A story is told of Henrietta Lacks, a poor, young American woman who learned that she had terminal cancer in the early 1950s; a narration usually portrayed as exploitation. Cells collected from her cancer biopsy were later cultured without her permission or knowledge to create a cell line known as HeLa. In the decades that followed, a study using these cells led to several medical advances. Although the interventions saved lives and made many people rich, the family of Ms. Lack never benefited. One of the lessons which comes out of this story is that human beings are behind all the biological samples used in the labs (Nature, para. 2). Much of the science today is on the subject of using human biological tissue of a certain kind. Those behind such samples usually have their feelings and thoughts about what should happen but are often not considered.
The HeLa cells story and the circumstances which befell Henrietta have always been used to illustrate a racist scientist performing something malicious to a black woman. Even though it might not be accurate, the whole act was an injustice, and the real story is much more complicated and subtle. The HeLa cells have been a familiar topic for a long time, but the ethical controversy made the whole story well known. Had they just asked for her permission, she would have willingly allowed her cells to be used in the research. Unfortunately, they did not, and, therefore, the family should be compensated.
A similar thing happened with the Tuskegee Syphilis Study in 1932. Black men were recruited into the study and used as subjects to study syphilis (Clinfield, para. 3). These two studies have severely impacted the history of research practices. Out of these two studies, the harm caused when researchers pay little attention has openly come out. Such unethical clinical experiments cannot be done in current times because of the strong human rights activism.
Works Cited
Clinfield. “The Legacy of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study.” Clinfield, 2019, Web.
Nature. “Henrietta Lacks: Science Must Right a Historical Wrong.” Nature, 2020, Web.