The University of Southampton

Author: Jessica Critten

Can we sell medical waste?

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Immortal cells

I recently read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot1; the remarkable story of an American woman whose cervical cancer was used to make the first immortal cell line, HeLa. In vitro cell research is normally constrained by the Hayflick limit2; cell lines die out after a few days. Lacks’ cancer was so aggressive that its cells could divide indefinitely, providing an invaluable biological material still used today. Incredibly, few know her name. The cells were used without her knowledge or consent, and her family knew nothing for twenty years.

This story raises important questions about human tissue ownership, notably: who owns medical waste, and can it be sold? Skloot heavily implies that the Lacks family should be compensated for Henrietta’s cells, but I’m not sure it’s so simple.

A video by Hank Green on SciShow, with further information about immortal cell lines and HeLa cells.3

Tissue ownership in the UK

My friend works for the Southampton Imaging4 group and routinely uses femoral heads, leftover from hip replacement surgery, in his research. Recently introduced to tissue ethics, I had several questions for him. My Gran had a hip replacement – are scientists experimenting on her bone? Could they extract stem cells from the marrow and make a cell line like HeLa?

Thankfully, the Human Tissue Act 20045 (HTA) restricts research on tissue to licensed labs and requires informed consent from all donors. My friend assures me that strict protocols are followed, from surgery to the lab to disposal, and that his lab must comply with the Declaration of Helsinki6.

What does this mean for Lacks’ family?

Henrietta Lacks was treated unethically. Her cells should not have been used without her consent, violating her dignity when she was extremely vulnerable. Furthermore, it’s now possible to sequence HeLa’s genome, raising concerns about Lacks’ and (her family’s) privacy. Unfortunately she died in 1951, before widespread adoption of informed consent as best practice.

Henrietta Lacks. Photo from the National Geographic7

In her book, Skloot implies that Lacks’ family should be paid for the cells. It’s important to note that HeLa cells are not full organs, nor were they healthy – if not for their scientific usefulness they would have been deemed medical waste. In the US it is illegal8 to sell one’s organs, but consent and payment law for other tissue is more permissive than in the UK, where selling human tissue is banned.

I strongly support the UK position that selling human tissue for money, regardless of purpose or usefulness, is unacceptable. Tissue derived from a person’s body deserves to be treated with more dignity than a mere commodity.

Even if the act of selling one’s own tissue were ethical, a culture that allows it is not. It would encourage objectification of the human body and provide incentive for organ theft. Nobody should have to resort to selling their tissue. Meixuan Li’ 9 wrote a post exploring this concept taken to a dystopian extreme; prisoners exchanging their organs for reduced sentences. The very idea is abhorrent.

This is why, while Henrietta Lacks was wronged, her family should not be financially compensated. Payment for human tissue, even retrospectively, is morally unacceptable.

Read my full book review on Goodreads

Sources

  1. Skloot R. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Crown Publishing Group (2010) ↩︎
  2. Hayflick’s handy guide to immortality and cell senescence. The Genetics of Basic Things and Stuff. 30th November 2022 (cited 24th March 2025). Video: 5:13 min. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5SBZOa_qAg ↩︎
  3. Immortal Cells Turn 96. SciShow. 1st August 2016 (cited 20th March 2025). Video: 4:41 min. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXY6-wLesYY ↩︎
  4. Southampton Imaging. University of Southampton (cited 21st March 2025). Available from: https://www.southampton.ac.uk/research/institutes-centres/southampton-imaging ↩︎
  5. Legislation. Human Tissue Authority (cited 21st March 2025). Available from: https://www.hta.gov.uk/guidance-professionals/codes-practice-standards-and-legislation/legislation ↩︎
  6. WMA Declaration of Helsinki – Ethical Principles for Medical Research involving Human Participants. World Medical Association. 2024. (cited 21st March 2025). Available from: https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki/ ↩︎
  7. Marc Silver. A New Chapter in the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. National Geographic. 2013 (cited 21st March 2025). Available from: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/130816-henrietta-lacks-immortal-life-hela-cells-genome-rebecca-skloot-nih ↩︎
  8. Can you sell organs in the United States? Donor Alliance; Tissue and Organ Donation. 2025. (cited 21st March 2025). Available from: https://www.donoralliance.org/newsroom/donation-essentials/can-you-sell-organs/ ↩︎
  9. Li M. Prisoners ‘Donating’ Organs for Sentence Reduction: Should the Punishment Fit the Crime? 12th March 2025 (cited 21st March 2025). In: Engineering Replacement Body Parts 2024-2025. Available from: https://generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk/uosm2031-2025/2025/03/12/prisoners-donating-organs-for-sentence-reduction-should-the-punishment-fit-the-crime-2/ ↩︎

Poo in a bag?!

