Re: 5th Hour - Tuskegee Syphillis Study & HeLa Cells

Siillee-Differenter Fri Mar 11, 2011 10:42 pm

smiley11 wrote:None of the money that they made on her cells went to the family at all, that is just wrong, wrong, wrong..... I don't think that something like this will happen again today.

I agree ! You would think since so many people are aware of this incident that someone would stand up and try to fight for the family has lost and what they are not receiving.

shopaholic94 Sat Mar 12, 2011 2:17 am

snookieluvs2tan wrote:The Tuskegee Syphilis Study campares with the ethical implications experienced by Henrietta Lacks in that both cases experienced a sense of non-knowing. In both instances, someone was being lied to. The men of the Syphillis study were lied to because they were not told the real reason of why they were being studied, and Henrietta Lacks was lied to because she or her family were never told that her cells were being taken until decades later, which I think is pretty shady. They are different in the fact that the African American males were being continuously studied for years with various men, while HeLa cells have multiplied by the trillions throughout medical history, and today. I think these situations happened because back then, white America could take advantage of African Americans. Not many people, especially those who lived on farms, or couldn't go to school were not very educated. Whites on the other hand, had many more opportunities than blacks, and could not be taken advantage of. Plus, like the video said, African American males believed that they were doing something good, and wanted to be healthy so they could take care of and provide for their families. Also, during that time period, blacks were focusing on being treated equally, so it probably never crossed their mind that "free" healthcare was killing them.
I dont think that this could happen again today, becuase people have the knowledge of what is going on around them, and the government has stricter regulations when it comes to healthcare, the FDA, and what types of medical programs people are allowed to be experimented on. Besides, I don't think anyone truly wants to be treated like an experimental lab rat.

but you also have to take into account that without those doscoverments, thousands of people could have died, and we would not be at this point of history yet, if not far behind. I know that it was completely wrong, but it is done and at least a good thing came out of it, so I think that if we want society to work out we should forget about what has happened in the past; although as human beings with a brain, sometimes we just don't want to accept because of pride, and that is just sad

shopaholic94 Sat Mar 12, 2011 2:41 am

Love_Muffins wrote:
earthycolors wrote:How does the Tuskegee Syphillis Study compare to the ethical implications experienced by Henrietta Lacks (HeLa cells)? How are the two scenarios similar? How are they different? Why do you think these situations happened at all? Do you think that something like this could happen again today? Explain.

They both compare because they both were evil things to do to them; to take Henrietta's cells without her permission or without her or her family even knowing about it, and the U.S. gov't lying to and betraying all of those innocent African Americans who thought they were receiving help for their syphilis. The two scenarios are similar to each other because not one person knew what was REALLY going on to them, and in both cases, they took without permission and broke laws doing it. With Henrietta, the scientist stole her cells without her permission and in the syphilis case, they defied the gov't law stating that anybody with syphilis was to be treated. I think the situations happened because of the greediness of the country and the need for the country to aquire more and more information about everything. As soon as the gov't knew about the HeLa cells not being able to die and living forever, there was no way they would give it up. I do think that something like this could happen today. It could be happening right now and we wouldn't even know about it. THE WORLD DOESN'T REALLY LEARN LESSONS, NOT FOR LONG ANYWAYS. IT JUST LEARNS WAYS AROUND IT. If the government finds something valuable enough to keep and is afraid of backlash from the people, they simply won't tell anybody, the same way a kid would hide an extra cookie from the mother while he secretly eats it in the other room.

U make a good point when u say they dont learn lesson. like Napoleon and Hitler

Point: first of all, Isnt anybody in here going to evaluate the good thing that came out of all of this. I think that it was totally wrong, but instead of weepIng about it like children and remembering the horrible past, we should concentrate so it won't happen again. Those times are past and if we don't learn to accept, you will get an unequal resented society; we also have to evaluate that thousands of lifes are saved every year because of the wrong done, but if it hadn't happened you wouldn't even be alive to talk about it.

Important historicanl point: I actually don't understand why everybody is comparing stuff all the time with hitler, but before you make such a superficial statement, I think that the winners of the first war are responsible for what happened on the second. I don't like hitlers ideas, it was just horrible. But during his first years, he rebuilt Germany from nothing. The country was at the bottom and its society needed a leader, so they took what hitler offered them; rebuilding and a new beging. I CAN NOT deny that after those years he just turned insane, but he was the only one willing to move a finger for his country and wished to rebuilt it. I know it because my family suffered a dictadure themselves and although it was devastating, at least the country was runing and nobody died of hunger. So, after 7 months hearing people talking about hitler like they have learned it from a teacher who probably was expressing his her opinion, I would like to ask you to go and inform yourself, and get your own conclusions instead the often censored ones from a school book. Thank you.

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