This week we are wrapping up the Henrietta Lacks Story! We will talk about the increased attention on the Lacks family including a BBC Documentary team, A con artist who called himself Doctor Sir Lord Keenan Kester Cofield, and Rebecca Skloot, the author of our source material.

We will actually get into the trail of breadcrumbs that Skloot used to meet Deborah Lacks for the first time and then talk about there relationship as they uncover more and more about Henrietta's life together over a nearly 10 year long process to write "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks"

Scientists also discover what actually caused Henriettas Cancer in the first place and use that information to help create a HPV Vaccine. We talk about the attempt to create a Henrietta lacks Museum in Turner Station.

Then we finish by discussing a movie based on the book, a new law recognizing Henrietta passed through congress, and an ongoing group of unjust enrichment lawsuits against some major biomedical companies who profited off of the manufacture of Hela cells over the years.

This was a crazy story and we hope you enjoyed it!

Sources:

“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot (2010)

“Henrietta Lacks Enhancing Cancer Research Act” by American Cancer Society Cancer action network(2014)

“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks-IMDB page” Directed by George C. Wolfe (2017)

“What does the historic settlement won by Henrietta Lacks's family mean for others” by Meredith Wadman (2023)

“Novartis Settles with Henrietta Lacks' Estate over use of her cancercells to advance medicine” by Brian Witte Associated Press (2026)

“Henrietta Lacks: Family of woman whos cells were 'stolen' settles second lawsuit” by Max Matza (2026)

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Hey all,

We're taking two weeks off to regroup and catch up on life stuff and try to get our baby to sleep again. We will back July 7th and hit the group running! In the meantime, enjoy some of our old series or just enjoy the warm weather! See you in July!

Thanks for listening!

Send us a text! Let us know what topics you want us to cover!

This episode we get a bit more into how the family was effected by the news that part of their mother was still alive.

We talk about the founding of John Hopkins and the pretty warranted fears that the black community had for night doctors and scientists looking to use black bodies for experiments.

Then we get into the beginning of a legal debate determining whether we should retain property rights to parts of our body once they are disguarded. We talk about Ted Slaven who set up his own deal with the pharmaceutical companies to sell his blood eventually starting a company to produce and sell biological products splitting profits directly with the donors as partners. Slaven's blood would eventually be used to create a Hepatitis Vaccine.

We also talk about John Moore who had an incredibly rare type of Leukemia and a 22 lbs spleen. The cell line created with his spleen and samples taken were valued at three billion dollars. He would eventually take UCLA and his doctor to court suing them for theft of his body.

Hope you enjoy!

Send us a text! Let us know what topics you want us to cover!