Multiple Chemical Sensitivity: Reflections by Dr. L. Christine Oliver and Alison Johnson

Dr. Oliver and Alison Johnson present an excellent overview of the multi-symptom disease known as Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, or MCS. During Dr. Oliver’s twenty years of experience, she can attest to MCS being a physiological disease with clear visual manifestations, such as flushing of skin, increased heart rate, and blood pressure problems in patients exposed to chemicals.

As MCS is ever increasing, Dr. Oliver (Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Co-Director of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Massacsetts General Hospital) advocates for more research dollars dedicated to finding modalities to treat MCS. Medical students and physicians are still not trained about MCS even though it affects the respiratory, neurological, gastrointestinal systems, and even the skin. Pulmonologists, gastroenterologists, and allergists, just to name a few, are the physicians who must receive appropriate training.

Currently, most physicians cannot give a correct diagnosis which leaves patients feeling more isolated and thus many chemically injured seek alternative treatments, some which may do more harm than good. According to Dr. Oliver there are no miracle cures for MCS and currently the most reliable treatment is avoidance of exposures.

The disabling symptoms do much to interfere with a MCS person’s life. It interferes with using public transportation, living in multi-housing units, and gaining/keeping employment. Dr. Oliver advocates for every workplace to maintain perfume free environments. Public health policies are needed to accommodate people with MCS so they are not forced to turn to social security disability for a reduced income.

Housing is a big issue for the chemically injured. Multi-family housing is a problem due to the neighbors using scented chemical products. Many people with MCS can no longer work and thus don’t have the finances to rent or buy single family housing.

The lack of safe housing, lack of safe workplaces, and medical issues can be overwhelming for those with chemical injury. The despair associated with lack of the above, plus the disbelief that the illness is real, leads many to contemplate and actually commit suicide.

Alison Johnson has witnessed the real devastation of this disease which has destroyed far too many lives. So many MCS people have seen their former lives slip away. This is hardly a “rare” condition with an estimated seven million Americans suffering from MCS. More accurate educating of the public is needed.

The tobacco industry succeeded for years in their funding attempts to keep the public in the dark regarding the negative health risks of tobacco. The chemical industry is also doing a good job preventing the public from realizing the harm from the chemically laden products on the market. In the meantime people on every continent are suffering great devastation, isolation, and compromised lives due to the chemical injuries they have suffered and must endure.

Have a look at this excellent film overview…

For further information vistit: The Chemical Sensitivity Foundation

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• MCS – Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, a disease caused by toxic chemical exposure
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The founder of the West Virginia-based Jan Dils, Attorneys at Law, L.C., says a study linking soldiers’ exposure to different toxins and Gulf War illness merits further research.

The results of a study published this week by environmental health researchers evaluates the types of toxic exposure faced by Veterans with Gulf War illness, and it will hopefully encourage other medical experts to do similar research, West Virginia Veterans’ benefits attorney Jan Dils said today.

The article appears in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives and reports that troops were exposed to different toxins depending on if they served in the front lines or in support roles during the 1991 Gulf War.

Forward-deployed troops were exposed to anti-nerve agent pills and Scud missiles, whereas those behind the scenes were commonly in contact with pesticides, according to the study.

Around 25 percent of the 700,000 Veterans with Gulf War illness are plagued by symptoms including chronic headaches, widespread pain, memory and concentration problems, persistent fatigue, gastrointestinal problems, skin abnormalities and mood disturbances, Dils said.

“Gulf War illness can be a truly disabling disease,” said Dils, whose law firm helps Veterans with disability claims in West Virginia and across the country. “Veterans manage these symptoms as best as they can, but more research into the nature of the disease and its causes could create better treatment opportunities for sufferers.

“It could also provide insight into the most dangerous toxins used in chemical warfare so that other avenues could be explored to protect soldiers who continue to serve in the Gulf War,” the Parkersburg attorney added.

Over 110,000 Gulf War Veterans – which the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs classifies as those who participated in Operations Desert Storm, Desert Shield, and a subsequent stabilization period during the early 1990s – are currently receiving VA health care, according to a February report from the VA. That includes treatment for the symptoms of Gulf War illness and other related conditions.

