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Md. Congressmen Introduce Resolution To Honor Henrietta Lacks

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Maryland congressmen introduced a resolution Wednesday that would honor Henrietta Lacks for her contributions to medical research.

RELATED: HBO Releases Trailer For Henrietta Lacks Movie

U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin, along with Congressmen Elijah E. Cummings, Dutch Ruppersberger, John Sarbanes and John Delaney introduced the bill to honor Lacks as part of Women's History Month.

Henrietta Lacks's cells, which were collected without her or her family's knowledge from a piece of her tumor, have led to several breakthroughs in medical science.

Lacks died of cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1951, and her cells were used to create what's considered the first immortal human cell line.

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