The Effects of Socio-Cultural Context on Human Bio-Markets.

University Of Alabama Tuscaloosa, Tuscaloosa AL

Investigators

Abstract

The research supported by this award will investigate the effects of socio-cultural context on the governance of human bio-material donation and sale. Over the past few decades, medical science has increased the potential uses of human bio-materials. However, as innovation has increased, so have questions about costs, outcomes, and ethics. In response, a variety of different regulatory policies have been adopted globally. This variation across countries provides an excellent opportunity for comparative research to see to what degree policy differences produce different outcomes for donors, recipients, and other stakeholders. In this project, researchers will focus on one area of bio-material donation -- compensated donation of human eggs -- in two different cultural contexts. Results from this research will benefit policy makers, medical professionals, and patient and provider advocates. The project also provides research training opportunities for graduate students. The research will be carried out by Dr. Diane Tober, a medical anthropologist from the University of California, San Francisco, in collaboration with researchers from the Spanish University of Distance Education and from Complutense University, both in Madrid, Spain. These research sites were chosen because the United States and Spain are the two primary locations for donor egg fertility treatment, but their bio-material markets operate within dramatically different cultural and regulatory environments. The U.S. has comparatively few regulations limiting donor selection, compensation, and identification, while Spain is highly regulated, limits donor compensation, and requires donor anonymity. The researchers will collect data through ethnographic observation in two or more clinics in each country; interviews with medical professionals in the fertility industry and other key informants; and interviews and surveys of women in each country who provide eggs for pay, including both experienced and first-time donors. The quantitative data will be analyzed with standard statistical methods; the qualitative ethnographic data will be examined using computer-assisted qualitative data analytical techniques and through narrative analysis. Results, presented in professional publications and at conferences, will help social scientists understand how underlying cultural logics inform the crafting and regulation of medical markets and the commodification of human bio-materials. Results will also be made available through policy briefs and public fora to assist policy makers who need to understand how regulatory differences affect outcomes, as well as patients and donors who participate in bio-material markets. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.