#hela cells

[a-sentient-cup]

Why wasn't it BIG tumb news when the HeLa court case got settled LAST YEAR. A significant part of modern medicine was a direct result of the stolen cells and the lack of compensation or settlement up until horrifyingly recently.

While i was in school this was still actively being fought. The audacity of the company to claim it was outside of the statute of limitations WHILE STILL BENEFITTING FROM IT IN THE ORDER OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS

Which luckily because of previous court precedents was already a null argument specifically because of them actively benefitting

The Lacks family says they may go after other companies that use the cells as well and i think they should

I hate how much of the medical system, not just the US but as a result worldwide. Is built on unremediated racism and many other prejudices that still permeate the medical systems at this very moment

This SHOULD have been a monumental occasion oh so high and mighty "be aware of racism" "fight for equity everywhere" tumblr. And yet i recall no boom in the topic within the week it was posted.

[raspberry-gloaming]

It feels very right that The Truman Show (in universe) began in the 1960s. Wildly unethical social experiment largely unregulated by ethics boards? Yeah no shit it's the 50s/60s, of fucking course they did that

[groove-on-boogie-down]

So has anyone drawn the comparison between Jango fett—although compensated—being essentially bred so his offspring could be used for a galaxy’s military labor not unlike enslaved ppl being bred so plantations could have more free labor

Or his genetic material being used in perpetuity after his death not unlike Mrs. Henrietta Lacks whose cancer cells were stolen to be studied for their indefinite reproduction ability. Or is that too real for ppl…

[justgeck007]

HeLa Cells...

consider the ethics of stolen cells, genomes, and viruses.

One of the most commonly used cells in research are cells that were stolen from Henrietta Lacks- an African American mother- in 1951. Epithelial Cervix Cancer, her cells were the first immortal human cell line. While her cells were taken without consent, they have contributed to many molecular discoveries that we otherwise would not have made, or better yet, made as rapidly. There is a book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, that brings to light the ethics of the continued use of HeLa cells in research, and in general the ethics of stealing cells.

[adragonsfriend]

obscure concern for the day is "who was the source of HeLa cells in the star wars universe and were their cells stolen too?"

[dr-whoopsie-daisy]

I started reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks months ago and had to step away for a while because someone I know was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

I picked up the book again today. I got to chapter 27 where a German virologist discovered the cause of cervical cancer was HPV-18 and HPV-16 (90% of cases) and how studying Henrietta Lacks' cells lead to the HPV vaccine.

I just received my last HPV vaccine (it's a 3 injection series over 6ish month) a few days ago.

It feels very strange to be so connected to this book. I'm a patient actively benefiting from research done on her cell line. I'm also a doctor who had informed consent drilled into my brain from day one. Not just informed consent but making sure the patient *understands* their rights to information, the diagnosis, treatment options, the ability to refuse any and all treatments, the right to a second opinion. On and on.

Page after page of this book is laying out patient privacy violations, broken ethics, a lack of record keeping, and complete disregard for the next of kin. That's the point though, all of this was legal from the beginning until the 80's and 90's in America.

It's a lot to grapple with. Research doctors injecting patients with cancer cells, taking blood from the Lacks family but never bothering to tell them why. The millions of dollars made from cultivating her cells.

I don't understand why this wasn't required reading for any of my classes for my biology degree, my medical ethics minor, or at any point in my doctoral program.

Informed consent was taught as the forgone conclusion but in reality had only been enforced federally for medicine and research for 30-40 years before I started my doctorate.

Many of my professors were old enough to have been in research programs before these laws were written.

[microscope-world]

HeLa cells captured under the inverted microscope.

[sparrow-the-tired-lesbian]

Hi! :) What are some things you hope will happen in Loki s2 and what are some things you’re worried are gonna happen?

HOPES:

LOKIUS CANON LOKIUS CANON LOKIUS CANON

Loki being a total idiot

Sylvie being the milf we deserve

mobius being a lil dork

O.B. being cute

A Frigga appearance?

MAYBE A HELA APPEARANCE??? MAYBE???? PLEASE????? (I’ve got a cate blanchett thing)

FEARS:

More S*lki

Loki dying again

Pain