People’s Science: Bodies and Rights on the Stem Cell Frontier

The historic stem cell research being conducted by the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) privileges “innovation over equity,” argues Boston University sociologist Benjamin in this impassioned bioethical treatise. Overall, she’s supportive of the science, but the politics worry her. Benjamin begins by pointing out the irony of the situation: California voters approved the massive $3 billion research initiative in 2004 while simultaneously rejecting a proposal to extend healthcare to the underprivileged, all while their state suffered under a crippling deficit. But it’s the first rub that bothers the author the most—since the funds are public, Benjamin argues that whatever drugs result from CIRM research should be made accessible to all, not just those rich enough to afford it. She further lambasts the organization for unfairly distributing grants and for a failure to make its operations transparent (it should be noted that following her criticisms of CIRM’s 2008 rejection of a grant seeker who “primarily [serves] sickle cell patients,” Benjamin fails to acknowledge that it has since granted $9.2 million for research in the field and added a sickle cell expert to the board). Ultimately, she wraps up her beef in an eloquent and powerful rhetorical question: “If our bodies can regenerate, why do we perceive our body politic as so utterly fixed?” (June)