The story of Henrietta Lacks is one of the most intriguing and fascinating stories of the 20th Century. Its also one that many people have not heard of until recently. Her story brings up a few major questions on ethics in science, but I feel the main one is “How far will we go?” In other words, what extreme lengths are we willing to take for the advancements of science? Henrietta’s cells were taken from her without her knowledge, but had such a positive effect on the world, as well as, created a multi-billion dollar industry. Her family never saw any of the money, the benefits, and Henrietta died in agonizing pain without any knowledge of what had happened. The real ethical issue here is about consent and whether or not they should have known about the cells, but a see a bigger issue here. The big issue is that now humans are being used like guinea pigs.

The animal rights and protections from being taken advantage of by science is a problem, but now humans are being used in the same way. This is a case from the 1950s and apparently people were being used since even before then. It is a scary thought that now humans are being seen as just another resource to take advantage of. The epigraph used in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a good portrayal of how a person is not only just another abstract being, but something more complicated, much more complicated. With this in mind there is not only an ethical responsibility for scientists to follow when using humans, but a form of respect towards the human race because we are not just another resource to be used. Today, such things still occur, but with consent of the individuals in drug companies, but we can never really know that what is being given to us is really safe or thoroughly tested before it comes to us. The drug companies can be taking advantage of people who are willing to test the subject without anyone knowing.