CIT-PART: Report Case Study Sweden

• In the early 1990s xenotransplantation (XTP) was a promising biotechnology, with many countries prepared to take this research to clinical trials. It was also a technology associated with so many problems and risks that the researchers sought financial support to continue their XTP research. This was, in many ways, an international concern, as the researchers tried to collaborate to overcome those problems and risks. But despite this international effort, the situation became a national policy process in many countries where researchers, politicians and stakeholders tried to find a solution and take the next step in XTP research. In this case study, we take a closer look at Sweden and how the national policy process took shape in the 1990s. As we will see in this case study, Swedish XTP researchers and politicians were involved in various international networks, but when it came to initiating a more formal policy process, the discussion became more or less national. Swedish law needed to change so that the country‘s XTP researchers could continue with their research and take it to clinical trials. The policy process was closely linked to the idea that Sweden as a nation could gain an advantage, both for the researchers and for the state. The new biotechnology could benefit the citizens and provide future funding for the welfare society. To achieve this, Swedish researchers needed to be the first to clinically introduce this technology. So this case study is about how a nation tries to gain advantages in an international research arena. It is also a case study of what role the citizens have in the policy process. Biotechnology that is problematic and risky, for various reasons, needs the approval of the general public, because they will be the end users. In this case study, we take a closer look at how researchers and politicians interacted with the citizens in the policy process.

Ämnesord

HUMANIORA  -- Annan humaniora -- Etnologi (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Other Humanities -- Ethnology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Medical Technologies

PTA

Xenotransplantation

Democracy

Publikations- och innehållstyp

rap (ämneskategori)

vet (ämneskategori)