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Henrietta Lacks...Let's canonize another black who did nothing at all.
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Chimps
Aug 31, 2013, 11:33:28 AM8/31/13
to
Marc Silver
National Geographic
Published August 16, 2013
In the photo, she stands with a determined yet friendly
expression on her face, hands on her hips, as if she's ready to
face the future, no matter what it might bring. She is Henrietta
Lacks, and she could never have imagined what the future would
hold.
An aggressive strain of cervical cancer took her life in 1951,
when she was only 31. But cells harvested from her tumor,
without her consent, have lived on ... and on and on.
The best-selling book "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,"
which features the striking image of Lacks on its cover, tells
the story of this African-American woman, her family, and her
fast-growing cells, used in over 70,000 medical studies.
"HeLa cells," as they are called, have made vital contributions
to the development of drugs for herpes, leukemia, influenza, and
Parkinson's disease. The cells have been used in studies on
everything from lactose digestion to mosquito mating. "The cells
reproduced an entire generation every twenty-four hours, and
they never stopped," writes author Rebecca Skloot. Today there
are millions, perhaps even billions, of her cells "in small
vials on ice."
The latest development in the story: Earlier this year,
scientists sequenced Henrietta Lacks's genome and made it
public, without asking the family's permission. That is clearly
a violation of privacy. But now the National Institutes of
Health has taken the important step of inviting two of Lacks's
descendants to be part of the HeLa Genome Data Access working
group, which considers applications to use the genome.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/08/130816-henrietta-
lacks-immortal-life-hela-cells-genome-rebecca-skloot-nih/
Note that every time it is necessary to give plugs to blacks,
they wind up in National Geographic.
Top Comments
Erin Dobrinen 31 minutes ago
No, Tea, HeLa cells are NOT hybrid DNA. They are HER cells,
still alive after all these decades in thousands of incubators
across the world. HER cells, unchanged, unaltered, still
growing unchecked. She was the very first (unaware) donor whose
cells could survive outside the body. The breakthroughs that
her very awful cancer provided to us are immeasurable. We all
need to recognize the potential and risks of our own cells. Did
you know, for example, if a hospital takes a biopsy of you the
tissue is deemed "abandoned" and your cells can be grown, sold,
made into therapies.
ShareFlagLikeReply
Tea Ice
Tea Ice 2 days ago
Hybrid DNA is not the same person. Moreso, not even human.
Not even the same species. So, I don't see a problem.
ps. The comment registration method is a problem. That should be
clearly obvious from the number of comments here.
National Geographic
Published August 16, 2013
In the photo, she stands with a determined yet friendly
expression on her face, hands on her hips, as if she's ready to
face the future, no matter what it might bring. She is Henrietta
Lacks, and she could never have imagined what the future would
hold.
An aggressive strain of cervical cancer took her life in 1951,
when she was only 31. But cells harvested from her tumor,
without her consent, have lived on ... and on and on.
The best-selling book "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,"
which features the striking image of Lacks on its cover, tells
the story of this African-American woman, her family, and her
fast-growing cells, used in over 70,000 medical studies.
"HeLa cells," as they are called, have made vital contributions
to the development of drugs for herpes, leukemia, influenza, and
Parkinson's disease. The cells have been used in studies on
everything from lactose digestion to mosquito mating. "The cells
reproduced an entire generation every twenty-four hours, and
they never stopped," writes author Rebecca Skloot. Today there
are millions, perhaps even billions, of her cells "in small
vials on ice."
The latest development in the story: Earlier this year,
scientists sequenced Henrietta Lacks's genome and made it
public, without asking the family's permission. That is clearly
a violation of privacy. But now the National Institutes of
Health has taken the important step of inviting two of Lacks's
descendants to be part of the HeLa Genome Data Access working
group, which considers applications to use the genome.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/08/130816-henrietta-
lacks-immortal-life-hela-cells-genome-rebecca-skloot-nih/
Note that every time it is necessary to give plugs to blacks,
they wind up in National Geographic.
Top Comments
Erin Dobrinen 31 minutes ago
No, Tea, HeLa cells are NOT hybrid DNA. They are HER cells,
still alive after all these decades in thousands of incubators
across the world. HER cells, unchanged, unaltered, still
growing unchecked. She was the very first (unaware) donor whose
cells could survive outside the body. The breakthroughs that
her very awful cancer provided to us are immeasurable. We all
need to recognize the potential and risks of our own cells. Did
you know, for example, if a hospital takes a biopsy of you the
tissue is deemed "abandoned" and your cells can be grown, sold,
made into therapies.
ShareFlagLikeReply
Tea Ice
Tea Ice 2 days ago
Hybrid DNA is not the same person. Moreso, not even human.
Not even the same species. So, I don't see a problem.
ps. The comment registration method is a problem. That should be
clearly obvious from the number of comments here.
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