this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2023
101 points (100.0% liked)

Science

12955 readers
40 users here now

Studies, research findings, and interesting tidbits from the ever-expanding scientific world.

Subcommunities on Beehaw:

Be sure to also check out these other Fediverse science communities:

This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
alyaza@beehaw.org
Gaywallet@beehaw.org
remington@beehaw.org
101
Family of Henrietta Lacks, whose HeLa cells uphold medicine, settles with biotech company (apnews.com)
submitted 1 year ago by Griseowulfin@beehaw.org to c/science@beehaw.org
10 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

HeLa cells have changed the field of medicine and have led to multitudes of life saving innovations. Unfortunately, the donor, Henrietta Lacks, did not consent to the harvesting of the cell line, and until now, her and her family have not received compensation from companies that profited from products tested and designed with the HeLa cell line. Her family reached a settlement with the company that maintains the cell line for the industry.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[โ€“] nevemsenki@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

To be honest, they are not really due any more than Walt Disney benefitting the copyright for infinity after an author's death. But I guess as long as WD keeps getting money, so can they.

[โ€“] FlyboyM@lemmy.fmhy.net 13 points 1 year ago

I think they are owed something. These cells were taken without her knowledge, consent, or compensation. Even the family was unaware of what happened for a period of time while companies made millions from this.