“Unfortunately, those numbers continue to grow, and the VA program is overloaded with Veterans’ claims,” said Dils. “That can make it very difficult for Veterans to receive disability benefits they deserve, so they don’t get the treatment and services they are entitled to.”

But the administrative backlog is only one of the problems Veterans face. It’s not easy to apply for disability benefits in the first place, and many times Veterans must go through a lengthy appeals process, Dils said.

“That’s not to mention that these men and women, who have chosen to serve the country at great personal peril, are often very sick,” she said. “Many times their families cannot take up the cause on their own. That’s where a Veterans’ benefits attorney and claims representatives can step up and help, particularly because egregious cases may end up in the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit or the U.S. Supreme Court.”

Environmental health results like the ones published this week have the potential to provide vital information about how toxins affect soldiers’ bodies. Previous research has focused on exposure to anthrax shots, depleted uranium and psychological issues, but less so on exposure to anti-nerve-agent pills and insecticides.

“The important thing is to build a body of knowledge that examines the medical consequences of military service,” Dils said. “That can educate all of the interested parties – the disabled Veterans and their families, doctors, scientists, the federal government and even lawyers – to provide services that will benefit the country and honor Veterans for their contributions.”

Author: Jan Dils, Attorneys at Law, L.C., Parkersburg, WV (PRWEB), September 26, 2011

Related Articles:

• Environmental Diseases are not unexplained Illnesses
• Research on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS)
• International Conference: Environmental and chemical Pollution cause health injuries and disabilities
• Sick Building Syndrome: research shows Illness is real and treatable

Whilst facing a worldwide fast increase of food and environmental allergies, the medical community is also confronted with another inhomogeneous group of environment-associated disabling conditions, including multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, electric hypersensitivity, amalgam disease and others. These share the features of poly-symptomatic multi-organ cutaneous and systemic manifestations, with postulated inherited/acquired impaired metabolism of chemical/physical/nutritional xenobiotics, triggering adverse reactions at exposure levels far below toxicologically-relevant values, often in the absence of clear-cut allergologic and/or immunologic involvement.

Due to the lack of proven pathogenic mechanisms generating measurable disease biomarkers, these environmental hypersensitivities are generally ignored by sanitary and social systems, as psychogenic or “medically unexplained symptoms”. The uncontrolled application of diagnostic and treatment protocols not corresponding to acceptable levels of validation, safety, and clinical efficacy, to a steadily increasing number of patients demanding assistance, occurs in many countries in the absence of evidence-based guidelines.

De Luca et. al. revised available information supporting the organic nature of these clinical conditions. Following intense research on gene polymorphisms of phase I/II detoxification enzyme genes, so far statistically inconclusive, epigenetic and metabolic factors are under investigation, in particular free radical/antioxidant homeostasis disturbances. The finding of relevant alterations of catalase, glutathione-transferase and peroxidase detoxifying activities significantly correlating with clinical manifestations of MCS, has recently registered some progress towards the identification of reliable biomarkers of disease onset, progression, and treatment outcomes.

Literature:

De Luca C, Raskovic D, Pacifico V, Thai JC, Korkina L., The search for reliable biomarkers of disease in multiple chemical sensitivity and other environmental intolerances, Tissue Engineering & Skin Pathophysiology Laboratory and 2nd Dermatology Division, Dermatological Research Institute (IDI IRCCS), Via Monti di Creta 104, Rome 00167, Italy; Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2011 Jul;8(7):2770-97. Epub 2011 Jul 1.

Related articles:

• Environmental Illnesses: Petition received the support from 26 countries more than 200 Health experts and more than 240 NGOs
• Research on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS)
• Study could not confirm link between mental illness and chemical sensitivity
• Predictions of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Mechanism Confirmed by Roman Study

A judge orders a 12-year old girl with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome /Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) to be locked up in a psychiatric ward of a hospital and forbids her mother to see her. We are calling on everyone to support this family and to help us with the legal costs.

