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1951 CEPeer-reviewed · 2 sourcesWell documented

Henrietta Lacks and the Cells Taken Without Consent

The first immortal human cell line came from a dying woman in 1951 who was never asked, and whose family learned decades later

On the timeline · around 1951 CE · The Molecular and Genomic EraGerm Theory and Modern MedicineThe Molecular and Genomic EraHenrietta Lacks and the Cells Taken Without Consent1910192019301940195019601970

Quick facts

Person
Henrietta Lacks, 31, treated at Johns Hopkins
Year
1951
Cell line
HeLa, first immortal human cell line
Ethics
No informed consent; family uninformed for ~20 years

What happened

In 1951 Henrietta Lacks, a 31-year-old African American woman, went to Baltimore's Johns Hopkins Hospital to be treated for cervical cancer. When she arrived, she did not know that her cervical cells would be used for future scientific experiments; there was no informed consent detailing that use. Cells taken from her tumor turned out to grow indefinitely in the laboratory, the first immortal human cell line, named HeLa. After her death in 1952, HeLa cells became a vital tool in biomedical research, used in tens of thousands of studies, from testing the polio vaccine to work on cancer and countless other questions. Her family learned of the use of these cells only decades later, long after the line had become foundational to research, and they later sought legal action but for many years received no compensation.

Why it matters

HeLa cells enabled an enormous amount of medical progress, which makes the case a hard one: real benefit built on a real wrong. Cells taken without consent, from a Black woman who was never told and whose family was kept in the dark for roughly two decades, became a permanent example in the debate over consent, tissue ownership, privacy, and who benefits from research done on a person's body.

How we know

The origin of the HeLa line, the absence of consent, and the family's late discovery are documented in NIH accounts and in peer-reviewed histories that trace the cells from Lacks's 1951 treatment through their spread across biomedical research.

Sources

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Part of a timelineHistory of Medicine24 events · From surgical papyri and the balance of four humors to a Babylonian handbook of omens, an alphabet of the human body, and the day two scientists learned to edit genesView all →
Henrietta Lacks and the Cells Taken Without Consent · History of Medicine · SourcedStory