"There has been some controversy surrounding the origins of the cell line, however. Apart from the fact that some people feel uncomfortable about its links to abortion, the woman whose foetus the cells came from, who Wadman has named “Mrs X”, did not consent to its use. In fact, she didn’t even know about it until years later, when she was contacted by someone from the Karolinska Institute who was hoping for a more detailed medical history. The incident is unlikely to happen again today, because human tissue is regulated in the United States. Any material collected is subject to the Common Rule – a set of ethical standards introduced in 1981, which researchers must comply with in order to receive federal funding. Chief among them is the requirement for informed consent. However, the rule doesn’t apply retrospectively, and there are many examples of tissue which was effectively stolen and continues to be used to this day."