THE FACTS

Last Saturday August 5, 2011, two plain-clothes policemen went to the home of V.R., a 46 year-old woman who has severe CFS/ME, MCS and Fibromyalgia, and took her 12 year-old daughter (who also has CFS/ME and MCS) with a judge’s order which stated that the girl had to be hospitalized in the psychiatric ward of the local hospital in central Spain and to keep the mother from seeing her.

THE BACKGROUND

The mother, V.R., who is very ill herself, has been fighting for years against the local Social Services. She had been denounced by the School Board for her daughter missing a lot of school, although a judge pronounced himself in favour of the mother and forced the school board to send a teacher to the girl’s home for schooling due to her severe CFS/ME and MCS.

Both the mother and the daughter were forced by Social Services to go once a week to a psychologist, although the physical effort of going to the appointments made them even more ill. The homecare that they were entitled to also made them sicker, as the home-care workers did not respect their needs for environmental control and they entered their home wearing perfume and smelling of tobacco.

When the mother complained about this, Social Services, instead of taking into account their special needs, saw it as “the last straw” and they decided to cancel their home service and proceeded to accuse the mother of “isolating” her daughter, which led to having the girl taken away.

MEDICAL REPORTS

The fact that V.R. and her daughter have been diagnosed by three of Spain’s leading CFS/ME specialists (and one of them also is an MCS specialist), Dr Jose Alegre, Dr Joaquín Fernandez-Sola and Dr Ana Garcia Quintana, as having severe CFS/ME and MCS with lab tests to prove it, (like alteration in their immunological parameters, high RnaseL and viral reactivations), is being ignored by the Social Services in that region of Spain. They say that the medical evaluation is going to be done by the local psychiatrists.

THE SITUATION RIGHT NOW

Yesterday, the judge ordered an “indefinite hospitalization of the girl in the psychiatric ward of the local hospital and forbid the mother to go see her, alleging that any contact with the mother would be bad for the girl’s health”.

Now the girl is in the hands of psychiatrists who are trying to prove that mother and daughter have a joint delirious alteration and are suffering from Munchhausen Syndrome, leaving the mother unfit to look after her daughter.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Faced with this situation, we, three Spanish CFS/ME and MCS associations, have joined efforts from day one to support this girl and her mother on all levels: legal, logistic, medical, etc. But we need financial support. The mother gets a 400 Euro-a-month pension (equivalent to 350 British Pounds or 569 US Dollars) on which her and her daughter try to live on. They don’t have the funds to pay for the lawyers who are now working on their case to try to get the girl out of the hospital, reunite her with her mother and assure that she does not lose her custody battle with the Social Services. We have been footing the bills up to know but our associations don’t have funding.

Right now, because of the delicate work being done by lawyers, we do not want to put direct pressure on the Social Services ourselves and the lawyers say that right now, any public or press pressure on this case might back-fire. But as soon as the lawyers give us the go-ahead, we will start a massive public pressure campaign and we will let you know how you can join in that effort.

For now, we just want to let you know of this unfolding situation and to ask for any possible financial support you can give.

We are just starting this battle

and

WE WILL NOT ALLOW THEM TAKE OUR CHILDREN WITH CFS/ME OR MCS AWAY SAYING THAT THEY HAVE MENTAL PROBLEMS.

Thank you from all of us.

Clara Valverde

President

Liga SFC, Spain, August 12, 2011

www.ligasfc.org

formacionsalud@hotmail.com (any messages for mother and daughter in English can be sent to this e-address for translation before passing it on to them)

Francisca Gutierrez

President

ASQUIFYDE, Spain

www.asquifyde.es

Jose Luis Rivas

President

ASSSEM

www.asssem.org

For international donations, the bank account number is:

(if you are making a donation from Europe):

ES80 1465 0100 91 1700515969

(if you are making a donation from a country outside Europe):

INGDESMMXXX 1465 0100 91 1700515969

(if you are making a donation from Spain):

1465 0100 91 1700515969

“Everything is running smoothly” (says a mother)

In June 2010 Tohwanga reported (german) on her successful attempt to integrate her sick son with MCS and CFS to attend the German elementary school. After almost a year, she reports that everything is going well. Tohwanga actually succeeded with her child’s integration, and would encourage other parents with chemically sensitive children to ask the school and parents of classmates for support in a successful school integration as well.

