Blood is a complex and fascinating part of the human body. It is a life-sustaining force – but change one element of its intricate nature and it can cause death. Scientists and others in the blood banking field spend much of their time attempting to impress upon society the importance of blood from a health care standpoint, striving to make it safer, more available, and better understood.

But how often do we stop to think about other roles blood plays in current society or its cultural and historical significance? It has implications in public policy, commerce and economics. It has been revered by many cultures, been thought to have mystical powers, and appears in some of our favorite myths and stories like the existence of vampires and the legend of Dracula.

Steven Segaller, executive producer at Thirteen/WNET, New York City’s public broadcasting service, has spent the last year thinking about all the different aspects of blood for his documentary series, Red Gold: The Epic Story of Blood.

“Blood has a connection to all people,” Segaller said in an interview with AABB News. “You can’t find anything more common than blood. We all have it, we all need it and we all have a stake in the safety of the blood supply.”

The documentary is scheduled to air at the end of June 2002. Check your local listings for airtime.

Episode Synopsis
Based on the critically acclaimed book, Blood: An Epic History of Medicine and Commerce, by Douglas Starr, Red Gold is an in-depth look at the history of blood from a cultural perspective, beginning with a time when blood was understood only in terms of religion and myth.

The four-part series will air over two days as two one-hour segments. Each hour will chronicle the historical and cultural impact blood has had on society on a worldwide scale. The first installment, “Magic to Medicine,” explores the religious and mythical aspects of blood and moves into late 19th century when the discovery of blood types made transfusion more safe and effective.

Part II, “Blood and War,” examines blood during war times and demonstrates how, through the necessity of providing soldiers with blood on battlefronts, the logistics of storing and transporting blood were improved. The second hour also details the dark side of blood, including the Nazis’ use of blood-type to further their racist policies and the segregation of the US blood supply by race. Charles Drew, MD, a prominent African-American expert in blood, who ran the very successful Plasma for Britain campaign but was barred from donating his own blood, is an example of how blood policy can be intricately connected to social policies of the times.

“Tainted Money,” the series’ third piece, moves out of wartime into the lull of the mid-1940s that followed. The lull was shattered, however, in 1947, by an explosion in Texas City, TX, that left thousands of burn victims needing blood. This incident awakened society to the need for blood in peacetime and spurred the development of a new regulatory organization, the American Association of Blood Banks. This episode also looks at how open-heart surgery and the discovery of the treatment elements of blood transfusion for hemophilia moved blood into the national consciousness. The different approaches of collecting blood — monetary compensation versus voluntary donation — in the US, Britain, and France are examined in the context of the subsequent introduction of hepatitis and AIDS into the blood supply.

“This subject matter is dealt with as a factual narrative, not commentary,” emphasized Segaller. “We worked very hard to deliver a balanced portrayal of the decisions made around the blood supply during this time. This is not an investigative documentary.”

The final installment, “New Blood,” picks up at the end of the AIDS crisis and looks at how the blood supply was made safe again. It offers a comparison of the blood supplies in Western or rich countries, such as US, Britain and France, with that of third world or poor countries like India. It gives viewers a look at the “triangle of people” involved in the blood process, from the regular donor, to the heart surgeon, to the patient who receives a blood transfusion during open-heart surgery. This piece also explores the new theoretical risk of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and how the blood industry — in both the US and Britain — is taking precautionary measures to keep it out of the blood supply.

The last segment also features the events that followed Sept. 11. Filming for the production actually began on Sept. 8, three days before the attacks. Segaller explained that his initial reaction was to leave the attacks out of the series since he did not want to exploit the tragedy; however, given the massive donor response in the days after the events, Segaller felt it was pertinent to the documentary. The public’s need to do something after an event of such massive scale, mirrors similar occurrences throughout the 20th century.

Adapted with permission from the American Association of Blood Banks, AABB News May/June 2002.