The broadest possible integration of disabled people is the goal of all countries which are signatories to the UN Disabilities Convention. The countries which have signed this convention and ratified it, may be viewed here:

Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities

This internationally binding document has validity for those countries who have signed and ratified it. Direct efforts should have been pursued by the signatories so that all disabled children receive an education. No disability must be preferred over an other. MCS – Multiple Chemical Sensitivity is a physically caused disability which needs recognition in the educational realm.

In the U.S. and Canada, there is a steady growing number of schools and local univer- sities that are integrating policies for chemically injured students and adapting conditions to include this disability. The transition has been mainly on a volunteer basis initially, with perfume bans and an effort to use chemically free cleaning products.

Students with MCS

There are severe cases of children and young teens with chemical compromises which seem to have little hope of a successful future due to their disability. The chemical triggers are so overwhelming on their various physical systems that they are unable to attend a traditional school setting without well thought out appropriate accommodations.

A big problem for these students in traditional school settings is falling behind academically. Due to their reaction difficulties at school, they miss a lot of instructional time. Parents report their children missing hours, days, and sometimes months of school , and trying to catch up at home with all the required instructional materials from the teacher(s) is extremely difficult.

Then there is often trouble with the school or school authorities. Whether the modifications for these disabled students will be feasible to get the education requirements needed depends on the consideration of the school, the classmates, building maintenance, chemical substances used at the school site, in and outside the individual classroom.

Questions to be answered in individual countries:

• How does my country integrate children and young people who have chemical sensitivity?
• What are the guidelines for dealing with chemically sensitive students in a traditional school setting or what accommodations can the school offer?
• Are schools in my country responsive to students with MCS?
• Do authorities in my country have policies in place which enable chemically sensitive students to achieve a quality education?
• Does my country cover free internet schooling education for students suffering with chemical sensitivities?
• What policies would schools have to change in order to successfully integrate students with MCS?

Series:  “The Danish MCS Research Centre in the International Field of Vision”

Part III:

Until 2008 it was a common practice in Denmark for local authorities to grant severe MCS sufferers free aid under the service law, section 122, by giving them half mask respirators with activated charcoal filters.

In 2008 a severe female MCS sufferer had her application rejected by the local authorities for this respirator. This case ended at the Danish appeals board, which upheld the rejection on the following grounds:

“…there is no medical documentation for the chronic manifestations of the disease (MCS), its causality, lack of diagnostic criteria and treatment, as well as there is no medical documentation that the mask can sufficiently remedy functionality in her daily life.”

After this incident, a number of MCS patients had their grants for the respirators with filters also suspended by their local authorities, referring to the above ruling.

At the same time, there is no hospital ward in Denmark at all that is committed to examine, diagnose, treat and/or guide this group of severe MCS suffers. All instances refer to the Research Center for Chemical Sensitivities in Copenhagen, which was established in 2006 with minimal grants, but which does not occupy itself with MCS patients, except for using them as test subjects in PhD studies or projects.

The Research Center denies research effects of mask respirators on the MCS population

After the ruling by the appeals board, a great number of MCS sufferers contacted the Research Center to make them document the effects of the respirators with filters for the MCS population, since these are for the time being, the only efficient treatment option for those with MCS, besides the so-called avoidance strategy which leads to social isolation and thus to the possible risk of a subsequent psychological impairment due to isolation from the outside world in the MCS patient’s life. However, this isolation can be reduced by wearing a mask respirator.

To the MCS sufferers’ great astonishment and despair, the Research Center, however, published on its homepage that they were not going to research the effects of half mask respirators with activated charcoal filters on the MCS population. Their arguments, were among others, was that an investigation into the effects of mask respirators on MCS sufferers would require a clinically controlled study, and such a study must be both placebo-controlled and double-blind in order for the results to become reliable and useful.

Thus, the Research Center does not prioritize spending research funds on a study of mask respirators, but focuses instead on researching possible disease mechanisms and other therapy strategies. (1)

In this way, Danish MCS sufferers can see no prospect of anyone obtaining the documentation required by the Danish social system. Thus there is no prospect of being granted mask respirators, the aid which is extremely vital for sufferers – a crazy paradox not worthy of a modern welfare society.

