Thursday, February 4, 2010
Rebecca Skloot: Here; There; Everywhere
Posted by Leonard Gill on Thu, Feb 4, 2010 at 3:22 PM
It's the story of a woman who died in 1951, but it's her surviving cell line that has made her "immortal" and the source of endless — and history-making — medical research. Skloot's book brings that story for the first time to full light. Or haven't you heard?
An excerpt from The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is included in the February issue of O, the Oprah Magazine, and the book's spotlighted in the current issues of Wired and Popular Science.
For future references, according to an e-mail from the author, see Better Homes & Gardens, Discover, Essence, Huffington Post, Mother Jones, Nature, Science, Self, and Vogue. Watch too for reviews in The New York Times (for the time being, in the Times, go here) and Washington Post Book World.
But to keep up with Skloot on a day-to-day basis and while she's on a self-designed book tour through to June, go to the author's website. And to the author's blog. And to the author's Facebook page. And to the book's Facebook page.
And for extra added background to The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and to Rebecca Skloot herself, go to Memphis magazine.
Comments (3)
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In the infancy of cancer research, Sloan-Kettering in particular presumed the Lacks cancer cells to be the ONLY form of cancer, & research was set back by decades because of this false premise. It's troubling that this book seeks to feed the fires of resentment by highlighting the Lacks descendants' sense of being wronged & cheated by society, & that they are somehow owed a lot of money for the use of those cells. Advances in cancer research have been hard won & cumulative & an attitude such as theirs is not only unheard of, it would set back cancer research even further. As for the taking of the cells "without [Lacks's] permission," how could her treatment even have begun without taking & preserving the cancerous tissue? Ridiculous! Perhaps the real aim is to push the book by trumpeting a made-up "wrong" done to the Lacks family because of race. Back then, the Lacks were likely thankful that Mrs. Lacks was at least receiving treatment & relief from her terrible suffering.
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Have you read the book? I have, and don't really see the claim that you're saying it makes. I do think there's a bigger question that Skloot addresses, one that lots of people are interested in, and that is the question of tissue ownership, in general, not just Lacks's. There are interesting ethical, maybe moral, issues of informed consent that I think do need to be addressed, not just by scientists, but by the legal community. To say that this story is only about race is just silly. Further, "their attitude" is definitely not unheard of.
Regardless, in the end, this is a fascinating story. HeLa cells are fascinating, and would be even if they were from a white male from the other side of the Hopkins complex.
By the way, to hear Skloot's comments on the race angle, check this out: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.p…
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