Racial Prescriptions: Pharmaceuticals, Difference, and the Politics of Life

148 Pages·2014·0.8 MB·English

by  Jonathan Xavier Inda

Racial PRescRiPtions
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Racial Prescriptions
Pharmaceuticals, Difference, and the
Politics of Life
Jonathan XavieR inda
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA
© Jonathan Xavier inda 2014
all rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
Jonathan Xavier inda has asserted his right under the copyright, designs and Patents
Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.
Published by
ashgate Publishing limited ashgate Publishing company
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Union Road suite 3-1
Farnham Burlington, vt 05401-3818
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
inda, Jonathan Xavier.
Racial prescriptions : pharmaceuticals, difference, and the politics of life / by
Jonathan Xavier inda.
pages cm
includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4094-4498-5 (hardback) -- ISBN 978-1-4094-4499-2 (ebook) -- ISBN
978-1-4724-0107-6 (epub) 1. Discrimination in medical care. 2. Health services
accessibility. 3. Minorities--Medical care. 4. social medicine. i. title.
Ra563.M56i53 2014
362.1089--dc23
2014012543
ISBN 9781409444985 (hbk)
ISBN 9781409444992 (ebk – PDF)
ISBN 9781472401076 (ebk – ePUB)
II
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
1 Racial Politics of Life 1
2 The Making of BiDil 23
3 Biosocial Citizenship 39
4 Enlightened Geneticization of Race 57
5 Racial Vital Value 75
6 Neoliberalization of Life 93
Bibliography 111
Index 133
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Acknowledgments
This book could not have been completed without the aid, support, and
feedback of numerous friends and colleagues. Special thanks go to Monica
Casper, Laura Cremonesi, Paisley Currah, Orazio Irrera, Daniele Lorenzini,
Rebecca Martinez, Anne Pollock, Amit Prasad, Srirupa Prasad, Martina
Tazzioli, and the anonymous reviewers at Ashgate. They all provided incisive
critiques and commentary that greatly enhanced the book.
I also thank audiences at the various institutions and conferences where
I presented portions of the book: the Department of Women’s and Gender
Studies at the University of Missouri; the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive
Theory’s “Bios: Life, Death, Politics” Conference at the University of Illinois,
Urbana-Champaign; the American Sociological Association’s 2010 Annual
Meeting; and the BIOS Centre’s “Vital Politics III” Conference at the London
School of Economics.
Many thanks go to the faculty and staff of the Department of Latina/
Latino Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign—Adrian
Burgos, Lisa Cacho, Jorge Chapa, Laura Castañeda, David Coyoca, Edna
Viruell-Fuentes, Mireya Loza, Alejandro Lugo, Isabel Molina, Alicia P.
Rodriguez, Richard T. Rodriguez, Rolando Romero, Gilberto Rosas, and
Sandra Ruiz—for providing a supportive and invigorating environment in
which to carry out my work.
I must express my gratitude to Neil Jordan at Ashgate for his enthusiastic
support of the project, to Stephanie Ceman at the University of Illinois for
teaching me about medical genetics, and to Alice Morrow Rowan for her
wonderful editing work.
For financial assistance, I am grateful to the College of Liberal Arts and
Sciences at the University of Illinois. A Faculty Study in a Second Discipline
award gave me time off from teaching to study genetics. I must also thank
the Illinois Campus Research Board; through their Humanities Released Time
program I was given a semester off to work on the book.
Finally, I wish to thank my wife, Julie, and my daughter, Sofia, for their
love and support. Words can barely begin to express how much they mean to
me and how much joy they bring to my life. This book is dedicated to them.
Parts of this book draw on previously published work. Chapter 1 appeared
in modified form as “For blacks only: farmaci, genetica e politica razziale
rAciAl prescriptions
della vita,” Materiali Foucaultiani, 1[2] (2012), 107–35. A much different version
of Chapter 3 was published as “Materializing hope: racial pharmaceuticals,
suffering bodies, and biological citizenship,” in Corpus: An Interdisciplinary Reader
on Bodies and Knowledge, edited by M. Casper and P. Currah (New York: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2011), 61–80. Finally, Chapter 6 is informed by the theorization of
post-social government in Targeting Immigrants: Government, Technology, and Ethics
(Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2006).
viii
Chapter 1
Racial Politics of Life
On June 16, 2005, the Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs Advisory Committee
of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) held a daylong meeting to
discuss a new drug application for BiDil (US FDA 2005a). The drug was being
considered for approval to treat African Americans suffering from congestive
heart failure, a condition in which the heart is unable to pump sufficient blood
to the body’s other organs. In addition to the committee members, gathered
together were FDA consultants, representatives of NitroMed (the maker of
BiDil), and a number of other guests, from medical scientists and academics
to heart failure sufferers and spokespeople for various African American and
minority civil rights, professional, and political organizations.
Following a series of speakers from NitroMed, most of whom addressed
the scientific evidence pointing to BiDil’s efficacy, the committee opened the
floor for comments from the public. One individual who spoke was Debra Lee,
a 48-year-old African American woman with heart failure. She was there to tell
her story. “In 1999,” she stated, “I had a heart attack. There was blockage in
my heart. A stent was inserted. In early 2003 I noticed a change in my health—
coughing continuously; being visibly short of breath; walking short distances
tired me out; waking up in the middle of the night; sleeping in a chair because I
felt as if I would suffocate if I laid down” (Lee 2005: 218). Doctors tested Lee
for various conditions, and in August 2003 she was diagnosed with congestive
heart failure.
Later that year, Lee was offered a chance to participate in the African
American Heart Failure Trial (A-HeFT), a clinical trial cosponsored by
NitroMed and the Association of Black Cardiologists (ABC) to test BiDil in
self-identified black patients. She quickly said yes. How was Lee feeling at the
time of her testimony? “I feel fabulous,” she narrated. “No more shortness of
breath; I am able to walk and exercise without resting; I can sleep in my bed
at night; I am working more hours at the Indianapolis Museum of Art; I have
more energy” (2005: 219). And to what did she attribute this turnaround? “It is
my strong faith in God,” Lee said, “and a little pill called BiDil. I believe this pill
is helping my heart to pump stronger. ... In my opinion, this pill has changed so
many things for me, given me a new lease on life. ... I believe I have another 40
years or so to live my life to its fullest” (2005: 219–20).
The story that Debra Lee narrated is at once about a suffering body and
about a body of hope. It is about the pain that comes with a debilitating,