Summary

Chapter 17: Illegal, Immoral and Deplorable… 1954-1966

The HeLa cells were thriving. Virologist Chester Southam wondered if Henrietta’s cancer cells could infect the scientists and technicians working with them. No one knew if it was possible. An accidental inoculation, Southam contended, could result in a transfer of the disease. Southam was a respected cancer researcher and used the HeLa cells to test his theories that cancer was caused from a virus or from an immune deficiency.

Southam injected the arm of a woman suffering with leukemia with a syringe filled with water and HeLa cells. He did the same with other subjects. None of them were told that they were being injected with someone else’s cells. Cancer cells began to grow on the woman’s arm within a few days. Southam removed the cancerous cells from the woman and...