Family of Henrietta Lacks settles with biotech company accused of exploiting her cells
NBCAug 04, 2023
The Facts
Descendants of Henrietta Lacks, a Black woman whose cervical cells were taken by Johns Hopkins Hospital scientists without her knowledge in 1951, have reached a settlement with biotech company Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. The company was accused of profiting billions from Lacks' cells.
Lacks’ family wasn’t notified about the use of her cells — which were the first to reproduce in a lab and subsequently enabled various medical advancements. These included the development of polio and COVID vaccines as well as cancer treatments.
The Spin
Left narrative
This settlement is a first step towards rectifying the grotesque history of medical racism in America, and it’s too bad Henrietta passed away before she could see justice done. Too many medical organizations made enormous amounts of money off of theft throughout the years, but luckily this settlement can help to curb a healthcare industry built on healthcare inequity.
Right narrative
The Henrietta Lacks case is an important one, but it has long been hyper-politicized, especially under the Obama administration. A 2010 biography about her life has been widely used in college and high school settings to advance Obamacare-centric narratives and to rail against the private sector. Her story shouldn't be parlayed into a woke agenda to burden healthcare with more red tape and government controls.
