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At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1999

Selling bits and pieces of humans to make babies: The gift of the magi revisited.

Reproductive medicine, a sector of a health care system increasingly captured by the demands of the marketplace, is enmeshed in a drive to sell certain human bits and pieces, such as gametes, cells, fetal eggs, and fetal ovaries, for reproductive purposes. The ethical objection raised by Kant and Radin to the sale of human organs - that this is incompatible with human dignity and worth - also applies to these sales. Moreover, such sales nullify the reproductive paradigm, irretrievably replacing it with a manufacturing paradigm. This represents a change in kind, not just of degree, in the way that we view our capacity to generate children and destroys our concept of reproduction as an essentially human activity. In the face of a struggle to retain those common ethical values at the foundation of reproductive medicine, this form of commodification of the human body should be viewed as ethically unacceptable.

Aborted Fetus↗
PubMed2001

Regulating the market for human eggs.

This essay provides a rationale for a regulated market for human oocytes. Although the commodification of human oocytes raises important moral concerns, these concerns do not justify laws banning commerce in human eggs. Given the burgeoning ART industry and the growing oocyte market, the most prudent course of action is to develop regulations for the human oocyte market that are designed to protect and promote important social values, such as health, safety, liberty, and respect for human life. Other responses, such as banning the sale of eggs altogether or allowing donors to be compensated only for their services, would either create a black market or would lead to corruption and abuse. Society still needs to debate specific rules and policies that should govern the human egg market, but further discussion of that important task is best left to legislative bodies and other commentators.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Oocyte cytoplasm transfers and the ethics of germ-line intervention.

Author advances the discussion about positive genetic selection by looking at the use of oocyte cytoplasm transfers as a possible means to prevent disease and to overcome fertility, focusing on the issues of family and kinship, commodification of eggs and egg donors, and germ-line alterations.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Defending commercial surrogate motherhood against Van Niekerk and Van Zyl.

The arguments of Van Niekerk and Van Zyl that, on the grounds that it involves an inappropriate commodification and alienation of women's labour, commercial surrogate motherhood (CSM) is morally suspect are discussed and considered to be defective. In addition, doubt is cast on the notion that CSM should be illegal.

Commerce↗
PubMed2001

Is life of infinite value?

It is possible and necessary to compare stretches of human life with other goods, such as the good of conserving resources for others. A minute of human life is not of infinite value; all else being equal, a minute of life is less valuable than 10 years of the same life. Nevertheless, this ability to evaluate human life does not necessarily lead to total commodification of human life.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Response: persistent perplexities.

This response to the preceding five articles highlights the stubborn persistence of the philosophical perplexities surrounding commodification in the realm of medicine and biotechnology.

Bioethical Issues↗
PubMed2001

The kindness of strangers: organ transplantation in a capitalist age.

The topic of organ transplantation is examined from the perspective of three authors: Robert Bellah, Jeremy Rifkin, and Margaret Jane Radin. Introduced by reflections on the development of the justification of organ transplantation within the Roman Catholic community and the various themes raised by the historical study in Richard Titmuss's The Gift Relationship, the paper examines how and in what ways the possible commodification of organs will affect our society and the impacts this may have on the supply of organs.

Altruism↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Can a purchaser be a partner? Nursing education in the English universities.

Since the early 1990s, public sector management in England has been exhorted to follow the example of the private sector, and 'quasi-markets' have been established, for example in the health service. A quasi-market also exists between the NHS and higher education for the purchasing (or procurement) of nursing education. This paper uses policy documents such as the National Health Service Executive Circular (March 1999) on 'Good Contracting Guidelines' for Non-Medical Education and Training, plus other relevant literature on the commodification of higher education, quasi-markets and contract theory to examine this market, and the confusion of two rhetorics, those of competition and partnership. Nursing occupies a marginal place in higher education in England, having only recently become part of it. The emphasis of the quasi-market on the output of a trained 'fit for purpose' labour force combines with professional attempts to create an academic discipline, in complex ways which are as yet underanalysed.

Education, Nursing↗
PubMed1988

Holistic health and the critique of Western medicine.

The holistic view of health has been accurately criticized in the literature for its individualistic, victim-blaming ideology that obscures the social origins of illness. The paper explains how the contrasting view of the body and illness provided by the holistic model can help to show how Western medicine reflects the capitalist system in which it is promoted. It shows how evaluation of holistic therapies is problematic insofar as it is based on the analytical, reductionist criteria of the Western model. It suggests that one reason why holistic practices are not more fully accepted by Western medicine may be the challenge they pose to the Western model, and to the commodification of health needs promoted by this model.

Economics, Medical↗
PubMed1993

(Over)eating success: the health consequences of the restoration of capitalism in rural China.

This paper reviews and evaluates some of the changes that have occurred in the Chinese health care system during the reform era associated with Deng Xiaoping (1978-1993). The reforms have helped to enrich the long suffering peasants in the Chinese countryside, and in many areas the peasants have experienced a significant improvement in the quality of their lives, including greater access to health care facilities, and better diets. The paper also considers some of the potentially negative side effects of the reform era, including the increasing income inequality between urban and rural areas; the commodification of Chinese medicine; declining access to health care for peasants in the poorest regions; and a concern about the changing patterns of diet and nutrition in the newly enriched parts of the Chinese countryside.

Cause of Death↗
PubMed1996

Smoking prevalence among women in the European community 1950-1990.

