The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Who has the right to our body, its parts, or biological material taken for analysis: we, doctors, scientists. For the first time, it was possible to culture "immortal" cells from the human body in the 1950s. This literally transformed all of medical science. HeLa cells helped develop vaccines for polio, uncover the secrets of cancer, viruses, and the effects of nuclear explosions; they helped make significant strides in the study of artificial insemination, cloning, and creating genetic maps. And inevitably they became the subject of "buying and selling": some became wealthy, while others remained unaware that experiments were being conducted on them. Now scientists could pause the development of cells at any interval during the experiment to compare the reaction of certain cells to a drug after one, two, or six weeks. This book - a dramatic story about the fate of an ordinary woman who gifted the world her immortal cells, about honest and dishonest doctors, about legal battles, and the birth of bioethics. A beautiful and dramatic scientific study that is impossible to put down.