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The Pros And Cons Of Hela Cells

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Ever since a sample of Henrietta Lacks’ tissue was taken from her, without permission, the world of medicine has evolved, and multiple discoveries have been made. From the polio vaccine to figuring out how many chromosomes each human holds, HeLa cells have had some involvement. But all of this research came from a result of a violation to the medical code of ethics. The question of whether or not all research and findings that were a result of a violation of the medical code of ethics should be destroyed, has become very difficult to answer as we make more and more advances in the medical field. Personally, I believe that the way Henrietta’s cells were collected was a violation, however destroying all of the findings from it would be more detrimental to society than beneficial. The field of medicine has come this far and to take it all back could be everyone at risk. However, I don’t believe a violation to the medical code of ethics should be okay. Any research from the present, or in other words, any research that has not changed modern medicine enormously, like HeLa, should be destroyed.
Almost every single person on the face of the earth has been affected by HeLa cells in some way. For …show more content…

Originally, on Tuskegee University, monkey cells were being used to measure the quantity of antibody developed in response to the poliovirus infection. However, since there were not large enough quantities of the cells, another host cell was needed, which ended up being HeLa. With the immortality of HeLa cells and its ability to be easily infected by the poliovirus, it was an amazing alternative source, from there the poliovirus vaccine was created. Before this vaccine, right around 1953, there were close to 60,000 polio cases in the United States. Destroying the results of the polio vaccination could put society in distress, and maybe even beat the amount of polio cases from

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