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Henrietta Lacks (August 18 (?), 1920 – October 4, 1951) was the involuntary donor of cells from her cancerous tumor, which were cultured by George Otto Gey to create an immortal cell line for medical research. This is now known as the HeLa cell line.

By 1954, HeLa was used by Jonas Salk to develop a vaccine for polio. As stated by reporter Van Smith in 2002 a demand for HeLa cells “quickly rose … the cells were put into mass production and traveled around the globe- even into space, on an unmanned satellite to determine whether human tissues could survive zero gravity”.

Smith continued, “In the half-century since Henrietta Lacks’ death, her … cells … have continually been used for research into cancer, AIDS, the effects of radiation and toxic substances, gene mapping, and countless other scientific pursuits”. HeLa cells have been used to test human sensitivity to tape, glue, cosmetics, and many other products.