Integration of a student with MCS and CFS

Tohwanga reports:

In May 2010, I initiated a parents’ evening and at first I asked for a low-emission class. I got 100% support from the school and would like to express my thanks to the head of the school. Teachers, parents, classmates and even grandparents decided to help my child, and contributed actively to reducing class-pollution, by making the classroom fabric softener and perfume-free.

My son now attends the school since August 2010 with great success. He has found friends at school and can participate in the classroom. Of course, the new phase of life is often very tiring. Despite absences and lateness, and extreme tiredness, my son is a good student and learning is easy for him. Even though the daily routine can be difficult and very draining, the morning rising, despite aching limbs, despite nocturnal asthma and / or violent nose bleeds, my son still has motivation to do homework and to have a few social contacts in the afternoon. My little son has mastered this task quite well. I too, am very exhausted by my environmental disease, and often do not know where I will get more energy for the next school day. So we live from day to day, weekend to weekend, and holiday to holiday. In particular, we look forward to the summer holidays, because the short two week vacation is not enough to rest from the deep exhaustion.

It is actually a gift that parents and teachers are giving to our family by accommodating my son’s health condition. Our situation is now a rare one, but I am sure that other schools in the future will allow the integration of MCS-afflicted children. Low-emission schools are important for all children. This should not be a political topic to be ignored any longer.

At the general parents’ meeting during the school year in September 2010, I got a little speaking time to thank the parents and relatives for their attempts of integration and tolerance for my son’s health conditions. I also was curious regarding their experience, so I created a short questionnaire:

Dear Parents,

I would like to express my gratitude to you for allowing my child to experience inclusion and to have an opportunity to attend school without prejudice for his health conditions. I appreciate your understanding, your cooperation, and your discretion in dealing with the harmful fragrances. Thank you very much.

Two questions interest me. (I prepared a questionnaire which I was allowed to distribute. The response was positive and all of the 11 parents present agreed to complete the questions immediately. There are 14 children total in the class.)

How was it to switch to a fragrance-free school?

Difficult: 2

• We took “Dalli med” washing powder but my child was sensitive to one ingredient and had to take “White Giant” again)

No problem, we were already living fragrance-free: 8

• We have been living mainly fragrance free
• We already lived without using many scented products
• We had been living without fabric softener
• No problem
• We were already living with some fragrance-free items

We have always wanted and now had reason to: 1

We do not want to take part in the fragrance free class: 0

I was also interested if the families now can smell better after the participation in the fragrance free classroom because normally the ability to smell gets weaker after a while because the receptors get less sensitive due to dealing with scents. Perfumes especially can paralyze the areas in the brain which deal with scents.

Do you and your family find an increase in perceiving smells and perfumes again?

Yes: 2

No: 9

• I was already very sensitive
• I’ve always smelled well

Conversion to a fabric softener and perfume free school was no problem for the 99% of parents who took part to be scent free, and for 81% the change was no problem at all.

The desire and willingness to take environmentally friendly actions are there, but people just need to get the right tools in their hands to take action. The market for fragrance-free products exists and is increasing every day. The advertising for the fragrance-free market brings success.

My conclusion is that I can follow these wonderful acts by this German mother: “Everything is running smoothly”.

With education, we move forward – silence is counterproductive

The population is becoming increasingly aware of the health damage to chemical exposures, thanks to the many environmental disasters, food scares, vaccine damage, etc., and the terrible nuclear accident in Japan. The Enlightenment month of May is a very important tool for us to further educate others. May we all have the with power to enlighten others. The successes like this story are there.

Author: Tohwanga for CSN – Chemical Sensitivity Network, MCS Information Month in May 2011

Translation: Christi Howarth for CSN

Related Articles:

• Do students with chemical sensitivity have a chance in traditional schools?
• Drugstore Dilemma
• Scented Consumer Products shown to emit many unlisted chemicals
• A politically inconvenient Illness