Introduction

The medical use of human biological materials and body parts for thera-
peutic, reproductive and research purposes is usually justified in terms
of alleviating physical, psychological and social suffering, saving or
enhancing life, or advancing biomedical knowledge. Recent social sci-
ence and cultural studies literature in the field has taken a different tack
to mainstream bioethical discussion on this topic, turning to an exami-
nation of the disaggregation, transfer, redistribution and exchange of
human bodily fluids, cells, tissues and genetic material across borders
and boundaries once considered impermeable (see Lock and Nguyen
2010 ; Lundin et al. 2016 ; Malmqvist and Zeiler 2016 ), and to the
capitalisation of biological materials to produce new forms of life (see
Cooper and Waldby 2014 ; Novas 2006 ; Parry 2007 ; Rajan 2006 ; Rose

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Bioethics Beyond Altruism

Rhonda M. Shaw

© The Author(s) 2017
R.M. Shaw (ed.), Bioethics Beyond Altruism,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-55532-4_

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R.M. Shaw (*)
Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
e-mail: [email protected]