The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #132658   Message #3003409
Posted By: Stringsinger
09-Oct-10 - 05:03 PM
Thread Name: BS: The Immortal Cells of Henrietta Lacks
Subject: RE: BS: The Immortal Cells of Henrietta Lacks
We read this in our book club. The rationale of the doctors at the time it started to be used was that they really didn't know who the donor was. It was distributed without that information. The question remains, what kind of reparations can be given? And to whom?
There are members of her extended family who would claim them but are they justified as she or her immediate family would have been? What if the cells had been held up and not used? What would have happened to medical science without their use?

It's a complex issue and there are no easy answers. The problem is that Big Pharma
is too corrupt now as are all the major corporations from banks to health care.