Avoiding harm: medical decision making and East Asian values

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The Socio-genetic marginalization in Asia programme (SMAP)

SMAP, the Socio-genetic Marginalization in Asia Programme, which started off in August 2004, is a research programme set up with the support of the Netherlands Science Organisation (NWO), IIAS, and the Amsterdam School for Social Science Research (ASSR). Exploring cultural, social and economic aspects of the role of genetic technologies played in the area of state organisation, population policies, health care systems and research regulation in China, India and Japan, SMAP is expected to shed light on how differences in the application of modern genetic technologies generate different practices. The programme focuses on: (I) the ways in which (universal) regulation for genetic sampling by international companies and universities leads to disputable research practices among vulnerable populations; (II) how bioethical differences between healthcare systems are expressed in the different meanings allocated to concepts, such as informed consent, health, and family values; and, (III) the consequences of development priorities and practices of genetic screening for the livelihood and identities of diverging social groups

Public health care strategies and socio-genetic marginalization

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Dealing with socio-genetic marginalization in Asia

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Stem cell research in China: an intertwinement of international finances, ambition, and bioethics

Stem cell research promises remedies to widespread diseases ranging from diabetes to paralysis. ‘Stem cell’ is a term used to refer to a range of cells that have the ability to divide into specialized body cells, such as blood cells or new tissue. By studying the processes in which stem cells grow and differentiate, biologists study the causes of many diseases, and hope to use them for therapeutic uses in the repair of damaged tissue and organs for a wide range of currently incurable disorders

Regulatory brokerage: competitive advantage and regulation in the field of regenerative medicine

This article concerns the roles of entrepreneurial scientists in the co-production of life science research and regulation. Regulatory brokerage, defined as a mode of strategic planning and as the negotiation of regulation based on comparative advantage and competition, is expressed in scientific activities that take advantage of regulatory difference. This article is based on social science research in Japan, Thailand, India and the UK. Using five cases related to Japan’s international activities in the field of regenerative medicine, I argue that, driven by competitive advantage, regulatory brokerage at lower levels of managerial organization and governance is emulated at higher levels. In addition, as regulatory brokerage affects the creation of regulation at national, bilateral and global levels, new regulation may be based on competition in regulatory advantage rather than on ethical and scientific values. I argue that regulatory brokerage as the basis for regulatory reform bypasses issues that need to be decided by a broader public. More space is needed for international and political debate about the socio-political consequences of the global diversity of regulation in the field of the life sciences