Henrietta Lacks Research Paper

Henrietta Lacks was a poor African American that became one of the most vital tools in developing medicines like polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, and much more. She was a loving mother of five, wife, sister, and friend to many that was taken on October 4, 1951 at the age of thirty-one to cervical cancer. Henrietta’s cells were taken without her knowledge to develop the first ever immortal line of cells.

I believe that the Lacks family should without a doubt be compensated for the HeLa cells. There were so many unethical things done to not only Henrietta but here family as well especially with the DNA blood samples that were taken and they deserve the right to be compensated. So many scientist made money off of the cells

The Lacks family has been honored at the Smithsonian Institution and the National Foundation for Cancer Research. The HeLa case has raised questions about the legality of using genetic materials without permission. Neither Lacks nor her family granted permission to harvest her cells, which were then cloned and sold. The Lacks family has had limited success in gaining control of the HeLa strain. In August 2013, an agreement between the family and the National Institutes of Health granted the family acknowledgement in scientific papers and some oversight of the Lacks genome.

Due to the fact that Henrietta’s cells were the first human cells grown in a lab that did not die after a few cell divisions, they could be used for conducting many experiments. Her cells were considered “immortal”. This was a major breakthrough in medical and biological research. One major breakthrough was the development of a vaccine for polio. To test the vaccine the cells were quickly put into mass production in the first-ever cell production factory. Another enormous breakthrough was the successful cloning of human cells in 1955. Demand for the HeLa cells grew quickly. Since they were put into mass production, Henrietta’s cells have been mailed to scientists around the globe from “research into cancer, AIDS, the effects of radiation and toxic substances, gene mapping, and countless other scientific pursuits.” (Smith, 2002, "Wonder Woman: The Life, Death, and Life After Death of Henrietta Lacks, Unwitting Heroine of Modern Medical Science".) HeLa cells have been used to test human sensitivity to tape, glue, cosmetics, and many other products. Scientists have grown some 20 tons of her cells, and there are almost 11,000 patents involving HeLa cells. (Batts, 2010)

so it’s their legacy it still lives on with them through their everyday lives today. They were affected by their mother’s death also because with so much attention being on their mothers that must have drastically changed her children’s lives greatly because they have an immortal mother.” Deborah Lacks was still in diapers, her 30-year-old mother, Henrietta Lacks, lay in a segregated ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. The resident gynecologist sewed radium to her cervix in an attempt to knock out the cancer that was killing her” (Skloot 2). Bobbette Lacks, Henrietta Lacks 's daughter-in-law, says that if researchers had told them about HeLa cells, then informed them of future research, her family would have cooperated. But not now. ' 'I would never subject my kids to that, ' ' Bobbette Lacks said. Deborah(heLas daughter) was desperate to know about her mother 's cells. “We’ve got your wife. She’s alive in a laboratory. We’ve been doing research on her for the last 25 years. And now we have to test your kids to see if they have cancer.” (Skloot

They decided to open a museum after Henrietta Lacks. Courtney Speed says, “This story just go to be told! Praise the Lord, people go to know about Henrietta!” (Skloot, pg. 73). Everyone was ten noticing how many people Henrietta’s cells have helped and how she finally got the recognition that she

Henrietta was an African American woman who grew up in Clover, Virginia and was raised by her grandfather, Tommy Lacks because her mother died after giving birth to her 10th child. Henrietta worked with her cousin in the family’s tobacco farm, went to school until 6th grade, and had her first child with Day Lacks (her cousin) at the age of 14, and they got married when she was 20 years old and he was 25. After giving birth to her 5th child, Deborah, Henrietta goes

"Doctors took her cells without asking. Those cells never died. A quote that sticks with me weeks after reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. In this novel, Rebecca Skloot, the author was in a biology class when she first heard about HeLa cells. Little did she know she was uncovering the unknown history behind HeLa cells. The cells were taken from Henrietta Lacks a wife, mother and tobacco farmer from Virginia. One day in 1951 she checked herself in John Hopkin’s Hospital complaining about a “knot in her womb” and unusual bleeding. After signing a form stating “I hereby give consent to the staff of The Johns Hopkins Hospital to perform any operative procedures and under any anesthetic either local or general that they may deem necessary

