>> good evening from los angeles. a conversation with rebecca sclute on her book. it tells the story of a poor african-american woman in virginia. the sale of her cells were sold for millions of dollars without her permission. it is been on the new york times best-seller list. a cuban artist, and multiple grammy winner is out now with a new album called "at time for love."

empowerment that comes with it. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. tavis: an award winning science writer and one of the most acclaimed books of this year. the immortal life of an reata -- lax.nrietta

i have noticed on airplanes, on reading rooms, i have seen so many people reading this book. the first thing that got my attention is i notice a lot of black women reading this book. that is what i originally got my attention. i started looking into it myself. what is this story? i did not know the story. i see so many people connecting with what is in this book. that is important for me. so often we see the numbers that indicate black women specifically falling behind in health care and health treatment. when i finally got a chance to get the book, it is rare that i see a book with the cover really does it tell you what the story is. a great design of this cover. i want to read from it. this pretty much tells the story.

doctors took her cells without asking. they never die. they launched a medical revolution and that multibillion-dollar industry. more than 20 years later, her children found out. their lives would never be the same. if that does not want to make you read this book, i do not know what does. tell me more. >> she was a poor african american tobacco farmer. she grew up in southern virginia. at the age of 30, she got cervical cancer and went to johns hopkins. she was living in baltimore at that point. before treating her cancer, without her knowledge, her doctor cut a little piece of her tumor and put it into a dish. he sent it down the hall to the head of tissue culture research at johns hopkins. he had been trying to growth human cells for decades and it had never worked. nobody knows exactly why. purcell's just never died. they have been growing in laboratories around the world

for 60 years. they're one of the most important things to happen in medicine. she died about six months after they took the sample never knowing that they had been grown. >> the growing of these cells for all these years has meant what to cancer research and what to the industry? >> it is amazing. there were the first cancer cells ever grown outside the body. how they decide differently from other cells. they were used to develop the polio vaccine. they went on the first space missions to see what happens to cells with zero gravity. purcell's with the first ever cloned. hurt jeans with the first ever mapped. -- her genes with the first ever met. it goes on and on. tavis: how is that legally allowed to happen with it and take something out of your body

and create a multimillion-dollar industry as a result of that and you and your family seat none of it? >> it depends on the time period. this happen in the 50's. we did not have the consent we have now. the term was not around. this was something they were doing to people all over the world. they were taking samples from anybody who came into the hospital. it was standard practice. they had no idea that they could someday look inside the cells and learn about her family or they would be worth money. initially, they were driven away for free. it was later they became commercialized. it is now illegal for a researcher to just take a sample for research without telling you. the samples week behind in hospitals for biopsies and blood tests and things like that, we signed forms anyway you see fit. as long as your name is not attached to it and the

researcher does not have contact with you, they go into these banks and they can be used and it does not require permission. >tavis: i was in for a minor surgery. when you go in, the forms that i was signing, these forms, they do and mountain of these things, some people are more able than me but i tried to breed as fast as i can and sign it. are you suggesting that we are signing things away when we go into the hospital that we are not really that tune to? what people usually do not reforms. there is often a line that says something about it. there is a lot of debate going on about what those forms should say. it ranges from hospital to hospital. you can do whatever you want with my tissue. you could go to another hospital and they will give you a book. this is tissue research. this is what we do. there are no federal guidelines that say what to do.

it is up to the place. many people cannot read them. even if they do, there is not enough information for you to know what it means. people do not read it for a lot of reasons. they are scared. they're going for a procedure. what if they going to do, say no? there are issues about how to do with that in the course there is a depressing story about how her own family members, years later, found themselves in need of and without health care, never mind all the millions that have been made and generating because of the ancestor cells. >> that is one of the hardest things about the story. a lot of them cannot afford health insurance. if their mother was so important, why cannot they go to the doctor and get access to the care her cells created? you can pile -- you can buy a vial of sales.

