Informed Consent

Due to the fact that Henrietta’s cells were the first human cells grown in a lab that did not die after a few cell divisions, they could be used for conducting many experiments. Her cells were considered “immortal”. This was a major breakthrough in medical and biological research. One major breakthrough was the development of a vaccine for polio. To test the vaccine the cells were quickly put into mass production in the first-ever cell production factory. Another enormous breakthrough was the successful cloning of human cells in 1955. Demand for the HeLa cells grew quickly. Since they were put into mass production, Henrietta’s cells have been mailed to scientists around the globe from “research into cancer, AIDS, the effects of radiation and toxic substances, gene mapping, and countless other scientific pursuits.” (Smith, 2002, "Wonder Woman: The Life, Death, and Life After Death of Henrietta Lacks, Unwitting Heroine of Modern Medical Science".) HeLa cells have been used to test human sensitivity to tape, glue, cosmetics, and many other products. Scientists have grown some 20 tons of her cells, and there are almost 11,000 patents involving HeLa cells. (Batts, 2010)

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot, is the story of Rebecca’s journey in discovering the truth behind HeLa cells. HeLa cells are the first line of”immortal cells” grown in culture; scientists have tried to culture cells before, but the cells died within days of incubation, so HeLa cells were a revolution in the scientific world. With HeLa cells, scientists created vaccines for polio, tested nuclear radiation, and saw how cells reacted in space. Companies benefited when they produced HeLa cultures, and made millions. Although, not many people knew where HeLa cells came from or Henrietta Lacks, whose cells were cultivated without her consent and named HeLa, died of cancer without her

In this semester’s book club, I have enjoyed the book called The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. This book describes a true and famous cell line in the medical research field, that is the first immortal cell line in the world, HeLa cells. Not until I finished reading this fantastic book, I know that the HeLa cells were taken from a cervical cancer patient, Henrietta Lacks, without letting her know the truth about using her cells in research, even though she died. What more surprising to me was that her family lived a hard life without health insurance while the researchers make many profits from developing HeLa cells, they were never informed about their family member’s devotion to the scientific research.

In the novel, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot, scientists steal cancerous cells from a middle aged black woman named Henrietta Lacks without her consent. She soon passed away and her cells were then put in culture and, unlike any other cells previously, succeeded in growing and reproducing outside of the body. This new breakthrough led to a scientific revolution that changed the world as we know it. The cells, called HeLa, were mass produced in factories and distributed all around the world. They allowed scientists to conduct studies and experiments that were impossible before; consequently, numerous new discoveries and cures were made and polio was eradicated. However, Henrietta’s family had no idea what her cells did

We had to read a book that was written about the HeLa cells and all that they have done. The title of the book is The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and was written by Rebecca Skloot. The cells that were taken from (He)nrietta (La)cks are so special because they were the first human cells ever grown in culture that were immortal. They never die, and they reproduce at great speeds. HeLa cells helped aid the progression of gene mapping, vaccines for various of diseases and also replaced the use of animals in some cosmetics

Maheen Ismail Mrs.Lyons Ap Language and composition July 23, 2015 Henrietta Lacks, known to scientists as HeLa, begins as just another involuntary research subject to the scientific community, "everyone in his lab saw Henrietta's sample as something tedious"(33). It is not until later that scientists realize that HeLa can be a vital asset to new scientific studies. In the process of the HeLa cells being developed, observed, and researched, Henrietta knows nothing of it, nor does she give permission to extract her cells. Henrietta and her family are left in the dark, while her cells are being sold for millions and bringing fame to many scientists. In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Rebecca Skloot shows the tragic death of the loving mother/wife, due to cervical cancer.

Her cells, taken without her consent from a cervical cancer biopsy, became the first human immortal cell line. Rebecca Skloot’s book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, tells about her life, her cells and her family. It discusses both the stories of the Lacks family and the history behind the HeLa cell line. HeLa has been the cornerstone of numerous medical advances. For nearly 60 years, the body of the woman who revolutionized modern medicine laid in an unmarked grave in Clover,

