Chapter 17: Illegal, Immoral, and Deplorable

So HeLa cells were everywhere, and I do mean everywhere, but no one really knew if they were dangerous. I mean they are cancer cells so if other people are around them could they get cancer too? Researchers were eating lunch at lab tables next to them and vaccines were made with little bits of HeLa in it but it was found that rats injected with HeLa got cancer. That's a problem, right? Chester Southam, a well-respected cancer researcher, wanted to find out. He started to test his theory that cancer was caused by immune system deficiencies by injecting his cancer patients with HeLa cells and periodically checked out the site to see what would happen. Of course he did this WITHOUT patient consent, he said he was simply checking their immune systems. Within hours their arms grew red and swollen and about 5 days later hard nodules began to form. He removed some of the nodules to verify that they were cancerous but left some to see if they would go away on their own, and some did but they always grew back. That wasn't enough though. Southam wanted to check out the same thing on healthy patients since his were already compromised by their own cancers. He put in an ad at the Ohio State Penitentiary looking for 25 volunteers. He got 150. By June 1956 he started injecting prisoners with HeLa cells. He gave them multiple injections and the hard nodules grew just like they had with the cancer patients but unlike his first patients, the men completely fought off the cancer. With each injection the men's immunity to the cancer grew greater and the nodules went away faster. Even though his trials weren't necessarily harming his patients he wasn't giving them the proper information. None of them knew what they were being injected with but Southam wasn't legally obligated to tell them. The first time informed consent was mentioned in court wasn't until 1957. However, when news got out that he wasn't telling his patients that he was injecting them with cancer cells some compared him to the Nazis and the Nuremberg Trials. All in all, his work was one of the main reasons why medical trials have such strict guidelines and formalities today.

just a picture(:

check out this cool picture of some of Henrietta's cells!

Chapter 16: Spending Eternity in the Same Place

In this chapter Rebecca talks to Henrietta's cousin Cliff, here's she learns about a lot of the Lackeses family history. He showed her the family cemetery and told her about the white family members as well. He told her that since they were spending eternity in the same place they must have worked out their problems; they were all buried in the Lacks family cemetery. Rebecca also talked to Carlton and Ruby Lacks, two white Lacks cousins, who denied having any relation to the black Lacks and said they just adopted their last name because their family were their salve holders. Rebecca talked to Henrietta's cousin Gladys as well and she said that there is no question that they are kin. She then told Rebecca about Henrietta's sister Lillian, perhaps the only living sibling Henrietta still had, and how she thought people were trying to kill her since whites were asking questions about Henrietta and the family. It was evident that race was still a big issue in Clover.