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1. Unnatural Causes: Description of series
UNNATURAL CAUSES, a seven part series, sounds the alarm about the
extent of our glaring socio-economic and racial inequities in health and
searches for their root causes. But those causes are not what we might
expect. While we pour more and more money into drugs, dietary
supplements and new medical technologies, UNNATURAL CAUSES
crisscrosses the country investigating the findings that are shaking up
conventional understanding of what really makes us healthy or sick.
UNNATURAL CAUSES is a medical detective story out to solve the
mystery of what's stalking and killing us before our time, especially
those of us who are less affluent and darker-skinned. But its
investigators keep peeling back the onion, broadening their inquiry
beyond the immediate, physical causes of death to the deeper,
underlying causes that lurk in our neighborhoods, our jobs and even
back in history.
The perpetrators, of course, aren't individuals but rather societal and
institutional forces. And theirs are not impulsive crimes of passion.
These are slow deaths the result of a lifetime of grinding wear and tear,
thwarted ambition, segregation and neglect. But this is also a story of
hope and possibility, of communities organizing to gain control over their
destinies and their health.
The good news is that if bad health comes from policy decisions that we
as a society have made, then we can make other decisions. Some
countries already have, and they are living longer, fuller lives as a result.
Episode 1: In Sickness and In Wealth
EPISODE ONE, 56 MINS (SERIES OPENER). What are the connections between healthy bodies,
healthy bank accounts and skin color? Our opening episode travels to Louisville, Kentucky, not to
explore whether medical care cures us, but to see why we get sick in the first place, and why
patterns of health and illness reflect underlying patterns of class and racial inequities.
Episode 2: When the Bough Breaks
EPISODE TWO, 29 MINS The number of infants who die before their first birthday is much higher in
the U.S. than in other countries. And, for African Americans, the rate is nearly twice as high than it is
for white Americans. Even well-educated Black women have birth outcomes worse than white women
who haven't finished high school. Why is this the case? How might the chronic stress of racism over
the life course become embedded in our bodies and increase risks? WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS
explores this topic.
Episode 3: Becoming American
EPISODE THREE, 29 MINS. Recent Mexican immigrants, although poorer, tend to be healthier than
the average American. They have lower rates of death, heart disease, cancer, and other illnesses,

2. despite being less educated, earning less and having the stress of adapting to a new country and a
new language. In research circles, this is the Latino paradox.
But as they are here longer, their health advantage erodes. After five years or more in the U.S., they
are 1.5 times more likely to have high blood pressure - and be obese - than when they arrived.
Within one generation, their health is as poor as other Americans of similar income status.
Episode 4: Bad Sugar
EPISODE FOUR, 29 MINS The Pima and Tohono O'odham Indians of southern Arizona have arguably
the highest diabetes rates in the world - half of all adults are afflicted. But a century ago, diabetes
was virtually unknown here. Researchers have poked and prodded the Pima for decades in search of
a biological - or more recently, genetic - explanation for their high rates of disease. Meanwhile,
medical-only interventions have failed to stem the rising tide not just among Native Americans, but
globally. What happened to the health of the Pima? BAD SUGAR explores this topic.
Episode 5: Place Matters
EPISODE 5, 29 MINS Increasingly, recent Southeast Asian immigrants, along with Latinos, are moving
into neglected urban neighborhoods, and their health is being eroded as a result. What policies and
investment decisions create living environments that harm-or enhance-the health of residents? What
actions can make a difference?
Episode 6: Collateral Damage
EPISODE SIX, 29 MINS. In the Marshall Islands, local populations have been displaced from a
traditional way of life by globalization and the American military presence. Now they must contend
with the worst of the "developing" and industrialized worlds: infectious diseases such as tuberculosis
due to crowded living conditions and extreme poverty and chronic disease stemming from the stress
of dislocation and loss.
Episode 7: Not Just a Paycheck
EPISODE SEVEN, 29 MINS Residents of western Michigan struggle against depression, domestic
violence and higher rates of heart disease and diabetes after the largest refrigerator factory in the
country shuts down. Ironically, the plant is owned by a company in Sweden, where mass layoffs - far
from devastating lives - are relatively benign, because of government policies that protect workers
and their communities.