Formal Review of Episodes One and Five on Unnatural Causes
Disease is not caused by any specific biogenetic agent, but more or less is a result of the convergence of
social, economic, and political factors.Many believe there is a single cause for each disease, but they are
wrong. Health and disease occur within an array of cultural, physical, and biological subsystems which
have a constant affect on one another. The factors for unnatural causes in health are income, diet, stress,
exposure to chemical agents, violence, and social life. When they ask if inequality is making us sick, the
evident answer is yes. With stress its cortisol produced, with diet its the lack of healthy foods, and surplus
of fast food.
Laura Kubzansky explains the vicious cycle of how communities tend to go down hill. She mentions that
when a community begins to fail, nobody wants to invest in the community. With no one investing in the
community, it makes banks, and shops not want to come in. With no banks, shops, etc., there is no
commercial base being produced. With no commercial base, there is no community taxes which can feed
back into the schools, producing bad schools. Which then ultimately makes families not want to move
into that economy, where everyone who can leave, will.
Evaluating the social influences affecting disease, The Pioneering Whitewall Studies offered hard data,
showing how death rates and illness correlate to status. Sir Michael Marmot evaluated employment
ratings, and research found that there is a higher risk of disease with a lower grade of employment. It was
