The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks By Rebecca Skloot
TIC673 HeLa Assignment 2018
In one of the best seller novel, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” the author Rebecca Skloot describes about the first human immortal cells that lived in laboratory culture and about the story of black, 31-year-old woman from whom these cells were obtained. The cells which not only proved to be most important in the field of medicine but also brought medical revolution were obtained from her without her or her family’s knowledge leading to the most debatable ethical issues. The following essay would describe the cell’s contribution to science, how they were obtained and some of the ethical issues violated.
Henrietta’s cells did much good for the society. One of the biggest contribution was the polio vaccine.
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By using these cells, scientists succeed to prove Salk vaccine as effective which later helped to prevent the disease of polio. This is the reason why Skloot stated “Soon the New York Times would run pictures of black woman hunched over microscopes examining cells and black hands holding vials of HeLa”. (Skloot, 2010, p. 96) Also, HeLa cells proved to be more useful than normal cells in study of different viruses because they divided really fast. For that the author stated in the book, “HeLa was a workhorse: it was hardy, it was inexpensive, and it was everywhere”. (Skloot, 2010, p. 97) They helped to study viruses of herpes, mumps, measles, equine encephalitis and many more in very less cost. Scientists also made advances by freezing the cells without changing or harming them. Also, they created first human cell clones whose technology later helped in cloning whole organisms, stem cell isolation and in-vitro fertilization. Due to HeLa cells scientists could do gene mapping and also identify chromosomal disorders like Down syndrome, Turner syndrome and Klinefelter syndrome. The HeLa cells were sold massively and earned big profits because of the increased demand. HeLa cells
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1695 Words | 7 PagesWhat could not have possibly been imagined was how this could ultimately affect the family of Henrietta Lacks. HeLa cells were unlike any other cells. They grew in mass quantities, and continued to multiply and grow in culture whereas other human cells stopped. This eventually lead to interest in the Lacks family and their genetics. Some family members were afraid for their medical health and what would happen to their genetic material if they went to the doctor.
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244 Words | 1 PagesThe Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a novel written by Rebecca Skloot, a science reporter, depicting the lives of Henrietta Lacks’s family and their connection between them and Henrietta’s famous cancer cells “HeLa Cells”. Henrietta Lacks was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 1951 and was treated with radium and radiation therapy. During her treatment process, the tumor and other cancerous tissue that was removed from her body was sent George Gey's lab at Hopkins to be grown in test tubes all without Lacks’s consent or knowledge. The cells were successfully able to divide and give the scientific community a good supply of human cancer cells to experiment on. The Lacks’s family was never informed about the cells even when there were amazing
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1147 Words | 5 PagesHeLa cells were used in all kinds of research and cure many diseases. They were used in the first mission to space to see what would happen to cells in zero gravity, they were a very important part to finding the polio vaccine, they were used in cloning, gene mapping and also in vitro fertilization (History, Travel, Arts, Science, People, Places/ Smithsonian). Henrietta never had claim to her cell and what they did until 20 years after she died and finally, even after efforts to keep it hiding, in 1970s her real name started to leak out into the
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461 Words | 2 PagesOne story follows Skloot and her journey on finding and convincing the Lacks’ family to be interviewed about the women behind the immortal cells. Another one talks about the remarkable things that HeLa cells have done in the research of the medical field such as cancer treatment, AIDs research, and the polio vaccine. The final one is on the topic of informed consent and how doctors have been doing tests on their patients without their knowledge.
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1513 Words | 7 PagesThe Lacks Family E HeLa cells were discovered over sixty years ago. HeLa cells have become the foundation to many modern vaccines and have been used in scientific research since its discovery. If one were to step into a cell culture lab anywhere in the world and open its freezers, there would be millions of HeLa cells in small vials behind its doors. As much of a remarkable discovery as they may be, many fail to recognize their origin. HeLa cells were not a creation made by man in a lab, but a discovery found inside a woman.
