HeLa

and do more research, but Rebecca was always patient with her. Deborah helped Rebecca contact most Henrietta’s living family that could give her more information including Day, and some of their other children. Rebecca educated the family about the HeLa cells and gave them a better understanding of what was going on. Once Rebecca had finally finished up her book she wanted to tell Deborah, but when she would try and contact her she never got a reply. She then found out from Deborah’s brother…

technologies to be developed using HeLa, which then lead to other advances in research that required single cells in culture. “The early cell culture and cloning technology developed using HeLa helped lead to many later advances that required the ability to grow single cells in culture, including isolating stem cells, cloning whole animals, and in vitro fertilization” (Skloot 75). The start of major advancements in science heavily relied on the immortal factor of the HeLa cells. Due to these…

continuously without dying. Without the consent of Henrietta Lacks and her family, these cells later became key components to the development of many groundbreaking inventions such as the polio vaccine and in vitro fertilization. Henrietta Lacks’ cells (HeLa) were discovered during the Jim crow era in the 1950s, where laws were created to enforce racial segregation and unequal treatments to the African American…

Henrietta lacks somatic rights, the world has seen a myriad of disease antidotes. Still to this day even, “[her] cells have become the standard laboratory workhorse”(Stump 131). If they had not taken HeLa cells for research, there’s no way to tell if we could have suffered a mutilating cost. Without the cures HeLa cells have done, we could have reached an apocalyptic scene where those very diseases that were cured might have spread across the world, killing millions. The Executive Director of…

In the novel The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, many situations arose due to bioethical and morality issues against the patients protection and privacy. Henrietta Lacks was a thirty-one year old, African American woman who developed cervical cancer during the 1950’s. However, samples of her normal and cancerous cells were stolen from here without consent or even knowledge. Tragically, Henrietta died shortly after many chemo treatments and the malignant cancer spread to every…

1920 August 1 Henrietta Lacks is born to Eliza Lacks Pleasant and Johnny Pleasant (Skloot 18). 1924 October 28 Eliza dies and in doing so leaves her ten children with their father. Johnny splits his children up among relatives and Henrietta goes to live with her maternal grandfather, Tommy Lacks (Skloot 18, 121). 1934 Lawrence Lacks is born to Henrietta Lacks and David Lacks (Skloot 23). 1938 Elsie Lacks is born to Henrietta Lacks and David Lacks (Skloot 23). 1941 April 10 Henrietta and…

Does the name Henrietta Lacks ring a bell? To most people not a single individual comes to mind and the fact that she helped change science and medicine forever remains unknown. Rebecca Skloot wanted to spread public awareness of this woman; the woman who’s cells were stolen from her without permission and grown immortally still to this day. A typical young adult that recently graduated college uses their money for paying off classes and selfishly for themselves, but this was not the case for…

underlies much of the narrative. Worlds apart from Henrietta, the majority of the knowledge about her is partial, incomplete, or biased. Each statistic, article, or conversation about Henrietta or HeLa, however, is a continued attempt: an…

growth within twenty-four hours. With Henrietta’s cells, researchers could conduct experiments with the human cells in vitro with the variety of treatments which something they couldn’t do before with human being. HeLa was adequate in many labs and was mass produced at the place known to be HeLa factory. The new development advances the scientific and medical field greatly but it was view differently by some in the society as morally unethical when the truth of He-La was revealed few decades…

After Day granted permission, Gey went on to perform the autopsy and kept samples of her bladder, bowel, kidney, etc. to use for the “HeLa factory” (Skloot, 93). Instead of viewing Henrietta as a person, Gey viewed her as a gold mine for medical advances. After he gained access to her cells, he became the director of what happened to them and chose to medically exploit them without giving…