When the family expressed concerns about privacy, the scientists removed the sequence from the Internet. Hudson and other NIH leaders then met with the Lacks family. Together, the family and the NIH came to an agreement. Researchers can use the HeLa genome by applying to the NIH for access. A group of scientists and Lacks family members review the applications. From now on, when a scientist publish a research conducted using HeLa cells, it must include a thank you note to the Henrietta Lacks and her family for their everlasting gifts to science (Barone 2). Science has used HeLa cells in many ways. For example, HeLa cells are used to study HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, HeLa cells prove that HPV can cause cervical cancer, there is a vaccine that protects against some strains of the virus now, and HeLa cells are also tested to see how quickly they can absorb nanoparticles, which can suggest new methods for delivering drugs to cancer cells. It’s crazy that Henrietta is technically alive after being dead for 60+ years. Her cancerous cells continue to thrive and multiple till this day, around the world. Her cells have help further the medical field, such as find vaccines and doing further studies for HPV and HIV (Barone 3-4). I’m so happy that Henrietta’s family and Henrietta get the acknowledgement they deserve, but still very disappointed that

As for the family members who shall receive benefits, the children and grandchildren of Henrietta, for example Lawrence, Zakariyya, and Davon, should receive actual monetary and health benefits. As for the descendants after Henrietta’s grandchildren, they should receive at the least free health care. This can be compared to the health insurance families of American soldiers receive, VA Health Care. These families receive these aids because their loved ones have risked their lives for the good of the country. For the families of Henrietta the same principle applies; Henrietta’s cells have saved and continue to save so many lives in this country and others. As for the amount of money to be bestowed, that can be decided once the corporations who shall compensate the Lacks are identified. Often times when medical research and the term compensation come into contact many academics claim it is the end of scientific study. Scientists worry that stringent regulations requiring specific consent for any future uses of bio specimens could hamstring

Henrietta Lacks was born on August 1, 1920 in Roanoke, Virginia. She was an African American farmer with five kids and a husband. One day, Henrietta felt a knot on her cervical area. She went to John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD, were the doctors removed a small sample of tissue from her tumor and treated her with radiation. A scientist, George Gey, used the sample to create the first line of immortal cells. On October 4, 1951, Henrietta passed away from cervical cancer at the age of 31. Her cells on the other hand didn't. Henrietta’s cells, better known today as the HeLa cells, became the first and most important line of human cells ever to survive and multiply indefinitely in the laboratory environment (“Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”). This is where the story began. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

Do you know that Henrietta Lacks's cells were harvested without her permission or knowledge, and her family was never notified? It also got used in negatives ways, such as “people injected all kinds of poisons into the cells and test if they can kill people” and make a lot of money by selling the cells all over the world. This is called illegal and commercial use, also you can think about something that you have will be taken from other people, how do you feel about it? Additionally, Deborah was also disappointed and panic when she mentioned about her mother’s cells got “blew up with nuclear bombs in the space called cloning”. She also believes that there one no clone because there were only one Henrietta Lacks and there are will be only one cell. Even though she knows that her mother

The Lacks family was greatly taken advantage of in the 1950s because of their race, lack of education, and social class. The family believes they should be compensated with a donation given the amount of money Henrietta’s cells were worth. Her cells were sold all over the world for a large sum of money. Additionally, several scientific discoveries were uncovered because of Henrietta’s cells. The new knowledge has no price. However the family is continuing to look for a donation. The Lock’s family should not receive monetary compensation for her donation because it there were laws in place at the time preventing patients from suing hospitals regarding interactions with cells and other things.

The family feared what they believed were "night doctors who abducted black people for medical research"(Skloot). Because there was still discrimination then, they feared the worst. In my opinion the Lacks family was angry with the scientists using HeLa cells from Henrietta without the family's consent. I think they wanted everyone to know that Henrietta didn't donate her cells, they were taken without asking and without telling the family what was going to happen to them.

The medical community did not explain to or inform the Lacks family of the HeLa cells; along the way the scientists altogether forgot that Henrietta and her family were not abstractions but actual people. The family felt that this was unethical; they felt their mother was robbed and taken advantage of. Despite the spread of HeLa cells and the whirlwind of new research that followed, there were no recent news or stories about “the birth of the amazing HeLa cell line” (Skloot 58). In the beginning, when Gey had kept the origin of the cells- or Henrietta - a secret, no one knew where the cells had came from and no one cared to ask.