Instead, the Research Center regards electroconvulsive therapy of MCS sufferers as interesting

Simultaneously with the above, the Research Center was following a male MCS sufferer who accepted being subjected to electroconvulsive therapy over six months (at first eight electroshock treatments over three weeks, and after that every two weeks), and on the basis of this one MCS patient’s subjective evaluation of the effect of this electroconvulsive therapy – a ”study” that, of course, was neither placebo-controlled nor double-blind – the Research Center published a scientific article: ”Electro- convulsive Therapy Substantially Reduces Symptom Severity and Social Disability Associated With Multiple Chemical Sensitivity: A Case Report. “Elberling et al. (2) with this conclusion: “In this case, a substantial, positive effect on symptom severity and social disability related to MCS was obtained by an initial somatizing patients course and maintenance treatment. Electroconvulsive therapy should be considered an option in severe and socially disabling MCS, but more studies are needed to evaluate if ECT can be recommended as a treatment for MCS.”

The limited research funds are gladly spent on Mindfulness therapy

Also, the Research Center is planning to spend its very limited funds to research the effects of Mindfulness based cognitive therapy on MCS.

In 2008 the Research Center performed a pilot project study in cooperation with the Center of Psychiatry, The Copenhagen University Hospital, where the title of this pilot project on the homepage of the Copenhagen University Hospital was ”Mindfulness based cognitive therapy of somatizing patients, primarily MCS patients.”

However, this title was in haste changed to: “The Effects of Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy with Persons with Hypersensitivity to Fragrances and Chemical Substances,” since MCS sufferers found out that the Research Center, in cooperation with the Center of Psychiatry, considered them mentally ill. Jesper Elberling, the then scientific leader of the Research Center, had meanwhile passed it all off as a “mistake.”

Right now, in continuation of this above-mentioned pilot project, a PhD study is being planned, to investigate the effect of Mindfulness on the MCS population. This is obviously one of those therapy strategies in which the Research Center gladly prioritizes its limited research funding, notwithstanding that Danish MCS sufferers again and again have told the Research Center that mask respirators are an efficient therapy strategy, whereas no one has ever heard or hears about MCS sufferers who have experienced any effects on their MCS from Mindfulness therapy.

Will the Research Center follow its own persistence and demand the placebo-controlled and double-blind studies in its coming research?

In the near future, the Research Center will start up its new study on the effects of Mindfulness therapy on MCS, and we shall then see if the Research Center will actually live up to its own demands and arguments that therapy effects require [DP1] a clinically controlled study, which is both placebo controlled and double-blind, in order for the results to become reliable and useful.

These demands apply hopefully not only for therapy forms, (the effects of which the Research Center does not want to document), such as half mask respirators with activated charcoal filters that are indeed vital to most severe MCS patients, and at the moment are the only treatment strategy that gives MCS sufferers the temporary possibility of being able to move about in the public domain, and which severe MCS sufferers experience as a highly efficient therapy strategy. However this highly efficient therapy strategy lacks – according to the Research Center – ”scientific documentation” which apparently nobody in Denmark wants to obtain.

Author: Bodil Dam Bak Nielsen, Denmark

Translation: Dorte Pugliese for CSN – Chemical Sensitivity Network

Series:  “The Danish MCS Research Centre in the International Field of Vision”

Part I: MCS – Multiple Chemical Sensitivity: A Report from Denmark

Part II:Changes of the international science of chemical sensitivity at the Danish Research Centre for Chemical Sensitivities?

Berkeley — Children who were exposed to organophosphate pesticides while still in their mother’s womb were more likely to develop attention disorders (ADHD) years later, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley.

The new findings, to be published Aug. 19 in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP), are the first to examine the influence of prenatal organophosphate exposure on the later development of attention problems. The researchers found that prenatal levels of organophosphate metabolites were significantly linked to attention problems at age 5, with the effects apparently stronger among boys.

Earlier this year, a different study by researchers at Harvard University associated greater exposure to organophosphate pesticides in school-aged children with higher rates of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms.

“These studies provide a growing body of evidence that organophosphate pesticide exposure can impact human neurodevelopment, particularly among children,” said the study’s principal investigator, Brenda Eskenazi, UC Berkeley professor of epidemiology and of maternal and child health. “We were especially interested in prenatal exposure because that is the period when a baby’s nervous system is developing the most.”

The study follows more than 300 children participating in the Center for the Health Assessment of Mothers and Children of Salinas (CHAMACOS), a longitudinal study led by Eskenazi that examines environmental exposures and reproductive health. Because the mothers and children in the study are Mexican-Americans living in an agricultural community, their exposure to pesticides is likely higher and more chronic, on average, than that of the general U.S. population.

Yet, the researchers pointed out that the pesticides they examined are widely used, and that the results from this study are a red flag that warrants precautionary measures.

“It’s known that food is a significant source of pesticide exposure among the general population,” said Eskenazi. “I would recommend thoroughly washing fruits and vegetables before eating them, especially if you’re pregnant.”