tavis: sales? >> hela cells are her initials. anybody can buy them. they are about $200 for a file and you can get products made from them for about $10,000 per vital. this family is still struggling. they look at that and think shouldn't some of that come to the family? historically, case law whites, that has never been the case. there have been points in time where people have sued for property rights and the courts have ruled against them saying that once you leave your tissue in a hospital, you do not have any property rights to the course there is no adjudicating body or governing board or advisory panel who could say to the industry, given what we have done and made, we have decided that we are going to do this for

her family. that would never happen today? >> there is not one big body that overlooks it. each institution has its own review board. there is concern within the community and a lot of these institutions, if we give the family money, it would set a precedent. what about the millions of other people? those people often did not know. we did not know who a lot of those people are or who made the money. it is this complicated and sticky issue for science and nobody has figured out how to deal with that yet. for that family, the money is just one part of the story. it is also sucked up into that issue but there are a lot of other issues. her family was used in research without their consent and the 70's. they did not know these cells have been grown. she had five kids when she died.

she died and 51. in the early 70's, scientists decided to track down her kids and do research on them. her husband had a third grade education. he got this phone call. the way he understood it was we have your wife and she is alive in a laboratory and we have been doing research on her for 25 years. we have to test your kids to see if they have cancer. >> that is how they found out over 20 years later. >> her children were all around the age of 30 when it happened. they're getting some sort of treatment that they're born. scientists were coming to the family and wanting things and various problems for the family. at one point, her medical records were produced and published. there are a lot of these big ethical issues that happened to

the family. when researchers and institutions talk about doing anything, it always comes back to the question of money. the other stuff is put to the side. >> she was an african american woman. what does that mean? >> her story is part of a long history of research on african americans without their consent and in this case, they were doing black, white, anybody. it carries a lot of weight in the african-american community because there is this long painful history and there is a lot of mistrust between african americans and scientific research. this story has long fed into tavis: that what is the time frame are of this compared to the tuskegee study? >> same time. it was toward the end of the tuskegee study.

that started much earlier. one of the things that tied the two stories together was when her family found out, it was literally a few months after the news hit the press about the tuskegee study. tavis: can you explain what that is? >> it is held up as one of the most famous, and ethical research studies done and the u.s. where hundreds of african american men with syphilis were essentially studied to watch and see how it killed from infection and death. when truman became available, they did not offer it to these men. they watched -- when treatment became available, they did not offer it to these men. there have been studies done all the way back to the slavery era which has caused a lot of mistrust. nobody knew the tuskegee study is had happened until the 1970's. it hit the press. people wondered, did not treat her cancer so the cells would

grow? was this another tuskegee? tavis: give us a couple of lessons that we should take. >> science now and even more so in the future relies so much on this biological samples. our future medications and vaccines and everything depends on these things. there is a human being behind every one of them. scientists are not trained to think like that. one of the lessons is that there are people behind these things. they actually do care what happens to these samples. most people would be fine having their tissues used. the family says that if they had asked for did ask us, we would have said yes. it is when we find out afterwards is when the damage is done. i also wanted this to be the story of the humans behind the scientists. the scientists have been held up as these racist scientists who still these cells and knew they were doing this.

i do not think that is the story, either. one of the big story is scientists been able to communicate cents to the general public. if somebody had taken the time to explain to the family to a what a cell was, so much of the trauma was not -- would not have happened. tavis: it is called ethics. " right. and compassion. scientists are not always the best at explaining the research they do. there are ways to get it done. >> you helped a lot of us out. good to have you on the program. tavis: up next, arturo sandoval.

tavis: he defected to the u.s. from his home in cuba back in 1990. he is out with a new project called "time for love." are pearl cent of all, good to have you. >> thank you. when you walk on the set, it is one of the best part of the show. he walked onto the set and asked me to see the cd. is just coming out. he had not seen it. i hope you approve. >> it looks good. it is not too old of the picture. sometimes, people put pictures when you are 20 years old. that was a few months ago. tavis: how is that possible? something comes out that you have not seen? >> what i really care about is the sound of the music. i checked over the internet.

they'd send me the liner notes and everything. all the details of the arrangement, who played this or that. i checked all those things. the actual cd, the first time i have seen it. tavis: 20 said you had not seen the actual cd, what is fascinating is this was not an easy project for you to get made. it took you a while. >> it took a lot of years. sometimes it is difficult because all record labels have their own ideas and mentality. some of them have a performer. they have a stereotype. even later.

