2000).