Chimeras and Hybrids in Human Pluripotent Stem Cell
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CHIMERAS AND HYBRIDS IN HUMAN PLURIPOTENT STEM CELL RESEARCH A STUDY ON THE JURIDIFICATION OF NASCENT LIFE A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of the Science of Law by WAI LOON CALVIN HO January 2013 © 2013 Wai Loon Calvin Ho ALL RIGHTS RESERVED CHIMERAS AND HYBRIDS IN HUMAN PLURIPOTENT STEM CELL RESEARCH A STUDY ON THE JURIDIFICATION OF NASCENT LIFE Wai Loon Calvin Ho, J.S.D Cornell University 2013 This dissertation presents an ethnographic study of the policy construction of animal chimeras and cytoplasmic hybrids in human pluripotent stem cell research by the Bioethics Advisory Committee (BAC) in Singapore. The principal methodology is in the style of actor-network theory as applied in the field of science and technology studies. A key objective of this research is to understand the relevance of law in the production of epistemic claims on pre-social and social life, and an explication of the mechanisms entailed. This dissertation also proposes a broadening of ‘juridification’ to mean the co-production of such claims by law, along-side other modalities of power, within a power-complex originally proffered by Michel Foucault as governmentality. Law is defined in terms of legal notions, principles, forms and techniques. At one level, this dissertation examines the ways in which the law has been deployed by the BAC in constituting chimeras and hybrids as placeholders or models of ‘Seeing As-If’. At another level, it examines the contribution of law in the scripting of a context or narrative that embeds these placeholders. The narrative or script is encapsulated within institutions and their documents, which are in turn intricately linked by particular relationalities. Contrary to prevailing accounts on legal globalization, this dissertation reports a relationality that is less determinate and more open- ended among jurisdictions that share a policy position. An implement of law found to be ubiquitous in building relationality is comparative tables. Normative positions thereby established contribute not only to reflexivity (through interpretive sense-making for instance), but also instill a sense of solidarity (and division). Relationality is premised on anticipatory knowledge(s) centered around idioms of precaution and risks, which could be understood as legal forms (or analytics) that direct and justify policy decisions and actions. Contrary to arguments of juridification as socially stifling (à la Gunther Teubner) or falling into irrelevance (from a limited reading of Foucault), this dissertation presents law as enabling and central to our experience of modernity. It also supports a less formalistic conception of law, particularly in the work of increasingly commonplace pseudo-juridical entities like the BAC. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Wai Loon Calvin Ho is Assistant Professor at the Centre for Biomedical Ethics of Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore. Besides Cornell University, he read law at National University of Singapore, and University of Cambridge (England). While at Cornell, he also received training in science and technology studies and legal anthropology. In addition, he holds a bachelor’s degree in economic sociology from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a master’s degree from the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London), as well as a diploma in mathematical statistics. He practiced law in London and Singapore, and was Senior Research Associate with the Bioethics Advisory Committee, an expert body appointed by the government of Singapore to provide advice and recommendations on human biomedical research. Calvin’s research interests include environment conservation, access to health, research policy analysis, property and intellectual property rights, informational confidentiality and privacy, and research integrity. He is an avid bird-watcher and has hugged trees. iii For my Family iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am greatly indebted to very many people over the course of this nearly decade-long research. My supervisor, Professor Annelise Riles saw the value of this research before I did. Without her foresight and guidance, this research would not have been possible. I have benefitted immensely from the different knowledge fields that the members of my thesis advisory committee have initiated me to: from Professor Riles, I have acquired an understanding of legal anthropology; I learnt from Professor Mitchell Lasser a whole new meaning to comparative research, as well as different ways of drawing value from it; and Professor Stephen Hilgartner has been my crucial portal to the epistemologically rich and analytically powerful world of science and technology studies. This dissertation represents my initial and continuing effort at engaging in interdisciplinary research. Dean Charles D. Cramton has been a beacon through many administrative hurdles since I was enrolled as a graduate student. I am very grateful for the attention