Henrietta Lacks story also illustrates the racial inequities that are embedded in the US research and health-care systems.
Henrietta Lacks' cells began what was the first, and, for many years, the only human cell line able to reproduce indefinitely. Much of what is known today in medicine owes its existence to those cells. They are used to study the effects of toxins, drugs, hormones, and viruses on the growth of cancer cells without experimenting on humans. Ms. Lack was black. None of the companies that profited from her cells gave any money back to her family. For decades after her death, doctors and scientists repeatedly failed to ask her family for consent as they revealed Lacks’ name publicly, gave her medical records to the media, and even published her cells’ genome online.
AGE GROUP: | Adults |
EVENT TYPE: | In-person | Discussion/Lecture | Clubs & Groups | Books |
TAGS: | Black History Month |
| Mon, Mar 27 | 10:00AM to 6:00PM |
| Tue, Mar 28 | 10:00AM to 6:00PM |
| Wed, Mar 29 | 12:00PM to 8:00PM |
| Thu, Mar 30 | 12:00PM to 8:00PM |
| Fri, Mar 31 | 10:00AM to 6:00PM |
| Sat, Apr 01 | 10:00AM to 6:00PM |
| Sun, Apr 02 | Closed |
