Turner, Andrew and Dallaire-Fortier, Clara and J, Madeleine (2013) Biobank Economics and the “Commercialization Problem”. Spontaneous Generations: A Journal for the History and Philosophy of Science, 7 (1). pp. 69-80. ISSN 1913-0465

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Abstract

The economic aspects of biobanking are intertwined with the social and scientific aspects. We describe two problems that structure the discussion about the economics of biobanking and which illustrate this intertwining. First, there is a ‘sustainability problem’ about how to maintain biobanks in the long term. Second, and representing a partial response to the first problem, there is a ‘commercialisation problem’ about how to deal with the voluntary altruistic relationship between participants and biobanks, and the potential commercial relationships that a biobank may form. Social scientists have argued that the commercialisation problem is inadequate as a way to construct the multiple tensions that biobanks must negotiate. We agree that the commercialisation problem is an inadequate framework; turning to alternative accounts of bioeconomy, we suggest that contemporary consideration of the economics of biobanking primarily in terms of participants and their bodily tissue may reproduce the very commodification of science that these scholars critique. We suggest that an alternative conception of the economics of biobanking beyond the logics of commodification, which may thereby allow broader questions about the social and economic conditions and consequences of biobanks to be posed.

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Item Type:	Published Article or Volume
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Turner, Andrew Dallaire-Fortier, Clara J, Madeleine
Keywords:	Scientific Realism; Epistemic Issues; Epistemology of Science
Subjects:	General Issues > Scientific Metaphysics General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science General Issues > Realism/Anti-realism General Issues > Science and Society General Issues > Technology General Issues > Values In Science
Depositing User:	Jordan Miller
Date Deposited:	10 Sep 2021 04:50
Last Modified:	10 Sep 2021 04:50
Item ID:	17859
Journal or Publication Title:	Spontaneous Generations: A Journal for the History and Philosophy of Science
Publisher:	The University of Toronto
Official URL:	https://spontaneousgenerations.library.utoronto.ca...
DOI or Unique Handle:	10.4245/sponge.v7i1.19555
Subjects:	General Issues > Scientific Metaphysics General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science General Issues > Realism/Anti-realism General Issues > Science and Society General Issues > Technology General Issues > Values In Science
Date:	25 November 2013
Page Range:	pp. 69-80
Volume:	7
Number:	1
ISSN:	1913-0465
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/17859

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