The research field of biobanks and tissue research is highly promising. Many projects around the globe are involved in the collection of human tissue and health data for research purposes. These initiatives are driven by the perspective of decisive breakthroughs in the knowledge of the genetic pathways involved in widespread diseases. However, there are considerable ethical and legal challenges to be considered as well. These challenges encompass the use of body material for research purposes, the misuse of genetic and other health data by third parties, trust in science and medicine,...

The chapters discuss the regulation of assisted reproductive technologies in the Arab states, Israel, and Serbia; the biopolitics of abortion in Poland and Hungary; abortion used as a method of sex selection in Georgia, Armenia and India, and sex selection used to avoid abortion in the Arab states and in Germany.

Other chapters explore local cases in a global biopolitical context: virginity tests conducted in order to humiliate women in Egypt, Tunisia, and Turkey; transnational...