this is the kind of project that i want to do for many years because i to not want to be only identified as a guy who close the horn very hard -- who blows the horn very hard and is brassy. this record is all the way around. it is romantic, tender, beautiful, a lot of strings. something to meditate, to really enjoy the moment. tavis: you really pushed the envelope on this. the started latin, jazz, mixed the two. these are american standards. >> i call that music music. tavis: good or bad. thewe do not even consider bad music. when you say music, it has to be good.

tavis: it is bad, it ain't music. [laughter] tavis: how did you figure out what to put on here? are there some standards you have light for many years? >> i will tell you what happened. i was sick and tired of trying to do this project. i talked to my wife and said i'd do not want to wait any longer. i will to it myself. i was about to do it. i put a demo from my home studio. 20 different pieces. i. when -- i went to the university of miami. i talked to him because i wanted

him to play on the record. he said to you have a label? i said no. i am sick of that. i want to do it myself before it is too late. he said there is no way. the law, you know. he said let me show this to a record label. let me show it to them. but see what happens. -- let's see what happens. he showed it to the man who became the producer of this record. he is one of the executives at is a great musician. he presented to him the idea and he called me back and said you were wrong. there are very interested to make this record. i said well. that is good news. let's talk. i came here and we did the whole

thing. we recorded the whole thing in los angeles. tavis: timing is everything. you were trying to do this for years and they came to you at the right time. >> it does not matter how hard to try. you could have your own plans but in the end, you say that is different than this. tavis: you have lived in miami forever. " 30 years. tavis: what made you come all the way to los angeles? >> we always wanted to come here for many reasons. what really fascinated me and made me feel is right a score for movies. i love that. you have to be here. you have to be here.

there is no choice. besides that, we love living in california. tavis: now that you are here, you can get andy garcia to take the to the lakers game. >> absolutely. i think it is in june. the marlins are going to come and play the dodgers. i have tickets already. tavis: you are a baseball fan? >> oh, yes. i like basketball but baseball is number one. tavis: you will see him at the dodger games. >> i enjoy basketball, too. i was a good friend of pat riley. i played the income for the miami heat many times. tavis: i was so honored to me

you. but i felt like i knew you because i so loved hbo -- because i loved the hbo story with andy garcia. >> they did a wonderful job. when they talk to meet the first time and sent me the first script, i read that and said what does that mean? i sent it back. that happened two or three times. i said they are talking about somebody else. they said let's do it right. they sent the script and spend some time with my family and friends. they went to cuba and interviewed a lot of my relatives. they spent some time with me on the road.

finally, they wrote something that has to do with me. then, they had me read the score. i was happy because i won an emmy. tavis: it is a great story. a child prodigy, frankly, and cuba. hanging out with dizzy gillespie and defecting in the middle of the night. having a movie done about him and here is in l.a. scoring movies. >> there is room for everybody. there are a lot of different projects. tavis: are glad to have arturo sandoval.

so many great american standard's. i asked him if he would play us out with something after i tell you that is our show for the night. thank you for watching. i will see you back here next time on pbs. thank you for watching. here is arturo sandoval. ♪

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[rocking blues music] ♪ (raggs) ♪ pawsuuup, everybody ♪ diddy-do-wah-day ♪ the raggs kids club band is coming down your way ♪ ♪ we got a song to sing ♪ we got something to say ♪ the raggs kids club band ♪ can you come out to play? ♪ ♪ razzles makes us dazzle ♪ she's our go-to girl ♪ pido keeps the beat while he catches a curl ♪ ♪ b.max writes the tunes that raggs and trilby sing ♪ ♪ so come along and sing your song ♪ ♪ it's a happening thing yeah! ♪ pawsuuup, everybody, diddy-do-wah-day ♪ ♪ the raggs kids club band is coming down your way ♪ ♪ we got a song to sing ♪ we got something to say ♪ the raggs kids club band ♪ can you come out to play? ♪ the raggs kids club band ♪ is getting set to play yeah! ♪

[crickets chirping] [rooster crows] [all yawning] what a great dream i had last night. i dreamed i was surfing and playing the drums. and i dreamt i climbed a mountain of dog biscuits. (all) yum. ears up. let's talk about dreams later. we've got a recording session this morning. no problemo. all we need are five new songs. [gasps] but according to my list, we've only got four written. and that means we need one more. [yawns] i dreamt i wrote a song last night. it was the best song ever. so, b.max, how did it go? mm, well, let's see. it went ♪ oh, ah, dee, dee.