The paper reviews trends in tobacco use among women in the European Community (EC) between 1950 and 1990. The data suggest that EC countries occupy different points on what appears to be a common prevalence curve. Southern EC countries are represented in the early phases of this curve, marked out by sharply rising prevalence. In northern EC countries, female smoking prevalence appears to have peaked. Across the EC, the commodification of tobacco use, and the production and promotion of manufactured cigarettes in particular, underlies this prevalence curve. Young women in higher socio-economic groups have led the way into cigarette smoking in both northern and southern Europe, with smoking prevalence declining first among women who are privileged in terms of their education, occupation and income. Because the decline in prevalence has yet to be repeated among women in more disadvantaged circumstances, cigarette smoking among women in the EC is likely to become a habit increasingly linked to low socio-economic status.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

The Icelandic genome debate.

Three of the central issues in contemporary debates about the commodification of the human body are those of property, ownership, and access. This article uses the case of the central medical database on Icelanders to discuss contesting claims about the ownership of the human genome, with respect to the rapid development of biotechnology, human genome projects and DNA collections. We emphasize the contrast between commercial and communitarian perspectives and to illustrate our argument we explore debates about the Icelandic database. These debates have been intense, focusing on a range of issues, including ethics, academic freedom, public health and, last but not least, the control and ownership of medical records, genetic information and genealogical data. This article should be seen primarily as an anthropological commentary on ongoing developments.

Bioethics↗
PubMed1999

Purchasing a quick fix from private pharmacies in the Gaza Strip.

Increasingly, it is recognised by health planners and social scientists that self medication with drugs bought over the counter in private pharmacies is extremely widespread. Some anthropologists see this trend as an aspect of the 'commodification of health'. In this study, group interviews with health service users and providers in Gaza revealed many health service users reporting an inadequate supply of drugs resulting in the purchasing of drugs in private pharmacies. As a result, a survey of the pattern of utilization of three private pharmacies in three contrasting urban areas within the Gaza Strip was undertaken. Using a questionnaire, data were collected from all customers buying drugs. The results show that variations in the patterns of health seeking behaviour were associated with socioeconomic status. Adult males were the most frequent customers of all three pharmacies. They were buying medicines for members of their nuclear family more often than for themselves. Overall, pain and influenza were the most commonly reported conditions. The drugs purchased most frequently for women were for reproductive health problems, particularly infertility. Customers of the pharmacy in the relatively prosperous area more commonly purchased drugs which were prescribed by a private doctor.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Quantitative health research in an emerging information economy.

This paper is concerned with the changing information environment in the U.K. National Health Service and its implications for the quantitative analysis of health and health care. The traditionally available data series are contrasted with those sources that are being created or enhanced as a result of the post-1991 market-orientation of the health care system. The likely research implications of the commodification of health data are assessed and illustrated with reference to the specific example of the geography of asthma. The paper warns against a future in which large-scale quantitative health research is only possible in relation to projects which may yield direct financial or market benefits to the data providers.

Asthma↗
PubMed2000

Regulating human body parts and products.

This special volume of Health Care Analysis is dedicated to a consideration of the status of body parts and products and the role of law in regulating them. We argue that such a discussion is timely given the conflation of technological and academic concerns posed by the complex legal framework within which these issues are currently addressed and in the light of debates such as those regarding the storage of children's organs addressed by inquiries at Alder Hay and Bristol, United Kingdom. The contributors address specific legal problems which have been brought before the courts in the UK and other jurisdictions, something which we suggest is likely to occur with increasing regularity once the Human Rights Act 1998 comes into force in October 2000. The issues are also considered on a more theoretical level with papers exploring the role of concepts such as property, donation, commodification and kinship in these debates. While the volume focuses principally upon the manner in which these issues have arisen in a UK context, though with reference to certain comparative examples, the concepts discussed here are of more general application across other jurisdictions.

Government Regulation↗
PubMed1999

Status, sale and patenting of human genetic material: an international survey.

Following a decade of debate, the European Directive on the Legal Protection of Biotechnological Inventions was adopted by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union on July 6, 1998. The Directive constitutes a legal and social policy landmark in biotechnology, taking an explicit position on the contentious issue of the patentability of higher life forms. It fails, however, to provide definitive statements on the legal status of human genetic material or the possibility of personal financial gain in relation to such material. An overview of the international, regional and national positions (as found in laws and official policy statements) on the status, commodification and patentability of human genetic material indicates that, although the Directive represents a consolidation of opinions, many issues remain unresolved.

Commerce↗
PubMed1996

Feminist critiques of new fertility technologies: implications for social policy.

This essay aims to show how feminist theoretical and practical perspective have enriched and deepened debate about moral and social issues generated by the proliferation and commodification of new reproductive techniques. It evaluates alternative feminist appraisals beginning with the first group to organize a collective response to the medicalization of infertility and explores several weaknesses working within their assessment: objectification of infertile women, naturalizing constructions of motherhood, hostility to technology, and an overly simplistic conception of power relations. Next, it shows how subsequent feminists have reframed the issues to overcome these weaknesses, drawing on themes prominent in recent theoretical debates: the need to reclaim women's agency, to revalue mothering, and to reappraise power relations. Lastly, it weighs the prospects for a collaborative politics that is sensitive to the social marginalization of vulnerable women and suggests practical strategies for responding to mounting pressures to procreate at any price.

Dehumanization↗