HeLa cells are cancer cells that come from a human’s cervix. These cells were the first of human cancer cells to be continuously cultured and led to many other strains of cells that could also be used for experimentation. When a cell is cultured that means that the cell is removed from an animal or plant and instead grown in an artificial environment. These cells were important to study because they grow extremely fast if they have the right conditions and enough space. Most cancer cells do behave this way and grow exceedingly fast. These cells can also spread to other cells and infect them so that they behave the same way. Cancer cells grow faster because they are not restricted like normal cells. Normal cells can only divide a certain
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All of the research derived from these cells has been accused of harsh things to do how these cells were first developed. It was back in the mid 1900’s when there was still a lot of neglect towards African-American citizens. A black woman named Henrietta Lacks was diagnosed with cervical cancer and since was forced into a poor lifestyle she had to go to John Hopkins, a charity hospital. This is where the name “HeLa cells” comes from; the first two letters from Henrietta, and the first two letters from Lacks. She was treated with radium by a man named George Gey. During this time Gey was performing some experiments at this hospital so he took a sample of Henrietta’s cells to research. He justified using the patients to by claiming it was payment for their free services. While nothing really separated Henrietta from the other cancerous patients her cells are still the ones remembered today. She was the first producer of immortal cells. Gey and his team had never been able to sustain these cells long enough to truly understand them until Henrietta’s. Gey came up with an insane mixture of chemicals to preserve them. This was and still is a major scientific landmark and has brought Grey much …show more content…
They could see how they operate or how they react when affected by cancer. Though most people saw this as a great moment in scientific history others are still skeptical. Some question the ethics involved with the research and treatment. Back then the doctors did not really care about keeping the identity of the sample cells anonymous. They didn’t really conceal the fact that they came from Henrietta Lacks and that soon got out. Gey did his best to conceal her identity by making up pseudonyms such as Helen Lane and Helen Larsen but that didn’t help long. Soon after in the 1970’s the press got a hold of her name and word soon found her family too. Many people question the ethics of these doctors because they took Henrietta’s cells without her consent. Nobody really cared about this back in the 50’s because African-American people were not exactly treated right. But now day’s people are seeing it from a different perspective. These doctors are also under fire because they did not give anything back to Henrietta or her family even though they were going through hard times. They were making plenty of money from their research but did not give anything to who really deserved
All of the research derived from these cells has been accused of harsh things to do how these cells were first developed. It was back in the mid 1900’s when there was still a lot of neglect towards African-American citizens. A black woman named Henrietta Lacks was diagnosed with cervical cancer and since was forced into a poor lifestyle she had to go to John Hopkins, a charity hospital. This is where the name “HeLa cells” comes from; the first two letters from Henrietta, and the first two letters from Lacks. She was treated with radium by a man named George Gey. During this time Gey was performing some experiments at this hospital so he took a sample of Henrietta’s cells to research. He justified using the patients to by claiming it was payment for their free services. While nothing really separated Henrietta from the other cancerous patients her cells are still the ones remembered today. She was the first producer of immortal cells. Gey and his team had never been able to sustain these cells long enough to truly understand them until Henrietta’s. Gey came up with an insane mixture of chemicals to preserve them. This was and still is a major scientific landmark and has brought Grey much …show more content…
They could see how they operate or how they react when affected by cancer. Though most people saw this as a great moment in scientific history others are still skeptical. Some question the ethics involved with the research and treatment. Back then the doctors did not really care about keeping the identity of the sample cells anonymous. They didn’t really conceal the fact that they came from Henrietta Lacks and that soon got out. Gey did his best to conceal her identity by making up pseudonyms such as Helen Lane and Helen Larsen but that didn’t help long. Soon after in the 1970’s the press got a hold of her name and word soon found her family too. Many people question the ethics of these doctors because they took Henrietta’s cells without her consent. Nobody really cared about this back in the 50’s because African-American people were not exactly treated right. But now day’s people are seeing it from a different perspective. These doctors are also under fire because they did not give anything back to Henrietta or her family even though they were going through hard times. They were making plenty of money from their research but did not give anything to who really deserved