Paul Gregory

Henrietta Lacks is popularly known as the mother of modern medicine, she was a young black mother of five who was wrongly diagnosed with cervical cancer and passed away on the 4th of October 1951. Her cells were harvested while she was undergoing surgery without the consent of her family; it wasn't until 20 years after her death they discovered that her cells were very much alive.Remarkably, the cells continued to grow and replicate outside of her body till this day (60 years after her demise). No one could have predicted that Lacks would become legendary, or that her physical being would contribute so much to medical research that might someday save us all from cancer. The HeLa cells as it is usually called have been responsible for some of the most important medical advances of all time: the polio vaccine, chemotherapy, cloning, gene mapping and IVF: All these health milestones and many more, owe everything to the life, and death, of a young mother.Generally speaking cells taken from an individual and used for research, benefits the common good so it's OK to use them, but in this case Henrietta's cells were used to develop medical treatments available to people who could afford medical insurance, the cells were sold at exorbitant prices and not even a dime was given to her family or relatives. African American were often utilized as medical experiments during the era of slavery, they were subjected to inhumane treatment and enormous risks in the hands of their owners who were physicians. These white doctors saw this as an opportunity which they could execute experimental research programs and develop new tools, techniques and medicines as was the case of Henrietta Lacks.

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