The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Rebecca Skloot is an award-winning science journalist whose work has appeared in publications such as The New York Times Magazine, O, The Oprah Magazine, Discover, and others. She was a correspondent for NPR's Radiolab and PBS's Nova ScienceNOW and co-edited The Best American Science Writing 2011.
Her full name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists referred to her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, but her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of medicine's most important tools: the first "immortal" human cells grown in culture, which are still alive today, despite the fact that she has been dead for more than sixty years. HeLa cells were critical in the development of the polio vaccine, unearthed secrets about cancer, viruses, and the consequences of the atomic bomb, aided in major developments such as in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping, and have been bought and sold in the billions.
Henrietta Lacks, on the other hand, is virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked cemetery.
Henrietta's family learned of her "immortality" more than two decades after her death, when scientists studying HeLa began utilizing her husband and children in research without their informed consent. And, despite the fact that the cells established a multimillion-dollar industry selling human biological materials, her family never saw any of the proceeds. As Rebecca Skloot expertly demonstrates, the Lacks family's history, both past and present, is intricately linked to the horrific history of experimentation on African Americans, the development of bioethics, and legal conflicts over whether we have control over the stuff we are made of.
Rebecca became involved in the life of the Lacks family, particularly Henrietta's daughter Deborah, throughout the decade it took to uncover this narrative. Deborah was plagued by doubts: had scientists cloned her mother? Had they murdered her in order to harvest her cells? And, if her mother was so significant in medicine, how come her children couldn't afford health insurance?
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks captures the beauty and drama of scientific discovery, as well as its human consequences. It is intimate in feeling, astonishing in scope, and impossible to put down.
Author: Rebecca Skloot
Link to buy: https://www.amazon.com/Immortal-Life-Henrietta-Lacks/dp/1400052181/
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