Hollenbeck 1

Hannah Hollenbeck
Vanderslik
ENG100-15
30 October 2014
Lack and NIH Make Peace
The cells of Henrietta Lacks have been the main cause of many scientific advancements
in the past decades. However, Lacks herself was never aware before she passed of cervical
cancer, that her cells would be taken and used for research. For years, her own family had no
idea that her cells were still alive in petri dishes in scientists labs. They eventually learned they
had fueled a line called HeLa cells, which have generated billions of dollars(Caplan 2013)
None of this money has been seen by the Lacks family, and never will. The new understanding
between the NIH and the Lacks family does not include any financial compensation for the
family. (Caplan 2013) The NIH and the Lacks family have made peace, however, they have
made it so that the Lacks genome data will not be able to be accessed without having approval
and permission granted.
In this article the author explained the story of Henrietta Lacks and the important role that
her cells had in scientific research. He also explained that the genome data of the Lacks had
previously been published and was available to the public. There was a meeting between the NIH
and the Lacks that settled the discomforts that the family had. The NIH assured them that access
to the full genome would only be for researchers.