It is quite definitely non-fiction but read in today’s world it can seem like a work of fiction. In many respects the last may be more apt and beneficial in terms of ensuring the book comes to the attention of a broad audience. Sometimes it is shelved under medicine, or popular science and then plainly non-fiction. It is unlike your typical academic text and this is perhaps reflected in the variety of locations I have found it within bookshops. The book consists of 38 chapters divided up into three parts. This is what the story of Henrietta Lacks so vividly and poignantly illustrates. ![]() Once tissue has been removed from the body, under common law it is generally assumed that the tissue has been ‘abandoned’ by its original ‘owner’ or that it belongs to no one when it has been removed. We possess a right to give or withhold consent to an operation but this is different to controlling the use of any tissue removed during the procedure. As Prof Donna Dickenson explains in her book - Body Shopping - our bodies are not the subject of property rights in any conventional sense. There is some inherent feeling in each of us which causes us to think that we own our bodies. It is against this background that many will experience outrage and the impact of Henrietta’s story. Starkly, researchers and medical staff are not obliged or required to obtain a patient’s consent to store cells and tissue from a diagnostic procedure for later use in research purposes. As Skloot makes clear - and this is perhaps the key point of the book for contemporary society – the question of payment for human tissue is still an unresolved issue. If this is not significant enough perhaps the most amazing fact is that literally trillions of Henrietta’s cells are still alive - a figure far larger than ever grew in Henrietta’s actual body.Īt this point clearly the ethical questions surrounding medical practice and informed consent surrounding the use of human tissue begin to emerge, not least when the woman who actually generated them remains largely unknown and neither her nor her family gained from the financial incentives and benefits surrounding the HeLa line. Their unparallel versatility allowed the cell cultures to be frozen and their development paused and restarted, effectively making experiments on live animals redundant. Even advances in atomic warfare have been helped by HeLa cells. Following the laboratory convention at that time, the cell line became known as HeLa (the name formed from the first letters of Henrietta’s first name and surname) and were bought and sold the world over by various research teams and used in various research projects including the polio vaccine, leukaemia, Parkinson’s diseases and AIDs. In contrast to this Henrietta’s cells were found to be significantly robust and multiplied at an astonishing rate revolutionising research on human tissue. Prior to this point in time, researchers had found it extremely problematic to try and keep alive fragile human cell lines. It was from this sample that her cells were cultured a feat which literally signalled a revolution. ![]() The pivotal issue which made Henrietta so important was the fact that she left a slice of tissue which was excised from the cervical cancer that was her primary tumour. Her husband and five children, the youngest of which was only a baby, survived her. Despite the fact that she was given palliative care towards the end of her life, what is striking is the fact that no one explained the situation to her family who continued to believe and hope she might be cured. Juxtaposed to this is the fact that Henrietta died in intractable pain with the autopsy of her body riddled with tumours. Without doubt Henrietta was a family person and loved by all, owing much to her lively and open-hearted personality. ![]() Henrietta Lacks was a vivacious woman who was only 31 years when she died in 1951 in John Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore on what was referred to then as a "coloured ward". I therefore thought it was about time for me to pick up a copy and read it for myself. I had first become aware of the book through some of my American friends who had waxed lyrical about the book and its potent and moving account skilfully set out by Skloot. The posters were referring to the latest book by Rebecca Skloot on the medical marvel behind the HeLa cell lines. ‘Why is everyone talking about Henrietta Lacks?’ read the series of posters which have greeted me on my recent commute into London. BioNews The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
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