Havasupai

Settlement with family of Henrietta Lacks is an opportunity to reflect on inequalities in genetic research

Retrieved on: 
Friday, August 4, 2023
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It was also the day the Lacks family reached a settlement with Thermo Fisher Scientific, the biotech company that used and profited from her “HeLa” cells.

Key Points: 
  • It was also the day the Lacks family reached a settlement with Thermo Fisher Scientific, the biotech company that used and profited from her “HeLa” cells.
  • Though the details remain confidential, this settlement is a long-awaited moment of justice and victory for Lacks and her family.
  • However, the inequalities suffered by Lacks remain problems of the present.

Henrietta Lacks’s story

    • Her cells were taken and retained for research purposes by white physicians and researchers at the hospital.
    • It was Rebecca Skloot’s 2010 book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks that drew attention to Lacks’s story and highlighted the racialized and patriarchal nature of medical ethics and research practices.
    • Advocates — mainly people of colour — used the pandemic and subsequent COVID-19 vaccine developments to bring Lacks’s story back to life.

Not just her: Other stories of inequality

    • Moore had hairy cell leukemia and, as part of his treatment, underwent a splenectomy at the University of California Los Angeles Medical Centre in 1976.
    • Like Lacks’s, Moore’s cells had been unknowingly and unlawfully processed and patented as the “Mo” cell line.
    • This violated the Havasupai’s consent agreement and had deeper repercussions, as these topics were considered taboo by the tribe.

The fight isn’t over yet

    • But it should also serve as a reminder that the fight for a fairer and more equitable framework of medical ethics and genetic research is not over.
    • Genetic materials are generally treated like any other objects and little to no consideration is given to the person.

As COVID-19 Rates Spike, Lucky Brand Surpasses 150,000 Masks Donated Or Sold Through Its 'Get 5, Give 5' Community Initiative

Retrieved on: 
Friday, June 26, 2020
Regions of the United States, ARIZONA, Native American tribes in Arizona, States of the United States, Grand Canyon, Havasupai, Mask, Navajo Nation, Hualapai, Supai, Arizona, Hopi

To date, Lucky Brand has sold and donated over 150,000 masks, equally split, through their "Get 5, Give 5" program, and other community outreach.

Key Points: 
  • To date, Lucky Brand has sold and donated over 150,000 masks, equally split, through their "Get 5, Give 5" program, and other community outreach.
  • Donated masks have reached 39 Los Angeles based organizations focused on supporting BIPOC, the unhoused community and low-income Angelenos who have been disproportionately affected by this health and economic crisis.
  • Lucky Brand has also provided thousands of masks to the Navajo, Hopi, Havasupai, Hualapai, and Pasqual Yacqui tribes in the Arizona area.
  • The brand believes that fabric innovation and technologies are key to continually improving the category while complementing consumers' lifestyles.