and guidance that he and his staff have provided over the years. My fieldwork in Singapore would not have been possible without the support of the immediate past Chairman of the Bioethics Advisory Committee (BAC), Professor Lim Pin, and my former colleagues at the Secretariat, namely Dr. Sylvia Lim, Professor John Elliott, Ms. Charmaine Chan and Mr. Alvin Chew. I cannot sufficiently express my gratitude for their kindness, encouragement and support. I especially thank Sylvia, for our many conversations and collaborations since the founding of the BAC. The past and present members of the BAC, its working groups and its International Panel of Experts have also been exceptionally generous and kind in sharing their views and experiences. I record my deep thanks to them. I also extend my v gratitude and thanks to all whom I interviewed, for our conversations and documents that they shared with me. Finally, my family has been a constant source of inspiration, encouragement and support. This work is dedicated to you: Mum, Dad, Claudia, Takamitsu, Mika and Hazel. Last but not least, I also extend my deepest thanks to Karel Caals and Marc Certenais for their encouragement and support. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Biographical Sketch ….. iii Dedication ….. iv Acknowledgements ….. v Table of Contents ….. vii List of Diagrams ….. ix List of Illustrations ….. ix List of Tables ….. ix List of Figures ….. ix List of Abbreviations ….. x 1. Govern Stem Cells, Govern Life 1 1.1 Why Study Juridification? ….. 2 1.2 The Honest Broker ….. 10 1.3 Fieldwork and Ethnography ….. 21 1.4 Organizations, Documents and Meetings ….. 33 1.5 Actor-Network Theory ….. 37 1.6 Dissertation Overview ….. 42 2. Chimeras and Hybrids as Regulatory Placeholders 46 2.1 Introduction ….. 47 2.2 Defining Human-Animal Combinations in Singapore ….. 52 2.3 Ethical Evaluation in the HA Consultation Paper ….. 60 2.4 Reaction from the Scientific Community ….. 64 2.5 Between Humans and Animal ….. 71 2.6 Categorization and Classification ….. 81 2.7 Reaction of the Singaporean Public ….. 89 2.8 Contributory Developments in the UK ….. 93 2.9 Report on Human-Animal Combinations ….. 98 2.10 Chimeras and Hybrids as Regulatory Objects ….. 101 2.11 Metaphors that Arrest the Slide Downwards ….. 104 2.12 Scripting Metaphors as Placeholders ….. 107 2.13 Explicating Context ….. 111 3. Global Scripting and Institutional Technology of Documents 115 3.1 Introduction ….. 116 3.2 The National Academy of Sciences ….. 121 3.3 International Society for Stem Cell Research ….. 128 3.4 California Institute for Regenerative Medicine ….. 132 3.5 Academy of Medical Sciences ….. 137 3.6 Danish Council of Ethics ….. 142 3.7 European Union ….. 150 3.8 Synthesizing an Approach ….. 155 3.9 Policy Construction of a Limited Anthropology ….. 159 vii 3.10 The ‘Common Good’ ….. 167 3.11 Global Script(s) on Hybrids and Chimeras ….. 173 3.12 Institutions and their Documents in Global Scripting ….. 178 4. Comparative Law as Technocratic Practice and Self-Knowledge 185 4.1 Introduction ….. 186 4.2 Oocyte Donation – Enabling Comparison at the Level of Norms ….. 189 4.3 Human-Animal Combinations – Extending the Normative Framework ….. 215 4.4 Positional Relationality in Comparative Tables ….. 219 4.5 Open-Endedness in Relational Solidarity ….. 226 4.6 Functionality in Normative Similitude ….. 230 4.7 From Similitude to Universalism ….. 233 4.8 Incommensurability and Solidarity ….. 236 4.9 Relationality in Comparative Tables as Policy Devices ….. 243 4.10 Inner Logic of a Technocratic Knowledge Function ….. 248 4.11 Conclusion ….. 253 5. Precaution and Risk Knowledges in the Giving of Human Eggs for Research 256 5.1 Introduction ….. 257 5.2 Risks Object Identification and Issues Framing ….. 261 5.3 Genealogy of Institutionalized Risk ….. 268 5.4 Public Consultation on Egg Donation ….. 285 5.5 ‘White-Washing’ and an Emergent Civic Epistemology ….. 292 5.6 Anticipatory Knowledge as Civic Epistemology ….. 301 5.7 Report on the Donation of Human Eggs for Research ….. 305 5.8 Overcoming Individualization in Risk Objectification ….. 310 5.9 Risk and Precaution as Common Fund of Knowledges ….. 313 6. Juridification and Regulationism in Governmentality: Re-emergence of the State 322 6.1 The Story So Far ….. 323 6.2 The Innovative State ….. 329 6.3 Re-thinking the Law in Governmentality as Co-Production ….. 338 6.4 ELSIfication as Juridification ….. 343 6.5 On Regulationism ….. 349 6.6 The BAC as a Pseudo-Juridical Entity ….. 355 viii List of Diagrams 1 The Organization Structure of the BAC and its Terms of Reference ….. 6 List of Illustrations 1 Sketch of a Chimera ….. 84 2 Sketch of a Hybrid ….. 85 3 Images of ‘Chimeras’ on newspaper coverage of BAC’s HA Consultation Paper ….. 87 4 Entrance to the National Academy of Sciences in Washington DC ….. 122 5 Main reception of the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine ….. 136 6 Carlton House Terrace as home to the Academy of Medical Sciences ….. 141 7 Ms. Anne Lykkeskov’s Presentation to Austrian Students ….. 147 8 Publicity for Workshop on Chimera Research in Denmark ….