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Culturing Cells, Reproducing and Regulating the SelfUniversity of the West of England, Bristol
Cardiff University
Cardiff University
University College Dublin The emergence of a new tissue economy raises issues for the governance of risk and concepts of the body and self. This article explores the development of autologous cell therapies as a form of tissue engineering and considers how and why autologous applications are seen as less risky and more socially and politically acceptable. In a careful analysis of contemporary debates around the need for new international policies to regulate these technologies, we critically assess the discursive strategies employed to support ideas of the body as a natural entity. Central to these debates are assumptions that autologous applications do not threaten the moral or corporeal integrity of the individual and that they are an ethics-free zone. Analysis reveals that concepts such as intercorporeality need to be refined if they are to assist our understanding of these cell-based therapies. We consider the biopolitics of Autologous Chondrocyte Implantation (ACI) in order to show the linkages between the culturing of cells, regulation and the reproduction of the self.
Key Words: autologous cell therapies intercorporeality self tissue engineering
Body & Society, Vol. 12, No. 2,
1-23 (2006) |
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