The book is getting pretty good. I thought it was pretty bad when Jones and Gey took Henrietta's cells w/o her consent but after hearing about how doctors and researchers treated African-American patients during the time is just sickening. I can understand why people didn't trust or wanted to see the doctors unless they absolutely had to. Researchers studying syphilis let their subjects die when it could have been treated, infecting healthy patients w/syphilis, and unnecessary hysterectomies in order to control the African-American population...I just think that it is amazing that all of this stuff was happening not too long ago. Although we might not see or hear of such things as often now, there is still a sense of bigotry and fear among many people in the U.S. especially towards people of a particular faith or sexual orientation...I feel that it is just sad especially in this day and age.
I'm curious as to why they didn't offer Henrietta a sizable reward early on before the explosion of HeLa use. I'm sure that even a minute offer of buying her cells completely would have quelled a lot of controversy now, so why didn't the researchers think of handling the situation sooner? Instead, there's a cloud of distrust and mystery that correlates with corporations exploiting the individuals.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if this entire controversy would have truly been avoided if the researchers had choose to label the cells with numbers rather then first two letters of the first and last name. I wonder if anyone continues to use that method for labeling, I know I wouldn't.
ReplyDeleteIt was sad to read about how African American patients were treated like lab rats. It is understandable why some people are afraid to see a doctor. The unnecessary hysterectomies reminds me of the eugenic movement of the late 19th century. It was an exploitation of evolution and Darwin's ideas. It is scary to think that what if people start to get ranked and selected for again because of their genetic makeup.
ReplyDeleteTo Rene...about people getting ranked and selected based on their genetic makeup...you should watch the movie Gattaca w/Ethan Hawke...its pretty good...
ReplyDeleteFor Thien: Oh yeah I've seen that movie it was thought provoking. Thats what this kinda reminded me of regarding trying to control a population.
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