LibGuides: ENG 089/100/102 Henrietta Lacks Project, Allegheny: Books & Videos

Books & eBooks

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Click the link above to veiw this book in the catalog.
Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor black tobacco farmer whose cells--taken without her knowledge in 1951--became one of the most important tools in medicine, vital for developing the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, and more. Henrietta's cells have been bought and sold by the billions, yet she remains virtually unknown, and her family can't afford health insurance. This phenomenal New York Times bestseller tells a riveting story of the collision between ethics, race, and medici≠ of scientific discovery and faith healing; and of a daughter consumed with questions about the mother she never knew.
Human Subjects Research Regulation by I. Glenn Cohen (Editor); Holly Fernandez Lynch (Editor)
EBook. Click the link above for access.
The current framework for the regulation of human subjects research emerged largely in reaction to the horrors of Nazi human experimentation, revealed at the Nuremburg trials, and the Tuskegee syphilis study, conducted by U.S. government researchers from 1932 to 1972.
Medical Apartheid by Harriet A. Washington
Click the link above to view this book in the catalog. From the era of slavery to the present day, the first full history of black America’s shocking mistreatment as unwilling and unwitting experimental subjects at the hands of the medical establishment.

Streaming Videos from Films on Demand

For years, scientists tried to get cancer cells to reproduce outside of the body with little success. In 1951, a few days before an African-American woman named Henrietta Lacks died of cervical cancer in a Baltimore hospital, and without her consent, a scientist took samples from her remarkably aggressive tumor and placed them in growth medium to see if the cancerous cells would survive and grow. Not only did they flourish, but Henrietta’s cells have since proven vital to cancer research worldwide. Known as the HeLa immortal cell line in biomedical research, Henrietta's cells have endured for decades in labs around the world while she remained anonymous and unrecognized. This program examines how HeLa cells have advanced the war on cancer and why they have caused controversy among scientists in the highly politicized research community. (60 minutes)

This ABC News report looks at the amazing scientific contribution of Henrietta Lacks. While being treated for cervical cancer in 1951 at Johns Hopkins Hospital, doctors removed some of her tumor cells without her knowledge. Her cells have been used in research from the polio vaccine to numerous cancer treatments. Biomedical firms have made millions selling her cells for research, but her family has never been compensated. In a sad irony, some of her descendants can’t even afford health insurance. Broadcast date: January 31, 2010. (3 minutes) An ABC News Production.

Kovarik discusses the unethical treatment of syphilis patients and their families between 1932 and 1972, and compares it to the Willowbrook hepatitis study. Learn about Henrietta Lacks, the HeLa cell line, and the Belmont Report calling for improved ethical principles.

DVDs

Title: The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks
Click the link above to view this DVD in the catalog.
Based on the book written by Rebecca Skloot. "The film tells the story of Henrietta Lacks, an African-American woman whose cells were used without her consent to create the first immortal human cell line. Told through the eyes of her daughter, Deborah Lacks (Winfrey), the film chronicles her search, along with journalist Rebecca Skloot (Byrne), to learn about the mother she never knew and understand how the unauthorized harvesting of Lacks' cancerous cells in 1951 led to unprecedented medical breakthroughs, changing countless lives and the face of medicine forever."--Container.
What to Know about Informed Consent by Friends Research Institute, Inc.; Ned Rubin
Click the link above to view this DVD in the catalog.
Introduces the concept of "truly informed consent" in research to underline the importance of the research participant's understanding of the risk and benefits (if any) of the research study they are volunteering for.

Jody Wilson

she/her jwilson2@ccac.edu

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