Comments on: Notes on the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

By: Anne

Anne — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 03:05:16 +0000

I was momentarily puzzled as to why I recognized the name in the subject line, but quickly realized why. I am a first year PhD student doing biological research, and I recently wondered what this “HeLa” cell line was that everyone around me was talking about – the capitalization particularly caught my eye, so I checked it on Wikipedia and read the brief piece they have on Henrietta Lacks’s story. I was surprised and intrigued by the cells’ origins – such a random person to be housing such a nearly magical medical gift. HeLa cells are fascinating from an entirely different perspective as well – due to their very robust nature, there have been many issues with HeLa cells infecting other cell lines and impacting research results in many and unpredictable ways. It’s estimated that 10-20% of cell lines are infected with HeLa, which blows my mind – I’m currently working with a few cancer cell lines and it’s sobering to think that the results could be so thoroughly skewed.

Anyway, that’s the scientist in me at work. Thank you for bringing to light what I could tell would be a fascinating and complex story; I’m glad to see that someone has taken it on and is bringing it to the light.

By: Pilgrim Soul

Pilgrim Soul — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 00:01:12 +0000

I wanted to read the book before saying this definitively, but @pedimd: in fact the harvesting in this case was just that, a harvesting. It occurred after Henrietta had been biopsied and, as I said above, during the treatment, for the express purpose of research.

By: Mackey

Mackey — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 23:55:14 +0000

PSoul, I wish I was there with you.

The book is amazing. And I’m glad that there is finally recognition for the contribution that Henrietta Lacks has made.

I don’t like that at any point she was never asked or could give consent to the use of her tissue.

I realy like that the pioneering work for vaccines like polio, and other scientific and medical advances are here in our historical moment because of Henrietta Lacks, a woman of colour.

By: ezmirelda

ezmirelda — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:46:38 +0000

Th UK’s NHS has a lot of problems, but reading about issues like this makes me very happy to pay National Insurance and know that if I (or anyone else) turns up at hospital get treated whether we’ve paid in or not. I know it’s not the point of this article, but thinking about people who need health care and can’t afford it and how desperate they must feel make me very sad.

By: bluebears

bluebears — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 17:55:57 +0000

PS: thanks for the explanations.

Cimorene: “If you’re going to say that something like giving up your medical waste is at no cost to you but is incumbent upon us all as humans because we are part of a larger community of humans who should help each other if it takes nothing from us, no man is an island, etc, then I think that you have to make the argument that health care is a human right and we all deserve it. Because if we should give up our right to our cells, or our family’s cells, because of “the greater good,” then certainly there is an idea that there is a greater good that we should live up to. And if the greater good involves the health of everybody, then clearly the greater good has to include health care.”

Agreed. Every word.

By: Ames

Ames — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 16:45:10 +0000

What I took away from this excellent post wasn’t about the legal issues. It was a very clear picture of our society and of a medical establishment that simply shrugs at the thought of a family struggling to this degree. At any time in the last five decades any of the medical research corporations, labs, clinics, medical schools, or medical professionals who were touched by this line and related research could have helped that family financially, just because it would be the decent thing to do. But we don’t live in that kind of world. And this post illuminated that beautifully.

By: pedimd

pedimd — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 23:11:12 +0000

I haven’t read the book yet, but do want to point out that “harvesting cells” can mean ‘doing a biopsy’ or ‘removing a tumor.’ So it’s not just about giving up your “rights” for the greater good. It’s also about your own medical benefit. You could refuse to give up your “rights” to your “family cells,” but then you keep your tumor, I guess.

And, while I generally hate drug companies, I’ll defend them a little in this case. I don’t think that they just “stumbled upon” these cells exactly. Someone had to notice they were special. Someone else had to think up ways the specialness was useful. Someone else had to do reasearch on whether the specialness was applicable outside the lab. Products had to be manufactured, tested, etc. All of that takes money. A lot was likely invested before there was any profit, and there was a chance that there would not be a profit. Drug companies spend a lot of money on stupid crap, but I do think they’re entitled to some profit when they actually invest money to produce something helpful.

By: Brennan

Brennan — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:34:21 +0000

That’s remarkable. As a biology major, I’ve been taught in class after class about immortal cell lines and how cervical cancer cells from a woman in the fifties are still being used today. Yet no one ever mentions the woman–just her cells. This is the first I’ve even heard her name. So sad to hear that she died and her family didn’t benefit from this. I wish I was more suprised.

By: Cimorene

Cimorene — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 21:29:07 +0000

Oh yes, I assume everyone here feels as I do about heath care.

Sometimes when I write comments, I imagine that I’m talking to a conservative who disagrees with me, and I can accidentally get into the whole “so beat that you fucker” tone.

By: Pilgrim Soul

Pilgrim Soul — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:43:47 +0000

Cimorene, obvs preaching to the converted. I don’t know how y’all live like this, I really don’t.