Introduction

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Notes

1. At the time of writing (December 2005) Wyeth Pharmaceuticals are in the process of applying for approval from Health Canada for an oral contraceptive pill called Anya (Lianne George 2005). Anya would be taken continually, 365 days per year (hence the name), with no break for menstruation. This could be seen to challenge market research carried out by Barr Laboratories, which suggested that women would be most likely to take up a contraceptive method that gave them four periods per year rather than thirteen or zero.

1. For an elaboration of the ideas found in this essay, see Cynthia Chris (2006).

1. Internal investigations at Seoul National University found that both the research results reported in May 2005—the production of patient matched stem cells, and the results reported in February 2004—the extraction of stem cells from cloned human embryos—were faked (BBC Online News 2006). In January 2004, Panos Zavos's claims to have implanted a cloned embryo in the womb of an infertile woman were extensively reported in the UK and US press and television. See Haran (forthcoming) for detailed analysis.

2. The Guardian (Ian Sample & Donald MacLeod 2005) reported that Wilmut's proposal “to seek permission from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to ask women to donate eggs for cloning experiments” poses ethical dilemmas including the potential introduction of morally objectionable financial incentives and health risks to women donating eggs.

3. A number of feminists have consistently produced important work in this field over decades, including Sarah Franklin, Donna Haraway, Valerie Hartouni, and Charis Thompson. We simply advocate that this valuable resource be drawn upon more extensively in feminist media studies.

4. The support of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is gratefully acknowledged. This work forms part of the programme of the ESRC Research Centre for Economic and Social Aspects of Genomics. The flagship project, “Media, Culture and Genomics” maps the circulation of media representations of genomics, the stakes in producing them, and the associated public understandings of genomics and its implications. We are also indebted to the contributions of Professors Jenny Kitzinger and Maureen McNeil.

1. This essay draws on Michel Foucault. See for example Hubert L. Dreyfus and Paul Rabinow (1982).

2. For an excellent review of this notion in the work of Hannah Arendt, see George Kateb (2002).