In 1954, virologist, Chester Southam, theorized the source of cancer; he believed cancer was caused either by a virus or an insufficiency in the immune system. To test his theories, Southam began injecting unknowing patients with HeLa cells. This research became extremely controversial. Southam was tremendously deceitful about what he was doing. For example, when experimenting on cancer patients, Southam “told them he was testing their immune systems; he said nothing about injecting them with someone’s malignant cells” (Skloot, 128). According to Skloot, he was “withholding information because patients might have refused to participate in his study if they’d known what he was injecting” (130). When it was released that Southam had been conducting