This was an interesting read. While I applaud Skloot's attempt to present a fair look at the history of the HeLa cell line used in research labs all over the world, the book is clearly skewed toward sympathy for the family. Not that they don't deserve sympathy, but really, the problems of the family is NOT the fault of anyone involved with the cell line. Don't get me wrong, Henrietta and her family have had a hard life, and they do deserve some sympathy. But not for this particular issue.

The sad fact is that Henrietta died of an aggressive cancer, leaving her family to live their lives without her. That was not her fault or the fault of her family, but it was also not the fault of the hospital staff of Johns Hopkins. Yes, there was racial and socio-economic discrimination, but the fact remains that Henrietta was treated to best of the ability of the doctors at that time. Do we view the taking of cell samples from Henrietta without her permission as unethical today? Most people would say yes. But the law still remains unclear about that, and in 1954 that was most certainly not seen as unethical - it was common practice. So in the context of the time, the act was not unethical.

As for monetary compensation, Johns Hopkins did not profit from the growth of HeLa cells; in fact, the scientist that first worked with HeLa cells GAVE the cells away to many many many other labs FOR FREE. Those labs shared with other labs, etc. Are there companies that profit from the cells now? Yes. But they got the cells the same way everyone else did back then - for free. The company then did their own research to find a way to mass produce, store and ship living cells. At the point the first company started mass producing and selling the cells the identity of the donor was long hidden, and the fact the cells were widespread at that time made them common property, so people in possession of the cells could do pretty much anything they wanted with them.

And now for the part that is a little stickier - the family found out about Henrietta's cells, were (sort of) tricked into donating blood and cell samples and were kept in the dark about the cell line for decades. Was that right? NO, absolutely not. HOWEVER, I will point out that some of the subsequent anger, confusion and fear on the part of the family was due to their extreme lack of education rather than a malicious attempt to prey upon the Lacks family.

The science presented in the book is simplified somewhat for the lay person, which is nice, as is the look at the advances in medicine and research that HeLa cells have brought to the world. As a scientist, however, I think that Skloot's explanations were a little fuzzy and did not really dispel most people's image of how science works in the real world. Perhaps a little more objectivity and less family bonding would have made this a better book.

In conclusion: though Skloot claims she tries to give an unbiased view of the history of HeLa cells and the family from whence it came, I am concerned that lay people who read this will not understand some of the finer points and it will increase the already rampant fear of science that pervades American culture. The majority of Americans are woefully un-educated in the sciences, to the point that many people view it as no different than magic,but weirder and scarier.