In 1951, a doctor at Johns Hopkins Hospital took a specimen for culture
from a cervical tumor that belonged to Henrietta Lacks, a then
31-year-old African-American woman, without informing her that he was
doing so, or asking her consent, as is now required. While Henrietta
died pretty quickly after her diagnosis, her cells stayed alive and
continued duplicating, hence they were dubbed immortal. Pretty soon, the
cells were commercialized, produced, packaged and shipped to where
there was demand. Science had found a reliable supply of human cells
that it could use to test, and experiment with. Many of such experiments
were conducted on Henrietta's cells, the most significant one: the test
to prove the polio vaccine is effective. Although contaminated, being
cancerous, they became the center of many more scientific advances.
Later on, the cells tested positive for two strains of Human Papilloma
Virus, which confirmed the results of Professor Harald zur Hausen
research connecting HPV to cervical cancer.
The Lacks family found
out about Henrietta's cells, in a casual conversation between one of
Henrietta's daughter in laws, who is a patient aid at Baltimore
hospital, and her neighbor who is a cancer research scientist. With very
limited education, it was very hard for the family to grasp the true
meaning of their mother's cells being living.
The book tries to
bring these two stories together, and I think while there is good effort
made, but the result is not very satisfactory.
While I enjoyed
reading about HeLa; learning what they are, their significance to
science as well as medical ethics. I felt confused when the author
switched to talking about the Lacks'. She kept all the details of her
finding them, connecting with them, and befriending in the book. Which
made these chapters verbose. The family's hardships after Henrietta's
death due to HeLa are truly sad! It deserves to be narrated pure and
simple, and not to be murked by the author's pursuit of it.
No comments:
Post a Comment