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Medical Giants Are Just Starting to Atone For Making Billions Off Henrietta Lacks’ Cells Without Her Consent
An attempt to pay reparations for the use of HeLa cells doesn’t go nearly far enough
For decades, pharmaceutical companies and research institutions have profited off the use of Henrietta Lacks’ cells for experiments. Lacks, a Black woman, died in 1951, and neither she nor her family benefited from the profits of that research.
Her cells, called HeLa cells, were collected without her consent during a diagnostic procedure the same year she died. Commonly referred to as an “immortal” cell line, HeLa cells continually reproduce outside the body and as such are very useful for research. They were used to develop vaccines for polio and human papilloma virus, conduct AIDS research, and find treatments for cancer. Doing so generated billions of dollars in revenue for those companies and institutions. Only recently have some of them begun to try to pay back what they stole.
On October 29, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) made a six-figure donation to the Henrietta Lacks Foundation, which provides financial assistance to people and families who have undergone experiments without their consent. HHMI has a $20.1 million endowment.
Erin O’Shea, president of HHMI, told Nature that the group wanted to acknowledge Lacks for the use of her cells and recognize that they were taken from her without her consent. She said, “We have a long way to go before science and medicine are really equitable.”
In August, two laboratories announced they were donating to the Henrietta Lacks Foundation. Abcam, a U.K.-based life sciences company, made an undisclosed donation, and a lab at the University of California, San Diego, announced it would donate $100 for every four cell lines created from Lacks’ cells.
While these donations will go to benefit people like Lacks and their families, they’re a drop in the bucket compared to what would be owed to Lacks’ family if they were truly paid reparations. Arthur Caplan, PhD, head of the medical ethics department at New York University, told Quartz in August that the amount being donated to the foundation is “ludicrous” compared to the amount of money these companies and institutions have made from HeLa cells.
If billions were made off Lacks’ cells, then billions are owed to her family for the use of those cells.
Nevertheless, HHMI’s donation is a start. “I can’t speak for everybody, but I know some family members are grateful for this gift,” Jeri Lacks-Whye, a granddaughter of Lacks, told Nature. “Hopefully, other institutions will follow suit.”
