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Henrietta Lacks is born in Roanoke, Virginia
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The Nurember Code is produced
A set of ethical standards for human experimentation. It is produced as the result of a trial against several Nazi doctors who conducted experiements on prisoners during World War !!. -
George Gey creates immortal cell lines
Gey successfully cultures the first immortal human cell ine using cells from Henrietta's cervix. -
Henrietta dies
Henrietta Lacks dies of an unusually aggressive strain of cervical cancer. -
HeLa goes postal
HeLa cells become the first living cells shipped via postal mail. -
The HeLa Factory
The Tuskegee Institute opens the first "HeLa factory," supplying cells to laboratories and researchers and operating as a nonprofit. Within a few years, a company names Microbiological Associates would begin selling HeLa for profit. -
Polio vaccine is developed using HeLa cells
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HeLa cells become the first cells ever cloned
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Southam's Experiments
Chester Southam begins to conduct experiments without patient consent to see whether or not injections of HeLa cells could cause cancer. -
Informed Consent first appears in court documents
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Southam suspended
The Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York finds Southam and a colleague guilty of unprofessional conduct and calls for stricter guidelines regarding human research subjects and informed consent. -
NIH requires the approval for research
To ensure adherence to the new guidelines for research involving human subjects, the National Institutes of Health begins requiring the approval of Institutional Review Boards for any research they fund. -
The HeLa Bomb
It is discovered that HeLa cells have contaminated numerous cell lines. -
HeLa is publically identified as Henrietta Lacks
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The Lacks Family finds out
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Hopkins takes Henrietta's childrens' cells without informed consent.
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Michael Rogers' Rolling Stone article
The Double-Edged HelixMichael Rogers publishes an article about HeLa and the Lacks family in Rolling Stone magazine. The Lacks family learns for the first time that Henrietta's cells have been commercialized (sold for profit). -
John Moore unsucessfully sues his doctors.
John Moore unsucessfully sues his doctors and the Board of Regents of the University of California for property rights over his tissues. Moore appeals the decision. -
Henrietta's medical recaords published without her consent.
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HIPAA created
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act makes it illegal for health-care providers or heath insurers to make personal medical inormation public. -
Zakariyya and Deborah visit Hopkins
