Author: Rebecca Skloot
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Publication Date: February 2, 2010
Format: Hardback, 369 pages
Genre: Non Fiction, History, Science
How I Got It: Borrowed it from my dad
Goodreads Summary:
Who, you might ask, is Henrietta Lacks (1920-1951) and why is she the subject of a book? On the surface, this short-lived African American Virginian seems an unlikely candidate for immortality. The most remarkable thing about her, some might argue, is that she had ten children during her thirty-one years on earth. Actually, we all owe Ms. Lacks a great debt and some of us owe her our lives. As Rebecca Skloot tells us in this riveting human story, Henrietta was the involuntary donor of cells from her cancerous tumors that have been cultured to create an immortal cell line for medical research. These so-called HeLa cells have not only generated billions of dollars for the medical industry; they have helped uncover secrets of cancers, viruses, fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping. A vivid, exciting story; a 2010 Discover Great New Books finalist; a surprise bestseller.
Review:
I have to write a short review of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks because I read my dad's copy while I was home visiting and he wouldn't let me take it with me when I left, so I don't have it to refresh myself. I highly recommend watching the book trailer first.
Henrietta Lacks' cancer cells were the first human cells successfully grown outside of the body. My father is a microbiologist and has used HeLa cells for years. He says they're this amazing strand of cells that are aggressive but more importantly can not only be kept alive but can continue to grow. Today if somebody is working with them they have to have their own lab because if even a single HeLa cell contaminates other samples or experiments the cells will overtake whatever was being studied. Henrietta's cells have been the cause of many scientific and medical breakthroughs - like the cure for Polio.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is not just a book about science and medical history, it's also about Henrietta's family and how they struggled during her illness and after her death. The family couldn't even afford a gravestone for their mother but companies were making billions of dollars off of her cancer cells. In the 70's researchers wanted to better understand Henrietta's genetics and began to contact the Lacks family to request blood samples. This is how her family finds out that Henrietta's cells were being used for research. They can't take their mother's cells back (they are in thousands of labs around the world and literally tons of cells) nor can they get any restitution because of the statute of limitations and it would mean suing thousands of labs and companies around the world. Henrietta's daughter wonders if her mother died of her cancer or if her doctors let her die because of her cancer cells (this is the time of the Tuskegee syphilis experiment). Did her mother get adequate health care or was she simply a science experiment? Healthy and cancerous parts of her cervix and been removed and sent to another doctor for study - all without her knowledge or permission. Henrietta later died in a great deal of pain after eight months of treatments. Towards the end of the book, I think it was her grandson who pointed out that he didn't "want to mess up science" by trying to stop the use of the HeLa cells but restitution would have been nice all those years ago.
This book is guaranteed to upset if not anger you. It's not just the family's grinding poverty while others prospered, but the question of who really owns your body. Pharmaceutical companies today are trying to patent genomes and the like (there are over several thousand patents involving HeLa cells), they want to own part of the human body. It wasn't that long ago that labs could keep your tissue samples, send them out, experiment on them, maybe even make money off it without telling you. Not all tissue samples are destroyed, some get stored for later testing or experimentation long after you've left the hospital. So, do you own your body, did you give up parts of it, and can companies own it? Should they pay you or your family anything after they did all of the work?
You don't need a science degree to understand the science in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Skloot explains things clearly and mixes the science in with the story of the Lacks family. This is an incredibly well researched book (she worked closely with the Lacks family) that really makes the reader think. It's also a book that you can pick up and put down, not because it's uninteresting, but because sometimes you need the time to digest the information.
Henrietta Lacks' cancer cells were the first human cells successfully grown outside of the body. My father is a microbiologist and has used HeLa cells for years. He says they're this amazing strand of cells that are aggressive but more importantly can not only be kept alive but can continue to grow. Today if somebody is working with them they have to have their own lab because if even a single HeLa cell contaminates other samples or experiments the cells will overtake whatever was being studied. Henrietta's cells have been the cause of many scientific and medical breakthroughs - like the cure for Polio.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is not just a book about science and medical history, it's also about Henrietta's family and how they struggled during her illness and after her death. The family couldn't even afford a gravestone for their mother but companies were making billions of dollars off of her cancer cells. In the 70's researchers wanted to better understand Henrietta's genetics and began to contact the Lacks family to request blood samples. This is how her family finds out that Henrietta's cells were being used for research. They can't take their mother's cells back (they are in thousands of labs around the world and literally tons of cells) nor can they get any restitution because of the statute of limitations and it would mean suing thousands of labs and companies around the world. Henrietta's daughter wonders if her mother died of her cancer or if her doctors let her die because of her cancer cells (this is the time of the Tuskegee syphilis experiment). Did her mother get adequate health care or was she simply a science experiment? Healthy and cancerous parts of her cervix and been removed and sent to another doctor for study - all without her knowledge or permission. Henrietta later died in a great deal of pain after eight months of treatments. Towards the end of the book, I think it was her grandson who pointed out that he didn't "want to mess up science" by trying to stop the use of the HeLa cells but restitution would have been nice all those years ago.
This book is guaranteed to upset if not anger you. It's not just the family's grinding poverty while others prospered, but the question of who really owns your body. Pharmaceutical companies today are trying to patent genomes and the like (there are over several thousand patents involving HeLa cells), they want to own part of the human body. It wasn't that long ago that labs could keep your tissue samples, send them out, experiment on them, maybe even make money off it without telling you. Not all tissue samples are destroyed, some get stored for later testing or experimentation long after you've left the hospital. So, do you own your body, did you give up parts of it, and can companies own it? Should they pay you or your family anything after they did all of the work?
You don't need a science degree to understand the science in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Skloot explains things clearly and mixes the science in with the story of the Lacks family. This is an incredibly well researched book (she worked closely with the Lacks family) that really makes the reader think. It's also a book that you can pick up and put down, not because it's uninteresting, but because sometimes you need the time to digest the information.
Verdict:
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a well written book that chronicles the history of a family as well as scientific and medical discoveries based on their mother's cancer cells - the first cells ever successfully grown outside the human body. I highly recommend giving it a try, even if it's not in your usual genre of choice. It's an important book not only because it makes you think about medical ethics, bioethics, and ownership of your body, but also because this Henrietta Lacks touched your life and you never even knew it.
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5 comments:
Wow. This sounds like such a fascinating and equally frustrating story. I got all puffed up in irritation just reading your review!
August 7, 2011 9:52 AM@ Jenny - It really is a fascinating read and very educational on many levels.
August 7, 2011 12:18 PMWell, it might sound harsh, but the fact is once a person is dead, he really doesn't care what's going on with his/her body and if it can help, so be it. But the truth is I'm very cynical about this particular matter and it certainly isn't right that the family couldn't really dispose with their relative as they wanted to.
August 9, 2011 2:45 PM@ Ondrej - What's upsetting is that Henrietta underwent unnecessary surgeries so that doctors could remove healthy tissue without her knowledge or permission. And while she died so her body tissue and cells might have been fair game after that, the book also points out that hospitals and labs around the world at one point could still use your tissue without your knowledge, permission, or reimbursement.
August 10, 2011 3:29 AMBut it's also a really interesting story about medical history and a family.
This book made me happy, mad, angry, and above all, curious...I bought this book by accident, when my laptop keys stuck, and just like they say in the book, Henrietta has her way of ringing you in...This book invokes a lot of emotion, and allows you to breath a breath of stench air, outside the media/political bubble, and see what the Matrix of medicine really is. I'm telling everyone I know to read this book.
January 26, 2012 4:50 AMPost a Comment