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In this episode, we dive into the messy world of bioethics through two infamous cases: Henrietta Lacks and her immortal HeLa cells and the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment. We unpack how a woman’s cells were taken without consent and changed medicine forever, while an unethical government study left hundreds of Black men untreated in the name of “research.” These stories raise tough questions about informed consent, racism in medicine, and the dark history of medical research in the United States.

Resources:

https://www.britannica.com/science/HeLa-cellulture | Britannica

https://www.biography.com/history-culture/henrietta-lacks

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/who-was-henrietta-lacks-heres-how-hela-cells-became-essential-to-medical-research

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/the-stolen-cells-of-henrietta-lacks-and-their-ongoing-contribution-to-science#A-lack-of-trust

https://www.cdc.gov/tuskegee/about/timeline.html?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/tuskegee/timeline.htm

https://www.history.com/articles/the-infamous-40-year-tuskegee-study

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