Year 10 Science · Unit 1 · Lesson 22

The Immortal Cell Line, Henrietta Lacks and the Ethics of Continued Use

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Learning Goals

Explain the mechanism that makes HeLa cells divide without limit.
Apply beneficence, autonomy and justice to the continued use question.
Identify the flaw in arguments that confuse legality with ethics.

Warm Up

Complete the mechanism

Fill each blank so that the chain explains why HeLa cells never stop dividing.

Each time a cell copies its DNA, a small amount is lost from the end of each strand, shortening the ____________.
After roughly ______ to ______ divisions, a normal cell detects the damage and stops dividing for good.
HeLa cells keep the enzyme ____________ switched on, which rebuilds those caps.
The virus ____________ disabled the cell-cycle brakes in the original tumour cell.

Label each statement as a Claim, Evidence or Reasoning:

"HeLa should continue to be used, provided the family share in commercial benefit."	C / E / R
"The family were not told the cells existed until 1973, twenty-two years after the tissue was taken."	C / E / R
"Because justice concerns how benefits are distributed rather than whether research happens, redistributing benefit addresses the breach without discarding the benefit."	C / E / R

Your Turn

Three principles, one case

For each principle, write one sentence saying whether it supports or opposes continued use of HeLa, and why. Use a specific fact, not a general statement.

Principle	Supports or opposes?	Reason, with a specific fact
Beneficence
Autonomy
Justice

Show What You Know

1. Explain why HeLa cells keep dividing when normal human cells stop. Refer to telomeres and telomerase.

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2. A student writes: "Taking the cells was legal in 1951, so there was no ethical problem." Explain what is wrong with this reasoning.

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3. Explain why the question "was 1951 wrong?" and the question "should HeLa be used now?" are different questions with different available answers.

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Wrap Up

Which of the three principles do you think matters most in this case, and why?