Regulatory Vigilantes and the Dramatization of Risk: Fluoroquinolone Toxicity on YouTube

• In Event: 3221 - DIY Medicine: Hacking Health, Opting Out, Self-Medicating, and Consumer Resistance

Abstract

Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are a leading cause of death and disability in the United States. Sociologists have documented how the pharmaceutical industry’s power and influence have corrupted techno-scientific practices devoted to detecting and preventing ADRs (i.e., pharmacovigilance). In this paper we juxtapose the official post-marketing system of pharmacovigilance with first-hand accounts of the lived experienced of ADRs through an analysis of 50 YouTube vlogs created by individuals who report debilitating adverse reactions to fluoroquinolones, a common class of antibiotics. Whereas existing techno-scientific processes used to detect and communicate drugs risks have been described as contributing to the banalization of risk, vlogs represent what we call the dramatization of risks. Our interest is in these vlogs as a form of regulatory vigilantism or pharmacovigilantism. Among other things, we approach vlogs with the following question: What might it mean to allow these voices, faces, eyes and tears of side effects to contribute to regulatory justice?

Authors

• Kristin Kay Barker, University of New Mexico

• Natalie Fullenkamp, University of New Mexico