title: Cancer as rubbish: donation of tumor tissue for research.
abstract: Tissue banking (or biobanking), thought by many to be an essential form of medical research, has raised a number of ethical issues that highlight a need to understand the beliefs and values of tissue donors, including the motivations underlying consent or refusal to donate. Data from our qualitative study of the legal, social, and ethical issues surrounding tumor banking in New South Wales, Australia, show that participants' attitudes to donation of tumor tissue for research are partially captured by theories of weak altruism and social exchange. However, we argue that the psychological rewards of value transformation described by Thompson's rubbish theory provide additional insights into participants' attitudes to tumor donation. We believe our data provides sufficient justification for an approach to regulation of tumor banking that is aimed at fostering a relationship based on the notions of virtuous reassignment and social exchange.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Values, Ethics and the Law in Medicine, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. bronwenmorrell@gmail.com
authors.forename: Bronwen
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Morrell
authors.forename: Wendy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lipworth
authors.forename: Renata
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Axler
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kerridge
authors.forename: Miles
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Little
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000533:Altruism; D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000941:ethics* / Q000592:standards; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D009517:New South Wales; D014015:Tissue Banks / Q000941:ethics*; D014019:Tissue Donors / Q000941:ethics / Q000523:psychology*