Coordinating ethics through care: Reagent red blood cells in blood services

This article examines how ethics is enacted in the everyday practices surrounding reagent red blood cells at a Finnish blood establishment. Reagents are human-derived cells used in blood typing and compatibility testing, occupying an ambiguous position between standardised laboratory tools and relational biological artefacts. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, I analyse how ethics emerges through the donation, handling, storage, and use of these specialised bio-objects. Focusing on donor recruitment, storage and preservation and the increasing use of commercial reagents, I show how reagents mediate ethics between donors, laboratory staff, patients and regulatory frameworks. Across these sites, multiple ethics relating to safety, consent, efficiency, and population-specific care are coordinated in practice. I argue that care operates as a key coordinating practice, demonstrating how ethical legitimacy in blood systems is sustained through everyday material and relational work.