From (public?) waste to (private?) value. The regulation of private cord blood banking in Spain

Abstract

The transformation of umbilical cord blood from a waste by-product to a valuable source of stem cells employed in haematological therapies has given rise to a globalised commercial sector in cord blood banking, a sector based essentially on promises of future therapies. Regulatory frameworks for these private services vary worldwide. This paper looks at the recent regulation of cord blood banking in Spain,taking this example as representative of some of the dilemmas currently faced by national regulatory agencies over biotechnological innovations. The Spanish case shows how, paradoxically, an attempt at producing a nationally comprehensive and rigorous regulatory order has led to the development of unregulated trans-national markets. This disjuncture problematises the traditional identification in transplantation practices between the nation-state, the social body and the solidarity of a national population. The paper ends by suggesting an interpretation of the cord blood case as part of recent mutations in biopolitics.