The Raw and the Ready-Made: Discourses of Purity around Human Chorionic Gonadotropin

• In Event: Hormones on the Move: Transnational Entanglements in the Everyday - II

Abstract

Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is a hormone that is secreted by the placenta during pregnancy. In its pharmaceutical form, it is widely used in reproductive medicine. In this paper, I trace the transnational commodity chain of urinary hCG between the 1960s and 1990s. Based on oral history, archival material, grey literature and newspaper reports, I illustrate how the hormone has moved across space in different shapes: extracted from urine of pregnant women in India, exported to Europe in a raw form, and finalized to be sold as ready-made consumer products all over the world.

At a time when India’s political economy was characterized by protectionism and policies of self-sufficiency, the commodity chain of hCG resembled colonial trade routes. I argue that it was discourses of purity that made these unequal relations possible. Poor health conditions of donors, pollution, and the addition of fake material were cited as factors compromising the quality of the raw material. Thus, rather than moving smoothly across the globe, hormones often travel through and entangle spaces in uneven ways.

Author

• Sandra Bärnreuther, University of Zurich