Unless you’re a medical researcher, or have read the memoir on her life, then you’ve probably never heard of Henrietta Lacks. But whether you’re familiar with Lacks or not,  you certainly benefited from her immortal cells. Why? Because Henrietta Lacks’ cells were no ordinary, run of the mill, cells. Her cells – taken from her without her permission – were immortal cells, used to develop numerous medical treatments.

From Rebecca Skloot, who wrote The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, the definitive work on Lacks’  life and contribution:

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor black tobacco farmer whose cells—taken without her knowledge in 1951—became one of the most important tools in medicine, vital for developing the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, in vitro fertilization, and more. Henrietta’s cells have been bought and sold by the billions, yet she remains virtually unknown, and her family can’t afford health insurance.

The trouble began when Henrietta Lacks began bleeding profusely after the birth of her fifth child, Joseph, and was diagnosed with cervical cancer.  During radiation treatment, tissue samples were taken from Lacks’  cervix – without her permission – became part of the HeLa cell line, the first immortal cells ever grown.

The HeLa cell line became one of the most used cell lines in medical research, and would weigh 50 million metric tons if you could weigh all the HeLa cells ever grown on a scale today.

Henrietta Lacks died at age 31, and neither Lacks nor her family were ever compensated for the contribution she made to medical science, even though biomedical corporations continue to profit from her cells.

– Your Black World