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520 Words | 3 PagesHenrietta’s cells became the first to manage to live outside of the body in a culture created by Margaret, and these cells are still growing to this day. They have been packaged, shipped and sold countless times. The HeLa cells have made the biggest contribution to human kind in regards of medical research on cancer, polio, and many more viruses. There is a report of the insane experiments done to these cells, and since they are not a person, ethical limitations are nonexistent. HeLa opened the gates to
The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks By Rebecca Skloot
585 Words | 3 PagesAs soon as Gey realized what he had discovered he ordered a large factory to be built to mass produce HeLa cells, its main purpose was to discover a cure for Polio (Skloot, Pg. 93), but not only did it provide aid in the medical world, but companies such as cosmetic corporations could test the effects of their makeup and other cosmetics on cell health (Skloot, Pg. 102). The possibilities of research with HeLa cell were endless, anything from the research on atomic radiations effect on cells and how to reverse the damage, to the discovery of cells being able to live on after the extraction of their nucleus, and even the vast amount of studies of chemotherapy drugs, hormones, vitamins, and environmental stress proved the importance of HeLa cells in modern research (Skloot, Pg. 102). For the first time ever, scientists were able to properly identify the correct number of chromosomes and map them out, this further lead to the ability of being able to diagnose diseases where individuals had an excess or lack of chromosomes such as Trisomy 21 or Klinefelter syndrome (Skloot, Pg. 100). The science world had finally found a way to overcome the expense and strenuous procedures to obtain cell subjects, scientist could test the effect of gravity, the pressure of deep sea diving by spinning the cells in a centrifuge (Skloot,
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215 Words | 1 PagesDuring the twentieth century, the word had known many unprecedented inventions and discoveries that had radically shaped our way of life. The field of discovery that touched human’s life the most, was the medical field. One of the most important achievements in science that opened the doors to many other scientific discoveries was the seccefull culture of the first human cells in laboratory. Those cells were named HeLa. HeLa cells were taken from the cervical of a black woman in Charles Hopkins hospital in Baltimore, where she went to trait cancer.
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2855 Words | 12 PagesThey didn’t grow the HeLa cells for a good cause. I think that it was good that journalists wanted to find out the real woman behind HeLa cells and wanting to contacting the family. The public and Henrietta’s family should have the right to know that Henrietta is the woman whose cells have changed the world. When Henrietta had passed away, her children were sent away to live with Ethel and Galen. Joe received such great abuse from Ethel.
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1514 Words | 7 PagesHutchins, Grover M.; Lucey, Brendan P.; Nelson-Rees, Walter A. “Henrietta Lacks, HeLa Cells, and Cell Culture Contamination” 1 September, 2009 https://meridian.allenpress.com/aplm/article/133/9/1463/460899/Henrietta-Lacks-HeLa-Cells-and-Cell-Culture This source gives interesting information about HeLa cells, and how they contaminated nearly every cell line in the ATCC (American Type Culture Control). The ATCC keeps original samples in a sterile environment, and for many years, HeLa cells had been contaminating their samples without anyone
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823 Words | 4 PagesBut that’s not what happened. They created the first immortal human-cell line. From that point on, HeLa cells were in high demand.
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1459 Words | 6 PagesWhether the motive behind the research was to improve human health, or to make money, the physicians neglected the real reason Henrietta was there, seeking help as a patient. Their later studies proved to be successful, but the unethical actions behind taking the cells remain just as prominent as the
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987 Words | 4 PagesAs dark and horrid as the beginning of the HeLa research program was, there was a come to peace and rightfully settling of human advancement through Henrietta’s ultimate sacrifice of life. Through Henrietta’s pain, agony and de-humanization if it wasn’t for her unknown personal effort, much impact has been made on quality of human intuition towards certain toxins, viruses and other illnesses. The HeLa cells has established a line of defense towards protecting any further harmful testing to be conducted on other living creatures such as animals and humans. Unknown illnesses and viruses can be tested against the HeLa cells to exemplify how a human body cell may take effect against harmful illnesses and viruses. Ultimately for the greater good, Henrietta’s family over the years could come to the consensus of peace and acceptance through her impact on scientific research.
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1020 Words | 5 PagesThe Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks tells the story of Henrietta, an African-American woman whose cells were used to create the first immortal human cell line. Told through the eyes of her daughter, Deborah Lacks, aided by journalist Rebecca Skloot. Deborah wanted to learn about her mother, and to understand how the unauthorized harvesting of Lacks cancerous cells in 1951 led to unprecedented medical breakthroughs, changing countless lives and the face of medicine forever. It is a story of medical arrogance and triumph, race, poverty and deep friendship between the unlikeliest people. There had been many books published about Henrietta’s cells, but nothing about Henrietta’s personality, experiences, feeling, life style etc.
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561 Words | 3 PagesThis was something new to them and it hadn’t been seen before. The reason for being a discovery is that before the cells that had been cultured from other cells would only survive for a few days. However, with Henrietta’s cells they were able to isolate one specific cell, multiply it and start the HeLa cell line (Henrietta Lacks Biography (1920–1951)). They named them HeLa after her first two letters of her first name and the first two letters of her last name. These cells were the first human cells grown in a lab, and were used to conduct many experiments.
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