Why are her cells so important?
Henrietta’s cells were the first immortal human cells ever grown in culture. They were essential to developing the polio vaccine.
I am not saying medical purposes are immune to abuse, they certainly aren’t but giving that information to the government, to employers, to life insurance companies, to landlords… those scenarios have built in abuse purposes.
But wasn’t there just a recent post about the person who’s DNA they took, made a medicine off of it, and said person got nothing from it?
I’m all for scientific progress, especially to cure diseases. But there remains a vast chasm of possible abuses that could happen. Number on that list for me would be that whomever processes my DNA turns around and provides that information to either my employer, or my insurance provider, or both. You can almost guarantee that can and will be abused.
Where do we draw the line here. If I donate my body to science, and they make a discovery with it, do they owe my family something for that. in the case above, it wasn’t a donation but if I have a specimen collected and a medical discovery is had from it,a break through in a disease… and this happens, everyone is puzzled, doesn’t know what it is and then there is that one case that slightly different and bam suddenly they have something they can work with, maybe a path to a cure…
I don’t know where that line is. I just know that if my blood could save someone’s life, like just a vial of it, how could I not contribute? They should at least let someone know, and that was heart of the issue with HeLa. They didn’t even know.
I don’t either, honestly. The sharing with other vendors along with your personally identifiable information is more of a cut and dry thing. But using what they may find, especially something where you were the source, that’s different. If just that one person out there has the link that saves millions, what then? Some giant pharma company rakes in trillions and dominates the market for years because they took something and there was nothing stopping them from doing so.
But they don’t just take it and run with it. it’s not like they took her cell and resold it… they did work, they had to create using it. A single cell by itself didn’t lead to a cure for polio.
But we aren’t talking about developing that from a plant or animal or completely lab generated. DNA is essentially who we are. The same companies that have been able to prove just how unique each person’s DNA profile are, might also find that one specific person with something they want to extract and make into a drug/cure. As part of that cycle, lets say they clone sections of that DNA. They mass produce it. Perhaps integrate it as part of a drug, directly.
Now take it a step further and look ahead to where it -might- go. They are able to extract parts of some persons DNA that equate to great beauty, a brilliant mind, tolerance to disease, etc. The ethical dilemmas of having no checks on gathering and using whatever they want now, will only increase as they are able to use those things going forward.
They were talking about parents being able to pick out their children’s traits, eye color, skin color, height and what the could mean to the world. We already live in a world where the eggs and sperms of certain individuals cost huge amounts all in the attempt to get what you;re talking about.
For today, I am hoping we can find a balance where we a species can discover more about ourselves and tackle some of our more horrific ailments while preserving some level of privacy. It seems like we should be able to start by saying the employer doesn’t need to know anything about you DNA. They need to know about your work, and that’s it, well basically it.
Your DNA is unique, but it’s not “who you are”. Your personal experiences contribute quite a lot.
And just because it’s unique doesn’t mean it’s sacrosanct. Your signature is also unique, but if someone found it lying lying around and figured out how to use it to improve humanity, I doubt that almost anyone would object.
I don’t know where the line is on DNA and patenting medicine. On one hand, the research that came from Henrietta Lacks’ DNA has been of immeasurable importance to medicine, and that’s something that should freely benefit humanity. On the other hand, a whole lot of people other than Lacks or her family made a ton of money off her DNA throughout the decades.
I’m sure almost no one would object if science unlocked the cure for cancer thanks to my DNA. No one, presumably, but me. Because if Novartis or Anthem made a gazillion dollars off my medical data, I’d damn sure want a piece of that pie.
But I’m a humanitarian, so if you can show me that no one was profiting from my DNA, then have at it.
Perhaps the easy solution here is an opt-in for your DNA use. As I understand, all of the companies doing testing right now gain rights to use, at least from what I understand. If it was more akin to organ donor, would that be sufficient?
I just returned from vacation in Florida, where the local paper (Tampa Bay Times) has a very obvious Conservative Republican bent. Given the articles I read in that paper, conversations I overheard while in Tampa and Orlando, and my general knowledge of today’s Conservative Republican given that I am surrounded by them much of the time in my home town as well, it is very easy to conclude that tribalism has replaced common sense and/or critical thinking in today’s politics. The Democratic party is not at all equipped to handle this, as is evidenced by the crushing Ossoff defeat in Georgia.
I am starting to become convinced that we are doing this wrong. By “we” I don’t mean Democrats, I mean anyone, Democrat, Independent and even socially moderate Republicans, who looks at the current situation in Washington and around the country and laments “what the fuck is happening?!”. Socially Conservative Republicans have created an “us vs. them” mentality that excludes anyone not touting the latest party line full of misinformation and pure bullshit. They know they can say and do whatever they want, including outright lies, and still win, because “Team Conservative!”. There is no “Team Liberal!”, it’s a figment of the Conservative imagination, a boogeyman used to frighten voters into thinking if they don’t support Team Conservative, they’ll lose their jobs to immigrants, their healthcare to socialism and abortion will replace the pill as the #1 form of birth control in America. In reality, Team Liberal is simply anyone not on Team Conservative, and that includes several large voting blocks that don’t usually vote together or support one another. Because of this, “we” can expect the defeats to continue for the foreseeable future.
Perhaps the solution to the problem does not lie in finding the right Democratic or Independent candidate to challenge Team Conservative, but rather in finding the right Republican candidates and supporting them in their bids to regain control of their party. Break up Team Conservative, give them some people with an “R” next to their name that aren’t pants-on-head crazy, and maybe there’s a chance we can weaken the tribal system. Right now I would welcome a Moderate Republican with open arms versus the people being elected and appointed all over the country in the wake of Team Conservative’s victory lap. Breaking the stranglehold of that party from within may be our best hope of restoring sanity to Washington.
Unfortunately, history has shown that the only thing that fixes this is to have Mongol/Slavic hordes invade your capital, shooting your menfolk and outraging your women for a few months. Tends to reset tribalism back to reasonability relatively quickly :(
I know it’s not what you meant, but now I have this image of horse-mounted, fur-capped archers parading down Pennsylvania Avenue around piles of dead men. Honest American womenfolk look on, tut-tutting and putting frames on their Facebook avatars.
Yes, if by “are doing it wrong” you mean “are too easily discouraged and unwilling to look at the big picture.”
Study this graph of the most recent special elections. Then consider the fact that in November 2018, there will be at least 50 open red circles to the left of +5. Where do you suppose the filled circles will end up?
The fact that the GOP had to spend a shitload of money to eek out wins in such historically safe districts for them has got to be worrying some folks over there.
Dems need to worry about money, finding good candidates, and going all-out next year. The GOP will be hard-pressed to spend like that across every district.
