I cant begin to rant on how much I enjoyed this book. Before reading this book I had never heard the name HeLa and I’m astounded because of how much of a contribution to science these cells were. They are fundamental to many of the vaccines produced, ethics legislation and science in general. HIV,HPV,Polio are just few of many examples of diseases that were studied using HeLa cells, for all of these diseases there has been tremendous advancements that I don’t believe could have been possible without HeLa cells. However, I wonder where would science be if they did have federal laws like HIPAA. It doesn’t seem like the cells would have been patented like they were and distributed on a world wide scale like they were. I do believe that a large part of their success was due to their availability and the fact that they were from such a unique tumor that it could be exposed to so many different studies. It is horrible what did happen to the Lacks family and how they lived in poverty so long while these major companies made millions from their discoveries that perhaps were not possible without HeLa cells. What is even more saddening about this book is how for so long Henrietta Lacks was unknown and didn’t receive the credit she deserved for her amazing contributions to science. Where would science be without HeLa cells? Therefore, where would science be without Henrietta Lacks?
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