Stem cell research has sparked controversy and heated debate since
the first human stem cell line was derived in 1998. Too frequently
these debates devolve to simple judgments--good or bad, life-saving
medicine or bioethical nightmare, symbol of human ingenuity or our
fall from grace--ignoring the people affected. With this book, Ruha
Benjamin moves the terms of debate to focus on the shifting
relationship between science and society, on the people who
benefit--or don't--from regenerative medicine and what this says
about our democratic commitments to an equitable society.
People's Science
uncovers the tension between scientific innovation and social
equality, taking the reader inside California's 2004 stem cell
initiative, the first of many state referenda on scientific research,
to consider the lives it has affected. Benjamin reveals the promise
and peril of public participation in science, illuminating issues of
race, disability, gender, and socio-economic class that serve to
define certain groups as more or less deserving in their political
aims and biomedical hopes. Under the shadow of the free market and in
a nation still at odds with universal healthcare, the socially
marginalized are often eagerly embraced as test-subjects, yet often
are unable to afford new medicines and treatment regimes as patients.
Ultimately, Ruha
Benjamin argues that without more deliberate consideration about how
scientific initiatives can and should reflect a wider array of social
concerns, stem cell research-- from African Americans' struggle with
sickle cell treatment to the recruitment of women as tissue
donors--still risks excluding many. Even as regenerative medicine is
described as a participatory science for the people, Benjamin asks us
to consider if "the people" ultimately reflects our
democratic ideals.