ArticleBMC medical ethics2012
"Snake-oil," "quack medicine," and "industrially cultured organisms:" biovalue and the commercialization of human microbiome research.
Article in BMC medical ethics, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Efficacy of probiotic adjuvant therapy for irritable bowel syndrome in children: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PloS one · 2021Pooled it
- A phase one safety study of Lactobacillus reuteri conducted in the Peruvian Amazon: Observations from the field.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2014Trial
- Awareness of human microbiome may promote healthier lifestyle and more positive environmental attitudes.Communications medicine · 2025Article
- Microbiome ownership for Indigenous peoples.Nature microbiology · 2023Review
- Review
- Interplay of Good Bacteria and Central Nervous System: Cognitive Aspects and Mechanistic Considerations.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2021Review
- Framing the discussion of microorganisms as a facet of social equity in human health.PLoS biology · 2019Article
- Help, hope and hype: ethical considerations of human microbiome research and applications.Protein & cell · 2018Article
- Human Microbiome and Learning Healthcare Systems: Integrating Research and Precision Medicine for Inflammatory Bowel Disease.Omics : a journal of integrative biology · 2018Review
- Fermented Foods as a Dietary Source of Live Organisms.Frontiers in microbiology · 2018Review
- Navigating social and ethical challenges of biobanking for human microbiome research.BMC medical ethics · 2017Article
- The Hoops, Hopes, and Hypes of Human Microbiome Research.The Yale journal of biology and medicine · 2016Review
- The Ethics of Big Data: Current and Foreseeable Issues in Biomedical Contexts.Science and engineering ethics · 2016Review
- Gut Health in the era of the human gut microbiota: from metaphor to biovalue.Medicine, health care, and philosophy · 2014Article
- Risks of nutrigenomics and nutrigenetics? What the scientists say.Genes & nutrition · 2014Article
- Probiotic milk consumption in pregnancy and infancy and subsequent childhood allergic diseases.The Journal of allergy and clinical immunology · 2014Article
- Science and regulation. Probiotics: finding the right regulatory balance.Science (New York, N.Y.) · 2013Article
- Investigators' perspectives on translating human microbiome research into clinical practice.Public health genomics · 2013Article
- Alzheimer's disease and the microbiome.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2013Article
- Public understanding of science and common sense: Social representations of the human microbiome among the expert and non-expert public.Health psychology openArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundContinued advances in human microbiome research and technologies raise a number of ethical, legal, and social challenges. These challenges are associated not only with the conduct of the research, but also with broader implications, such as the production and distribution of commercial products promising maintenance or restoration of good physical health and disease prevention. In this article, we document several ethical, legal, and social challenges associated with the commercialization of human microbiome research, focusing particularly on how this research is mobilized within economic markets for new public health uses.
methodsWe conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews (2009-2010) with 63 scientists, researchers, and National Institutes of Health project leaders ("investigators") involved with human microbiome research. Interviews explored a range of ethical, legal, and social dimensions of human microbiome research, including investigators' perspectives on commercialization. Using thematic content analysis, we identified and analyzed emergent themes and patterns.
resultsInvestigators discussed the commercialization of human microbiome research in terms of (1) commercialization, probiotics, and issues of safety, (2) public awareness of the benefits and risks of dietary supplements, and (3) regulation.
conclusionThe prevailing theme of ethical, legal, social concern focused on the need to find a balance between the marketplace, scientific research, and the public's health. The themes we identified are intended to serve as points for discussions about the relationship between scientific research and the manufacture and distribution of over-the-counter dietary supplements in the United States.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.