70 years ago, cancer cells were removed without consent
(ANSA) – WASHINGTON, 29 JUL – The family of Henrietta Lacks, the African American woman who died of cancer on October 4, 1951 at the age of 31 and from whom the doctors took a tissue sample from the uterus without her consent, has decided to sue the pharmaceutical giants who have exploited those cancer cells over the decades. In fact, it was discovered that those cells could be reproduced without dying. Thanks to this incredible discovery, important strides were made in research, with the cells being marketed under the name of HeLa, which recalled the name of the person they came from.
For years the story has fueled ethical and economic controversies, with the same family kept in the dark for a long time about the profits that the pharmaceutical companies made thanks to that cell line. Now the children have turned to legal civil rights activist Ben Crump, who led the George Floyd family’s team of lawyers, for justice. (HANDLE).