Organophosphate pesticides act by disrupting neurotransmitters, particularly acetylcholine, which plays an important role in sustaining attention and short-term memory.

“Given that these compounds are designed to attack the nervous system of organisms, there is reason to be cautious, especially in situations where exposure may coincide with critical periods of fetal and child development,” said study lead author Amy Marks, who was an analyst at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health at the time of the study.

Many of these same UC Berkeley researchers are also finding that children with certain genetic traits may be at greater risk, a finding that is being published the same day in a separate EHP paper. That study found that 2-year-olds with lower levels of paraoxonase 1 (PON1), an enzyme that breaks down the toxic metabolites of organophosphate pesticides, had more neurodevelopmental delays than those with higher levels of the enzyme. The authors suggest that people with certain PON1 genotypes could be particularly vulnerable to pesticide exposure.

In the study on attention problems, researchers tested for six metabolites of organophosphate pesticides in mothers twice during pregnancy and in the children several times after birth. Together, the metabolites represent the breakdown products of about 80 percent of all the organophosphate pesticides used in the Salinas Valley.

The researchers then evaluated the children at age 3.5 and 5 years for symptoms of attention disorders and ADHD using maternal reports of child behavior, performance on standardized computer tests, and behavior ratings from examiners. They controlled for potentially confounding factors such as birthweight, lead exposure and breastfeeding.

Each tenfold increase in prenatal pesticide metabolites was linked to having five times the odds of scoring high on the computerized tests at age 5, suggesting a greater likelihood of a child having clinical ADHD. The effect appeared to be stronger for boys than for girls.

While a positive link between prenatal pesticide exposure and attention problems was seen for 3.5-year-olds, it was not statistically significant, a finding that did not surprise the researchers.

“Symptoms of attention disorders are harder to recognize in toddlers, since kids at that age are not expected to sit down for significant lengths of time,” said Marks. “Diagnoses of ADHD often occur after a child enters school.”

The UC Berkeley researchers are continuing to follow the children in the CHAMACOS study as they get older, and expect to present more results in the years to come.

The findings add to the list of chemical assaults that have been linked to ADHD in recent years. In addition to pesticides, studies have found associations with exposure to lead and to phthalates, which are commonly used in toys and plastics.

“High levels of the symptoms of ADHD by age 5 are a major contributor to learning and achievement problems in school, accidental injuries at home and in the neighborhood, and a host of problems in peer relationships and other essential competencies,” said UC Berkeley psychology professor Stephen Hinshaw, one of the country’s leading experts on ADHD, who was not part of this study. “Finding preventable risk factors is therefore a major public health concern.”

Literature: University of California – Berkeley, Prenatal exposure to pesticides linked to attention problems, 19-Aug-2010.

Related Articles:

• Pesticides in kids linked to ADHD- Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, study finds
• Western Diet linked to ADHD
• Groups Seeking Ban on Organophosphate Pesticide Go to Federal Court
• Common household pesticides linked to childhood cancer cases in Washington area
• Anxiety in adult female mice following perinatal exposure to Chlorpyrifos

More research should focus on BPA and health effects in adults

In one of the first human studies of its kind, researchers have found that urinary concentrations of the controversial chemical Bisphenol A, or BPA, may be related to decreased sperm quality and sperm concentration.

However, the researchers are quick to point out that these results are preliminary and more study is needed. Several studies have documented adverse effects of BPA on semen in rodents, but none are known to have reported similar relationships in humans.

BPA is a common chemical that’s stirred much controversy in the media lately over its safety. Critics say that BPA mimics the body’s own hormones and may lead to negative health effects. BPA is most commonly used to make plastics and epoxy resins used in food and beverage cans, and people are exposed primarily through diet, although other routes are possible. More than 6 billion pounds of BPA are produced annually.

The new study suggests that more research should focus on BPA and health effects in adults, says John Meeker, assistant professor of Environmental Health Sciences at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.

Meeker is the lead author on the study, along with Russ Hauser, the Frederick Lee Hisaw Professor of Reproductive Physiology at Harvard School of Public Health. Colleagues at Massachusetts General Hospital and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also contributed to the research.

“Much of the focus for BPA is on the exposures in utero or in early life, which is of course extremely important, but this suggests exposure may also be a concern for adults,” Meeker said. “Research should focus on impacts of exposure throughout multiple life stages.” Meeker and Hauser recruited 190 men through a fertility clinic. All gave spot urine samples and sperm samples the same day. Subsequently, 78 of the men gave one or two additional urine samples a month apart. Researchers detected BPA in 89 percent of the urine samples.

Researchers measured sperm concentration, sperm motility, sperm shape and DNA damage in the sperm cell.

