Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. If you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they’d weigh more than 50 million metric tons—as much as a hundred Empire State Buildings. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions.
Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave.
Henrietta’s family did not learn of her “immortality” until more than twenty years after her death, when scientists investigating HeLa began using her husband and children in research without informed consent. And though the cells had launched a multimillion-dollar industry that sells human biological materials, her family never saw any of the profits. The story of the Lacks family—past and present—is inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of.
I am not sure what inspired me to pick this book up from the Express shelf in the library when I went in to pick up another reserved book. I always browse the express shelves to see if there are any of the latest releases that I really want to read right now. Perhaps I had heard about this book or seen a review on one of my bookgroup forums or the cover just attracted me, but whatever it was I just could not remember but I knew I wanted to read it!
One fact about me to start is that I much prefer to read Fiction books so when this book started with the words " This book is a work of non-fiction" it almost put me off reading it altogether. However, I thought the subject matter being such that it might help me to partially understand my Husbands industry and make some informed small talk with his work colleagues kept me reading on. I am very glad I did.
The author made some very technical subjects understandable and approachable, going into just the right amount of detail about cells, DNA, cancer and so on without dumbing it down too much. She also made it a very readable science book by interlinking the science with the real story of a very real family. The human interest factor lets the reader suspend the idea that one is reading, basically, a science book, and lets one seem to be reading a fictional story. This is what kept me reading and ploughing through all the scientific terminology. However, I felt the author took the family story a bit too far and made it to much of the book. It felt like she lost some of her independence and became too personally involved with the family which meant, at times, she lost her objectivity on the matter. Her writing style flowed very well and did not patronize the reader at any time.
Don't let this put you off as it was a good story, an interesting science lesson and left me with a number of questions regarding the moral and ethical use of human cells for scientific experimentation without the fully informed consent of the "donor". I am not sure what my opinion is as I have pro and con arguments for both sides of the debate (I guess that comes from being married to a Scientist and a Salesman!). It also left me with a big question as to the whereabouts of my baby's placenta (although as my husband points out, in my case it wasn't left in much of a state to be collected after being splattered all over the doctor and floor in the delivery and operation room).
A good book should always open your mind up to different topics and lead you to questions areas that you would not normally even have heard of, and this book definitely delivered on that.
I would give this 3.5 stars out of 5 if I could.
H Xx
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