Bringing Henrietta to Life: Creating Dialogue on Disparities across Disciplines Henrietta Lacks was a woman who made an eye-opening breakthrough in medicine in the early 1950s. Her cells were the first immortal cells to be discovered which paved the way for developing the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, in-vitro fertilization, and more. Unfortunately, there are two sides to every story. Although, modern medicine would not be where it is today without Hela cells, Henrietta’s family continued to struggle with her legacy because of the health disparities associated with ethics, race, and medicine. Henrietta’s cells were taken without her knowledge and used to cure various medical conditions.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2010) is a result of Rebecca Skloot’s discovery and findings devoted to Henrietta’s life story along with her family members that revived the real person behind tremendous scientific accomplishments sprung of immortal HeLa cells’ exploitation. The research of HeLa cells has changed various areas of medical study and stepped forward scientific breakthroughs that continues today. HeLa cells were central for developing the polio vaccine; exposed secrets of breast cancer and leukemia; lead to important advances in vitro fertilization, cloning, genetic hybrids, gene mapping in virology, HIV, HPV, tuberculosis, telomerase, salmonella, live cell transport, for profit distribution of cells, scientific standards, space biology and nanotech (Skloot 2). HeLa, “Goddess of Death” (Skloot 250), cells have been exposed to household chemicals, drugs, cosmetics, viruses, radiation, and biological weapons (Skloot 252). Following Henrietta Lacks’ death in 1951 “from a vicious case of cervical cancer” (Skloot 3), doctors began a massive production of trillions of HeLa cells each week. The produce, more than fifty million metric tons, of a HeLa factory has been bought and sold by the billions. In spite of all of this, Henrietta Lacks, the woman from whom HeLa cells came, stayed unknown to the public for a half of the century and buried in an unmarked grave. Even Henrietta’s family for many years stayed ignorant about what had been accomplished using their

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot is a nonfiction book about Henrietta Lacks, an African American woman living in the 1920’s-1950’s. When she was thirty, doctors diagnosed Henrietta with cervical cancer. Doctors at John’s Hopkins took her cells without her permission and used these cells to create the first and most widely used cell line, named HeLa after Henrietta’s initials. Soon after the doctors took Henrietta’s cells, she died from her vicious cervical cancer, however her cells lived on in the hands of scientists around the world. Since then, her cells have been mass produced and used to test the polio vaccine, research cancer, AIDS, radiation, and human longevity, and develop drugs for treating herpes, leukemia, and hemophilia. Henrietta’s family did not know anything about the HeLa cell line until twenty-five years after Henrietta’s death, and even after HeLa cells created a multimillion-dollar industry, Henrietta’s family never received compensation. Even now, Henrietta remains widely unknown, and her family can’t afford health insurance.

The story of Henrietta Lacks and HeLa cells is one to remember. It is truly amazing how one person’s cancerous cells could impact science and the lives of so many. In the book sections of “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”, Rebbeca Skloot did a wonderful job portraying how Henerietta’s cells have had a positive affect on scientific studies. She described what HeLa cells have done and how studies with these cells have evolved over time. The movie “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” provided good insight on Henrietta’s family and described what they have been through since the passing of their mother.

In the book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot, a college student learns about Henrietta Lacks, becomes infatuated with her life, and wants uncover the mystery behind the cells that made history. Henrietta Lacks is an African American woman who died of cervical cancer. During the time of her treatment, her cells were “stolen” from her, taken to a lab and grown to aid in scientific research. These cells were known to society as “HeLa cells”, which assisted with vaccine discoveries and helped scientist receive a better understanding of human life. Although HeLa cells played a significant role in human advancement, Henrietta Lacks and her family suffered tremendously. Henrietta did not give consent for her cells to be taken or used for research, which

The stories of many different experiments are ancillary stories because no reader could possibly remember the myriad of examples of medical research using HeLa cells that are mentioned in the book. But, the sometimes tedious descriptions of this research is used as a tool by Skloot, with her scientific background, to intensify the significance of the extraordinary discovery of Henrietta’s cells and her story. Although Skloot writes in detail about the importance of HeLa in medicine, it is unrealistic that a reader remembers that HeLa helps develop the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, understanding genetic diagnoses, along with the countless other scientific discoveries made possible by HeLa. Without these ancillary stories of the scientific research, the main goal of Skloot’s book, to uncover and expose the life behind the cells, would become irrelevant if the extraordinary impact of the cells was not made evident to the

“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot is a medical biography that has forced me to question the ethics of the methods used in past scientific discoveries. HeLa cells are an immortal cell line that has been a major tool used in biological discoveries; such as the vaccine for polio, discovery of genetic diseases, cloning, and HIV and cancer treatments. Although most of the general public rarely has heard of HeLa cells, they receive the benefits of the medical research HeLa cells have been instrumental in creating. Even those who know of HeLa cells most likely did not know they originated from a poor, black, uneducated woman named Henrietta Lacks, before the release of Skloot’s biography. Lacks had a fatal case of cervical cancer

The book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, was a nonfiction story about the life of Henrietta Lacks, who died of cervical cancer in 1951. Henrietta did not know that her doctor took a sample of her cancer cells a few months before she died. “Henrietta cells that called HeLa were the first immortal human cells ever grown in a laboratory” (Skloot 22). In fact, the cells from her cervix are the most important advances in medical research. Rebecca was interested to write this story because she was anxious with the story of HeLa cells. When she was in biology class, her professor named Donald Defler gave a lecture about cells. Defler tells the story about Henrietta Lacks and HeLa cells. However, the professor ended his