(ENG) Henrietta Lacks: a "scientific american"

In the video that inspired this blog, INtransit V. 6: "scientific american"/La America Científica, AstroDime member Amanda Gill did a short video about Henrietta Lacks, an African American woman who died in 1951 of cervical cancer in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Her cells were the first human cells to propagate outside the human body. As a result, many advances in medicine and cancer research have been made.

However, her family was not treated ethically after this "discovery" and was not compensated or acknowledged for their contribution. This brings up many ethical questions about what happens even today, when you "donate" a portion of your body and DNA during medical treatment.

Henrientta has not been truly acknowledged for her (involuntary) contribution until recently. However, in my mind, she is truly a "scientific american". Since Rebecca Skloot's book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, (2010) things have changed. In 2011, Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland awarded her a posthumous honorary degree. In Vancouver, Washington, United States, a new high school is going to be named in her honor: Henrietta Lacks Health and Bioscience High School (HeLa High)
http://www.evergreenhbsa.com/

Here are some other resources on Henrietta Lacks to learn more about her:

Wikipedia entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henrietta_Lacks

A foundation for the Lacks family set up by Skloot and the family after she wrote the book:
http://www.henriettalacksfoundation.org/

Fascinating BBC documentary by Adam Curtis, archived for free. The music is a little dated, but the interviews reveal a lot about the implicit racism of science in the treatment of Henrietta Lacks.
http://www.archive.org/details/AdamCurtisTheWayofAllFlesh

-sam smiley