Book ID: CBB438514916

The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks (2010)

unapi

Skloot, Rebecca (Author)


Crown Publishers


Publication Date: 2010
Physical Details: 369
Language: English

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer, 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. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer and viruses; helped lead to in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions. Yet Henrietta Lacks is buried in an unmarked grave. Her family did not learn of her "immortality" until more than twenty years after her death, when scientists began using her husband and children in research without informed consent. The story of the Lacks family 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. (Publisher)

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Reviewed By

Review Littlefield, Melissa M.; Pollock, Anne (August 2011) Review of "The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks". Social Studies of Science (pp. 609-618). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB438514916/

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Authors & Contributors
Eric H. Walther
Sanders, Robert B.
Tara Suri
Doyle, Dennis A.
Tuskegee Institute
Williamson, Savannah L.
Concepts
African Americans and science
African Americans
Biographies
Medicine and race
Medicine
Human experimentation
Time Periods
20th century
19th century
21st century
20th century, late
Places
United States
New York City (New York, U.S.)
Alabama (U.S.)
Institutions
Eastman Kodak Company
National Institute of Health (U.S.)
Tuskegee Institute
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