Henrietta Lacks Ethics

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There are many issues raised by the research done using HeLa cells, including but not limited to: Who owns Henrietta’s cells? , Do researchers need consent to take and use cells from a person? , Does it matter if the cells are cancerous? However, there are many things at stake, such as the moral and ethical issues raised by the research done on Henrietta’s cells; including but not limited to the fact that Henrietta’s consent wasn’t given before her cells were harvested and used for the research the led to the discovery of HIV and HPV. HPV is one of the viruses that is supposedly linked with cervical cancer.
The authors of the articles we read in class were both looking to give students a better understanding of the controversies regarding the research conducted using HeLa cells. Henrietta Lacks was a 30-year-old, African American, mother of 5 from Baltimore, Maryland who presented
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The study of Henrietta’s cells led to controversy because she didn’t give the doctors her consent to harvest her cells and use them for medical research. The study of the family members’ blood led to controversy because the genome was released to the public without the consent of her children. Consequently the family didn’t respond well when they figured out that Henrietta’s cells were used for research without her consent. One of her daughters, Deborah has stated that after being able to understand that her mother helped identify two infectious diseases that have the potential end your life HPV and HIV, she wasn’t as disappointed as she previously had been about the research done on her mother’s cells. However news that the family wasn’t as easy to accept because the family didn’t give any formal consent about their blood, potentially being used for medical research, or approval of any kind involving the potential release of the family genome to the American