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"Here comes Bio-me": An analysis of a biobank campaign targeted at children
Karoliina Snell1, Heta Tarkkala1
1University of Helsinki, Finland.
Insights
Finnish biobank recruitment campaigns for children use a "Bio-me" concept, potentially misleading young participants about data-driven biomedicine and biobank participation. The simplification overlooks crucial data connections and scientific realities.
Area of Science:
- Bioethics
- Science Communication
- Pediatric Biobanking
Background:
- Finnish biobanks are recruiting children, necessitating age-appropriate public information.
- A national supervising authority stresses the importance of clear communication for child participation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze a specific Finnish biobank recruitment campaign targeting children.
- To evaluate the communication strategies and their potential impact on public understanding.
Main Methods:
- Content analysis of a biobank recruitment campaign.
- Critical examination of the "Bio-me" concept and its scientific accuracy.
- Assessment of the campaign's simplification of complex biobanking processes.
Main Results:
- The
- Bio-me
- concept simplifies biobanking, presenting a reductionist view of data-driven biomedicine.
- The campaign emphasizes biological material while neglecting essential data linkages.
- Absence of explicit mention of genes and DNA, despite double helix imagery, creates potential for misunderstanding.
Conclusions:
- The analyzed campaign may foster public misunderstanding of science due to its oversimplified and metaphor-driven approach.
- The
- Bio-me
- concept lacks clear connection to actual biological practices.
- Improved communication strategies are needed to accurately represent biobanking and data-driven research to children.
Abstract:
Finnish biobanks have started to recruit children. The national supervising authority has emphasized the centrality of providing children with age-appropriate information. We analyzed one such campaign. We argue that by simplifying the complex socio-technical arrangements of biobanking with the introduction of a new metaphor-like concept, "Bio-me," the campaign presents a misleading and reductionist picture of data-driven biomedicine and biobank participation. First, the Bio-me character seems to bear similarities to the seventeenth-century explanations of embryological development. Second, the focus in the campaign is on biological material while crucial connections to different sorts of data are ignored. Third, we point to the absence of verbal references to genes and DNA, although the prevailing visualization comprises the double helix. We argue that the campaign has potential to contribute to public misunderstanding of science by introducing a new term that has little connection to actual biology or scientific practices it tries to promote.
