TY - JOUR
T1 - Biotech pilgrims and the transnational quest for stem cell cures
AU - Song, Priscilla
N1 - Funding Information:
Tim’s quest for regenerative medicine promised the possibility of bodily transformation for himself and others suffering from paralysis. As his experience suggests, the concept of pilgrimage imparted a transcendental significance to these medical journeys that many used to justify the costs—both financial and moral—of undergoing the controversial procedure in Beijing. While Huang’s Chinese patients paid 30,000 yuan (approximately US $3600 at the time of Tim’s surgery in 2003) for the basic fetal cell transplant, the neurosurgeon charged his foreign patients US $20,000 for the experimental procedure and month-long stay in the hospital’s VIP ward.9 How did patients and their caregivers justify spending tens of thousands of dollars on a potentially risky therapy? For some, cost posed no barrier to treatment: Huang’s wealthiest patients, including a member of the Kuwaiti royal family suffering from ALS and the paralyzed heir of a canned goods magnate from Mexico, arrived in Beijing on chartered jets. Many generated support from their communities, including a terminally ill firefighter from Colorado whose colleagues auctioned off a Harley Davidson motorcycle to help pay for his treatment and a Louisiana schoolteacher who organized fundraisers for her spinal-injured son. Still others cashed out their life savings, refinancing their homes or tapping their retirement funds to finance their medical quests. Gary, an electrician from Wisconsin who had become paralyzed from the waist down after an abdominal aortic aneurysm, compared the expense of the fetal cell transplant with the price tag of a new car: ‘‘It costs no more than a new set of wheels, and everyone needs a new set of wheels once in a while.’’ Some ‘‘biotech pilgrims’’ grappled not only with financial concerns but also ethical questions about the Chinese therapy. A couple I met from Kentucky actively drew on their faith as Southern Baptists to reconcile their church’s stance against abortion with their choice to pursue a procedure that utilized cells from aborted fetuses. Describing their trip to China as part of ‘‘God’s plan for us,’’ Roberta, whose husband Sam suffered from ALS, recounted how their pastor had come across a story in the Baptist Record about a paper mill worker in Alabama who had undergone the experimental treatment in China. With the spiritual and financial support of their congregation back home—including daily prayers and $30,000 in donations—Sam and Roberta traveled to the Chinese clinic in an effort to halt the rapid deterioration of his motor neurons. By the time he arrived in Beijing, Sam had already lost control of his lower facial muscles and even his wife had difficulty understanding his garbled speech. Caressing the corner of an embroidered prayer cloth, Roberta explained their decision to undergo the fetal cell transplantation surgery as a way of redeeming the immoral practice of abortion in China: ‘‘It’s like making lemonade out of lemons. We feel like this is a way God has of taking something bad and making something good out of it.’’ Roberta resolved their uneasiness about benefiting from abortion by placing the exchange firmly within a Christian narrative of sacrifice. Her husband’s use of the cells ensured that the death of the fetus was not in vain, effectively transforming an otherwise unholy act into a meaningful sacrifice.
PY - 2010/10
Y1 - 2010/10
N2 - Thousands of patients with incurable neurodegenerative conditions from more than 60 countries have sought fetal cell transplants in China since 2001. Drawing on 24 months of ethnographic fieldwork, I investigate these transnational encounters occurring in the realm of experimental medicine. Critiquing popular notions of "medical tourism," I develop the alternative concept of "biotech pilgrimage" to reveal how faith intertwines with technology, travel, and the political economies of health care and medical research in a global era. Insights from pilgrimage theory enable us to question assumptions of leisure embedded in claims of tourism while also exploring new biopolitical practices that extend beyond the borders of the nation-state. I also demonstrate how materialist visions of salvation underlie medical practice and contribute to China's rising influence as a global technological leader.
AB - Thousands of patients with incurable neurodegenerative conditions from more than 60 countries have sought fetal cell transplants in China since 2001. Drawing on 24 months of ethnographic fieldwork, I investigate these transnational encounters occurring in the realm of experimental medicine. Critiquing popular notions of "medical tourism," I develop the alternative concept of "biotech pilgrimage" to reveal how faith intertwines with technology, travel, and the political economies of health care and medical research in a global era. Insights from pilgrimage theory enable us to question assumptions of leisure embedded in claims of tourism while also exploring new biopolitical practices that extend beyond the borders of the nation-state. I also demonstrate how materialist visions of salvation underlie medical practice and contribute to China's rising influence as a global technological leader.
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U2 - 10.1080/01459740.2010.501317
DO - 10.1080/01459740.2010.501317
M3 - Article
C2 - 21082484
AN - SCOPUS:78549257145
SN - 0145-9740
VL - 29
SP - 384
EP - 402
JO - Medical Anthropology: Cross Cultural Studies in Health and Illness
JF - Medical Anthropology: Cross Cultural Studies in Health and Illness
IS - 4
ER -