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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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Henrietta Lacks John Moore was a leukemia patient that died at the age of 56 years old. He had his spleen removed because with the infection the doctor was worried that it was going to explode. Once his spleen was removed the tissue was then used in research by Dr. David Golde a researcher for UCLA (John Moors, 56; Sued to Share Profits from His Cells). John was never told about the research being done on his tissues, he was just asked by Dr. Golde to return to the UCLA medical center for follow up checkups, where doctors would take blood every time and still never mentioned anything about research to John.

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Henrietta Lacks, an African American tobacco farmer from southern Virginia, was diagnosed with cervical cancer at 30 years old. During her treatment at John Hopkins Hospital, one of the doctors took a piece of her tumor without her knowledge or consent and sent it to scientists who had been unsuccessfully attempting to grow tissues in culture for decades. There is no explanation as to why, but her cells never died. To this day they are still alive and have been used throughout the years to great advantages in curing diseases. Henrietta’s cells have played a part in some of the world’s most important medical advances such as the development of the polio vaccine, cloning, vitro fertilization, gene mapping, and they even went up in the first space

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All this of this testing on HeLa cells has led to thousands of new pieces of knowledge advancing scientific technology. The amount of HeLa cells that have been produced is so substantial that researchers estimate that if the cells were to be laid down all end-to-end, the cells would wrap around the planet at least three times. HeLa cells made it possible to expose the cells to conditions that wouldn't have been ethical if they were inside a human body. However it is quite strange that exposing cells inside a human body would be unethical, still there was no question of ethics when cells were taken and used from a dead body without the permission of the individual. At the time, the general standpoint of medical science is that cells are taken from an individual and used for research benefit the common good, therefore it is okay to use them.

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On October 4, 1951, at 12:51 a.m. Henrietta Lacks died. Shortly after Henrietta’s death, the construction of what would be called the HeLa factory began. It’s sole purpose, to end polio. In February of 1952, Jonas Salk announced that he had developed the world’s first polio vaccine, but couldn’t administer it until further testing.

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Polio vaccine, in vitro fertilization, cloning, cancer improvement, gene mapping, HPV and HIV vaccines are only few of the abundant discoveries, saved lives, and scientific advancements, and ethical improvements owed to Henrietta Lacks, aka. “the modern mother of medicine" and her immortal cells. Henrietta lacks a African American woman, born in 1920 in Roanoke, Virginia, by the age of 20 was married with two children and they later mover to for work where Henrietta and her husband had three more children. In 1951 Henrietta began to experience excruciating pain and abnormal bleeding in her uterus later confirmed as cervical cancer at John Hopkins. During her consented autopsy the doctors operating on Henrietta took a piece of her biopsy thus

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One of the most compelling aspects of this book is its exploration of the relationship between science and ethics. Henrietta cells, known as HeLa cells, have been used in countless medical experiments and have

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This allowed for more experiments to be done which lead to the development of the polio vaccine. As stated by Neil Bhavsar, “the vaccine developed… was only possible because HeLa cells were able to survive in Vitro. The HeLa cells were easy to infect and study, and therefore provided the perfect subject” (Bhavsar). The vaccine itself was developed by a scientists of the name of Jonas Salk. The ability for the cells to be easily infected allowed for the continued development of the polio vaccine.

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Is it right for one's life to be manipulated for the use of scientific research or is it just a evasion on the person's privacy. Henrietta Lacks was a African American with cells that intrigued many people, she was diagnosed with cancer leaving her to be cared for at her local hospital, where she would later die due to the extremity of the illness. While at the hospital she was unaware that the doctors there were experimenting on her taking cell samples from her body, to help find a resolution to multiple diseases. The people who examined Henrietta manipulated her and the rest of her family to gain information on her cellular structure to be ahead of others looking to achieve the same objective. Henrietta Lacks cells should have never been evaluated because it's an evasion of her freedom, a danger to her personal health, and cause conflicts.

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In August of 2013, Talha Khan Burki wrote “Righting a Long-standing Wrong for Henrietta Lacks” for Lancet Oncology. Burki’s purpose was to highlight the problem with the sequence data of patients’ cells (namely, Henrietta Lacks) being publicly released and to inform people of the privacy risks involved. Burki did a very good job at explaining what the issue was, what had been done about it and what needed to happen. Generally, readers struggle and become overwhelmed when they see a large sum of information all at one time. However, while this article provides the reader with several facts, it makes the reader think and Burki did a very well at writing in a manner that prior knowledge of certain terms or concepts are not critical to comprehending.

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The final violation of ethical principles, in the story of Henrietta Lacks, was the violation of justice. Without the contribution of Henrietta’s cells, many discoveries and vaccines, such as the vaccine that conquered Polio, would not have made their pivotal breakthroughs in biomedical research. Her direct and unknowingly, supportive contribution helped save many people’s lives all over the world. Unfortunately, her named did not receive the recognition it deserved, and her family never received any compensation for profits made from direct use of her

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Jasmine Poole The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot is about a women who has cervical cancer that went to the doctor to get better. But instead of just getting better, the doctors took a sample of the cancer cells. The doctor used her cells to help other people with the same cancer get better. In this case, Henrietta and her family didn’t know that her cells were being sold all around the world to reporters/doctors.

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