08/03/2023
This week, descendants of Henrietta Lacks reached a settlement with the company that took and profited from her cells.
Who was Henrietta Lacks?
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (2010):
Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern to***co farmer, yet her cells--taken without her knowledge--became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first "immortal" human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer and viruses; helped lead to in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions. Yet Henrietta Lacks is buried in an unmarked grave. Her family did not learn of her "immortality" until more than twenty years after her death, when scientists began using her husband and children in research without informed consent.
The injustices suffered by Henrietta Lacks and her family will not be forgotten in history. Even with informed consent, exploitation and racism persists in bio-medical research.
