The astonishing story of Henrietta Lacks, who died of cancer in 1951 but whose still living cells are now the basis for much medical research, has captivated the U.S. for the past two years — and there is no sign of the debate, or its controversies, abating.
As revealed in the bestselling 2011 book "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks," this is a tale of a poor black tobacco farmer who never consented to having her tissues taken but whose cancer cells have proved so important they have formed the foundation for work leading to two Nobel prizes.
Yet Lacks' family never knew about it — even as the cells were used around the world in research, or when they themselves were asked for blood samples two decades later. The book described the indignity of the family's ordeal even as giant corporations profited hugely from Lacks' cells, known as HeLa in medical parlance.