Taken Without Consent
HeLa Cells: Taken Without Consent and Used for Profit
HeLa cells have been around for 65 years. Most people have never heard of HeLa cells. Medical researchers, scientist and biologist know all about them. HeLa cells are a group of cells or “line” taken from a patient and used for scientific research. These groups or lines are usually named after the donor. The cells get their name from the first two letters of the first and last name of the donor. In this case, the donor was a poor black woman named Henrietta Lack (Freeman).
Henrietta Lacks was 31 years old when she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. After her diagnosis in 1951, Henrietta received radiation treatment for her cancer at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore Maryland. It was at this time when a physician sliced off small pieces of tissue from her cervical cancer. This was done without her knowledge and without her consent. Henrietta had a very aggressive form of cancer. Henrietta succumbed to her …show more content…
The National Institute of Health had done a study and was going to make it public. When the Lacks became aware, the European scientist took their study down and the NIH decided not to publish it. The National Institute of Health never notified the Lacks about this research. Now an agreement has been made that two of Henrietta’s family members will seat on a board to help determine who will get access to the HeLa genome blueprint (Johns Hopkins University) (PH.D.) (Zimmer). And yet in light of all this, the Lacks family will still not receive any money from any profits that the HeLa genome research may produce (Zimmer). Justice is not being served here. You can’t take a patient’s cells without their consent and turn a profit. The next time you go in for tests, blood work or a biopsy, you better ask yourself what they are really doing with your samples. Someone may make a profit off of you and you may never know about
HeLa cells have been around for 65 years. Most people have never heard of HeLa cells. Medical researchers, scientist and biologist know all about them. HeLa cells are a group of cells or “line” taken from a patient and used for scientific research. These groups or lines are usually named after the donor. The cells get their name from the first two letters of the first and last name of the donor. In this case, the donor was a poor black woman named Henrietta Lack (Freeman).
Henrietta Lacks was 31 years old when she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. After her diagnosis in 1951, Henrietta received radiation treatment for her cancer at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore Maryland. It was at this time when a physician sliced off small pieces of tissue from her cervical cancer. This was done without her knowledge and without her consent. Henrietta had a very aggressive form of cancer. Henrietta succumbed to her …show more content…
The National Institute of Health had done a study and was going to make it public. When the Lacks became aware, the European scientist took their study down and the NIH decided not to publish it. The National Institute of Health never notified the Lacks about this research. Now an agreement has been made that two of Henrietta’s family members will seat on a board to help determine who will get access to the HeLa genome blueprint (Johns Hopkins University) (PH.D.) (Zimmer). And yet in light of all this, the Lacks family will still not receive any money from any profits that the HeLa genome research may produce (Zimmer). Justice is not being served here. You can’t take a patient’s cells without their consent and turn a profit. The next time you go in for tests, blood work or a biopsy, you better ask yourself what they are really doing with your samples. Someone may make a profit off of you and you may never know about