Estate of Henrietta Lacks sues biotechnical company for nonconsensual use of her cells
CNN
The family of Henrietta Lacks, the woman whose cells have been used for groundbreaking scientific research for decades, filed a lawsuit Monday against Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. for unjust enrichment from the nonconsensual use and profiting from her tissue sample and cell line.
Lacks, a Black woman diagnosed with cervical cancer, had tissue taken from her cervix without her consent during a procedure at Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1951. With the sample, a doctor at the hospital was able to create the first human cell line to reproduce outside the body.
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