The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is written by a curious journalist, Rebecca Skloot, who spent a portion of her life learning about a woman by the name of Henrietta Lacks. Henrietta Lacks died of cervical cancer in 1951, but her cells lived on. One thing that was most shocking throughout this reading is the extent to which people will go in order to gain knowledge. It is surprising how many scientists, doctors, and other medical professionals treated patients unfairly so that they could benefit themselves. I am going to explain a series of events that were mentioned in this book that resulted in exploitation. According to Oxford Dictionary, the word exploitation means “the action or fact of treating someone unfairly in order to benefit
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Animals have been used as research for medications and their effects, medicinal treatments, and even the effects of cosmetics. According to Maneka Gandhi, author of “This needless exploitation of animals,” found in The Statesman stated, “for instance, perfume companies by now have isolated all the ingredients needed to make a perfume…but they continue to spray the perfume in rabbits’ eyes, slice their skins open and rub it in, and other terrible tests” (Gandhi). In this article it is evident that, even though it is unnecessary, animals are still being used for experimental testing. Also mentioned in the book, an instance took place where animals were treated unfairly to solely benefit the scientist. In the book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Skloot states, “…the cells used in neutralization tests came from monkeys, which were killed in the process. This was a problem, not because of concern for animal welfare-which wasn’t the issue…but because monkeys were expensive” (94). Scientists conducted tests on millions of monkeys, which resulted in death. This was done with the ultimate goal that scientist would gain knowledge about neutralization testing. Eventually, scientists came to the realization that monkeys were too expensive to test, so they began to utilize
Animals have been used as research for medications and their effects, medicinal treatments, and even the effects of cosmetics. According to Maneka Gandhi, author of “This needless exploitation of animals,” found in The Statesman stated, “for instance, perfume companies by now have isolated all the ingredients needed to make a perfume…but they continue to spray the perfume in rabbits’ eyes, slice their skins open and rub it in, and other terrible tests” (Gandhi). In this article it is evident that, even though it is unnecessary, animals are still being used for experimental testing. Also mentioned in the book, an instance took place where animals were treated unfairly to solely benefit the scientist. In the book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Skloot states, “…the cells used in neutralization tests came from monkeys, which were killed in the process. This was a problem, not because of concern for animal welfare-which wasn’t the issue…but because monkeys were expensive” (94). Scientists conducted tests on millions of monkeys, which resulted in death. This was done with the ultimate goal that scientist would gain knowledge about neutralization testing. Eventually, scientists came to the realization that monkeys were too expensive to test, so they began to utilize