Henrietta Lacks: The Most Important Women In Science

On February sixth, 1951 Henrietta Lacks, a black tobacco farmer from south Virginia, went to Johns Hopkins hospital to be treated for cervical cancer, she was treated by Dr. Lawrence Wharton Jr. He prepared her for her treatment and dilated her cervix, but before beginning the treatment he, without her permission, shaved two dime sized pieces of tissue one from her tumor and one from her healthy tissue then, he placed them in glass dishes. Those glass dishes were given to Dr. George Gey and his assistant, Mary Kubick, labeled them HeLa, because she combined the first two letters of Henrietta's first and last name. Dr. Gey, like many other scientist, had been trying to grow human cells outside of the body because it would help test the effects that medicine,
Henrietta’s cells went on to help save millions of lives and improve science but she never gave consent, even though consent didn't matter in 1951 it does matter today and it should matter because many people have a strong sense of ownership and scientist should remember that behind every piece of tissue there is a person with feelings and they might want to know if their tissue is being taken for research or used to make money. Henrietta is one of the most important women in science, but she and her family never received a dime from the companies that were making millions off of her cells, this is unfair to Henrietta and her family because their mother died and they went through hell growing up so the least they could get is some money although it doesn't bring back their mother it could help them do a little better. HeLa cells are the first immortal cells and they've had a great impact on science, but it was wrong to sacrifice an individual for the betterment of society without her knowledge because her cells helped many but she was never told that she was being used for research, like they should've told her, and many companies made money from her cells, but Henrietta's children didn't receive