“We found that if we compare somebody in the top quartile of exposure with the lowest quartile of exposure, sperm concentration was on average about 23 percent lower in men with the highest BPA,” Meeker said.

Results also suggested a 10 percent increase in sperm DNA damage.

The results are consistent with a previous study by Meeker and Hauser suggesting that certain hormones, specifically FSH (follicle-stimulating hormone) and Inhibin B, are elevated or decreased in relation to BPA, respectively, a pattern consistent with low sperm production and development.

Meeker stressed that further study is necessary due to the study’s relatively small sample size and design.

“The study from which these data came is currently in progress,” Hauser said. “With a larger sample size and enhanced study design, we will be able to more definitively investigate this preliminary association in the near future.”

Reference:

University of Michigan, Sperm may be harmed by exposure to BPA, study suggests, ANN ARBOR, Mich., Aug. 3, 2010.

Related EMM Articles about BPA:

• Lawsuit seeks to ban BPA from food packaging
• 60 Scientists and NGOs Sound Joint Warning on Plastics Chemical
• Everyday Exposure to Dangerous Levels of Toxic Chemical BPA Unavoidable
• Yale: Why BPA leached from ’safe’ plastics may damage health of female offspring
• Study shows: Plastics chemical retards growth, function of adult reproductive cells

New National Study Finds Decrease in Pediatric Injuries Associated with Household Cleaners Children younger than 6 years still at high risk of poisoning

Every year in the United States, there are more than 1.2 million poison exposures among children younger than 6 years. In recent decades, household cleaning products have consistently been one of the leading sources of pediatric poisoning. A new study conducted by the Center for Injury Research and Policy of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital found that from 1990-2006, an estimated 267,269 children younger than 6 years were treated in U.S. hospital emergency departments for injuries attributable to household cleaning products. During the 17-year study period, researchers noted a 46 percent decrease in the number of injuries.

Data from the study, being released online August 2 and appearing in the September issue of Pediatrics, show that most of the household cleaner-related injuries were poisonings, with children ages 1-3 years accounting for the majority (72 percent) of the injuries. Bleach was the cleaning product most commonly associated with injury (37.1 percent). While approximately one-third of the injuries occurred through contact with the cleaning product, the more frequent means was ingestion (62.7 percent), and spray bottles were the most common storage container (40.1 percent).

“Interestingly, spray bottles were the only major storage source that increased over the study period,” said study lead author Lara McKenzie, PhD, principal investigator at the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. “Although rates of household cleaner-related injuries from regular bottles and original containers decreased during the study period, spray bottle injury rates remained constant. This area is worthy of further research.”

The good news is that the number of injuries decreased almost by half during the study period, but the bad news is that there were still nearly 12,000 children younger than 6 years who suffered injuries from household cleaning products in 2006.

“Young children are curious about their surroundings and tend to explore their environment by putting things in their mouths,” said Dr. McKenzie, also a faculty member of The Ohio State University College of Medicine. “This general sense of inquisitiveness, combined with increased mobility, the ubiquitous nature of household cleaning products and the ease of accessibility, place young children at high risk of injury.”

Parents and caregivers must do their part to prevent childhood poisonings. According to Heath Jolliff, DO, associate medical director of the Central Ohio Poison Center at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, parents should store poisonous substances in locked cabinets, out of sight and reach of children.

“It’s important to only purchase cleaners with child-resistant packaging, keep all products in their original containers and properly dispose of leftover or unused products,” Dr. Jolliff, also a faculty member at OSU College of Medicine, said.

Parents should also know what to do if they suspect their child has come in contact with a poison. Dr. Jolliff advises to immediately contact the Poison Center at 1-800-222-1222 (this national number will direct callers to their local Poison Center), unless the child is unconscious, not breathing, or having seizures, in which case parents should call 9-1-1.

This is the first published study using nationally representative data to examine poisonings from household cleaning products among children younger than 6 years for an extended time period. Data for this study were collected from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS), which is operated by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. The NEISS dataset provides information on consumer product-related and sports and recreation-related injuries treated in hospital emergency departments across the country.

Reference:

Nationwide Children’s Hospital, New National Study Finds Decrease in Pediatric Injuries Associated with Household Cleaners Children younger than 6 years still at high risk of poisoning, Columbus, OH – 8/2/2010.

-

Further Articles about Children’s Health:

• Oil Spill: Kids in the Gulf
• Pesticides in kids linked to ADHD- Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, study finds
• Our Planet – Our Children – How are your Children doing?
• EPA releases Guide to help Scientists understand Children Exposure to Pollutants
• Common Plastics Chemicals linked to ADHD Symptoms