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When we talk about prostheses, most of us think of prosthetic legs and arms like those we see used by Paralympic athletes. I was interested to learn from Prof Alex Dickinson’s lecture that the definition of a prosthesis is much broader, encompassing any artificial replacement body part.

Anatomy of an end colostomy, where the end of the colon, as well as the rectum and anus, have been removed.1

Stomas and ostomy bags technically come under this definition, but see far less media attention. A stoma is a hole made in the abdomen during surgery, through which to divert faeces (or urine, but I’m not going to cover that here). The surgery is called a colostomy or ileostomy, depending on whether it is part of the large or small intestine that is diverted through the stoma, and the piece of bowel empties into an ostomy bag, which is affixed to the outside of the body.

A stoma may be temporary or permanent, depending on the type of surgery and the reason it is needed. According to the NHS2, a person may need to have part of their bowel removed due to a tumour, infection or inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) such as Crohn’s disease or Ulcerative Colitis. Temporary stomas may be needed to give the bowel the opportunity to rest after surgery, or if there has been an injury to the bowel, and may be reversed later. These interventions can be life-changing for the people undergoing them, who are often living with severe pain, digestive issues and sometimes incontinence prior to surgery. Sometimes stoma surgery is the only option to save a person’s life.

When K, a close friend of mine, first told me about her stoma I had never even heard of the word. I don’t think I was alone in my ignorance. According to Colostomy UK3, one in 335 people in the UK live with a stoma, so why are they so rarely talked about?

Social stigma around our bodily functions (especially the smelly ones!) means that this area of medicine is shrouded in mystery for most ordinary people. Nobody wants to talk about their poo, and discussions of bowel disease are a step too far for many a mild-mannered Brit. I am absolutely in support of keeping bodily fluid talk to a minimum at the dinner table, but what about in wider discussion? These things need to be talked about.

According to Crohn’s & Colitis UK4, people living with IBD can often experience feelings of shame and isolation as a result of their disease. Stomas are widely misunderstood; K tells me that hers has enabled her to regain the freedom to live a normal life, but she still faces social stigma, even from the nurses that she works with. It can be hard dealing with people’s misconceptions at the same time as trying to navigate life with a chronic illness.

Negative conversation about bowel disease and stomas, a reality for so many people, can have a real detrimental effect on their self-esteem. It can also be a barrier to meeting needs in the workplace, such as access to a disabled toilet, or accommodations for symptoms.

A more open discussion is needed around bowel disease, stomas and invisible illnesses, so that people like K can have the confidence and resources to access the support they need to live a healthy and fulfilling life. Crohn’s & Colitis UK’s Are You IN? 5 campaign aims to start the conversation by educating employers and employees about invisible illnesses such as IBD. Everyone can play their part by being mindful about how we talk about these conditions, recognising that what might seem strange to us is another person’s reality.

K consented to the information shared here, and her initial has been changed to protect her privacy.

Sources

  1. MacMillan Cancer Support (2025). What is a stoma? (accessed 04/03/25). Available at https://www.macmillan.org.uk/cancer-information-and-support/bowel-cancer/what-is-a-stoma ↩︎
  2. NHS (2024). Health A-Z, Colostomy (accessed 04/03/25). Available at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/colostomy/ ↩︎
  3. Colostomy UK (2025). What is a stoma? (accessed 04/03/25). Available at https://www.colostomyuk.org/information/what-is-a-stoma/ ↩︎
  4. Crohn’s & Colitis UK (2025). Mental health and wellbeing (accessed 04/03/25). Available at https://crohnsandcolitis.org.uk/info-support/information-about-crohns-and-colitis/all-information-about-crohns-and-colitis/living-with-crohns-or-colitis/mental-health-and-wellbeing ↩︎
  5. Crohn’s & Colitis UK (2025). Are you IN? (accessed 04/03/25). Available at https://crohnsandcolitis.org.uk/our-work/campaigns/are-you-in?_gl=1*1w75irk*_up*MQ..*_ga*Njg1NjMyNDE0LjE3NDA4NDM1NzU.*_ga_5THF1XE73Q*MTc0MDg0MzU3NC4xLjEuMTc0MDg0Mzc2My4wLjAuMA.. ↩︎

Hello!

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Hi everyone, I’m Jess and I’m a second year biomedical sciences student. I’m excited to learn more about bioethics and also to be introduced to bioengineering 🙂 I couldn’t attend the workshop today so had to use the panopto recording that had a video about vocal techniques playing over the audio…

I hope I’m doing this right! I guess I learned something about singing today at least 😂