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A review by midici
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
4.0
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is an incredible work of nonfiction that pulls together the story of a woman whose tissue revolutionized science; a woman who was used without consent and whose family was left unaware of her impact, living in poverty without access to health care.
I've taken biology classes in university, so I had heard of HeLa cells before reading this book. They're an immortal cell line, living continuously since they were taken from their source, and have been used in countless studies. HeLa cells helped create the polio vaccine, they were the first cells to be cloned, they have gone to space, and have been subject to just about every substance a scientist has ever wanted to study.
The story of Henrietta Lacks, however, is not a story I knew. She was a real woman, with a family that loved and mourned her. A family that is as integral to this story as Henrietta is herself.
I think the most fascinating part of this book is how the story of HeLa is intertwined with the growing regard for ethics in scientific research and the history of scientific misuse and abuse. When HeLa cells were first being mass produced, they were being sold from a factory in Tuskegee - at the same time and in the same city as the now infamous Tuskegee syphilis study. When a researcher wanted to inject her cells into patients to see if it would become cancerous - without really telling the patients what it was for - the only doctors to object were three Jewish doctors; this was just after the Nuremberg trials. The ideas about informed consent came into being just after doctors took blood from Henrietta's family; they believe they were being tested for cancer but the blood was being used for genetic profiling against the original HeLa cells instead.
Science is sometimes seen as some sort of objective bubble that lives outside of biases or societal issues. It's the complete opposite - what is happening in society informs what research is done, who benefits - and who is being exploited. Rebecca Skloot did an impeccable job with her research and weaves a vibrant, compelling, informative tale about the Lacks family and the scientific legacy that lives on through HeLa.
I've taken biology classes in university, so I had heard of HeLa cells before reading this book. They're an immortal cell line, living continuously since they were taken from their source, and have been used in countless studies. HeLa cells helped create the polio vaccine, they were the first cells to be cloned, they have gone to space, and have been subject to just about every substance a scientist has ever wanted to study.
The story of Henrietta Lacks, however, is not a story I knew. She was a real woman, with a family that loved and mourned her. A family that is as integral to this story as Henrietta is herself.
I think the most fascinating part of this book is how the story of HeLa is intertwined with the growing regard for ethics in scientific research and the history of scientific misuse and abuse. When HeLa cells were first being mass produced, they were being sold from a factory in Tuskegee - at the same time and in the same city as the now infamous Tuskegee syphilis study. When a researcher wanted to inject her cells into patients to see if it would become cancerous - without really telling the patients what it was for - the only doctors to object were three Jewish doctors; this was just after the Nuremberg trials. The ideas about informed consent came into being just after doctors took blood from Henrietta's family; they believe they were being tested for cancer but the blood was being used for genetic profiling against the original HeLa cells instead.
Science is sometimes seen as some sort of objective bubble that lives outside of biases or societal issues. It's the complete opposite - what is happening in society informs what research is done, who benefits - and who is being exploited. Rebecca Skloot did an impeccable job with her research and weaves a vibrant, compelling, informative tale about the Lacks family and the scientific legacy that lives on through HeLa.