The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists knew her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet the cervical cancer cells removed from her body – without her knowledge or consent – would become an important medical tool and the basis of a multimillion-dollar industry. Those cells were instrumental in developing a polio vaccine; uncovering the secrets of cancer; and advancing cloning, invitro fertilisation, and gene mapping. Countless lives have been saved, yet when Henrietta Lacks died in 1951, she was unknown and buried in an unmarked grave. Her family only became aware of her “immortality” more than twenty years after her death and the consequences were devastating! Rebecca Skloot’s book expertly reveals the link between the Lacks family and the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and questions about the ownership of the biological materials our bodies are made of.

Format: Kindle Edition, Audiobook, Hardcover, Paperback

Paperback: 464 Pages

Language: English