In February 1951, , a 31 year-old African American woman, was admitted for treatment at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. She was diagnosed with cervical cancer, and she would die from the disease in October of that year. During her stay at the hospital, cells from her cancer site were taken without her consent. . As this was a golden era of the search for tissues on which to grow viruses and perform tests, her cells were deemed perfect for many applications. The cells were grown in many laboratories, including -- -- laboratories testing the effectiveness of the Salk polio vaccine. To this day, .
The controversy over the use of the cells comes from the fact that Mrs. Lacks was not asked if her cells could be used in this manner. Permission from patients to use their cells and tissues in research was not customary at the time. But she was never informed, and neither was her family once she died. It wasn’t until the 1970s that the identity of Mrs. Lacks as the “HeLa” in “HeLa cells” was discovered. Since then, the discussion has been strong on . Later discussions have also focused on the genetic information of those cells, .
Mrs. Lacks’ “immortal” cells continue to be used in many areas of biologic research, and they continue to stir up thoughts and feelings about the use of People of Color for medical research. To understand the history of vaccines, we need to understand all the controversies surrounding the science and development of vaccines. The following articles are recommended to better understand the different views around the use of HeLa cells in research, and how scientists can be a force for social justice through their work:
“New Claims Prove the Henrietta Lacks Controversy Is Far From Over” by Erin Blakemore for Smithsonian Magazine. Available online at:
“HeLa Cells 50 Years On: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly” by John R. Masters for The Embryo Project Encyclopedia at Arizona State University. Available online at:
“'Henrietta Lacks': A Donor's Immortal Legacy” by Fresh Air from National Public Radio. Available at:
“Henrietta Lacks, the Tuskegee Experiment, and Ethical Data Collection: Crash Course Statistics #12” (VIDEO) by Crash Course. Available online:
“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot. Available where books are sold. (Amazon.com link: )
*******************************************
Thank you for reading! If you like what we researched for you and presented in this blog post, and would like to read more blog posts like this, please consider signing up for email updates by