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

Related Articles:

• An Icon of Environmental Medicine visits Germany
• Environmental diseases are not unexplained mysteries
• Canada: Envirionmental Sensitivities in Quebec
• MCS – Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, a disease caused by toxic chemical exposure
• Martin Pall about genetic evidence and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

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

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

For those living with Environmental sensitivities, life is very difficult

In Quebec there are 170,000 people who have a medical diagnosis of Environmental Sensitivities Yet for most, their illness goes without proper medical treatments due to the lack of Government and Public Awareness, limited Doctor Training, and the need for a Designated Treatment Centre.

The Environmental Health Association of Québec (ASEQ-EHAQ) is a non-profit, charitable organization founded in 2004. Presently, membership of the group is over 1200. ASEQ-EHAQ’s mission encompasses not only support for people suffering from environmental sensitivities but also provides the community with resources to cope with the disease (education, help line, the latest information about environmental sensitivities and treatment, support meetings, healthy housing, a resource guide, newsletters…) ASEQ-EHAQ also works tirelessly to educate the community at large on the use of ecological strategies to maintain a healthy environment.

Environmental sensitivities is a chronic, disabling condition that is not always visually recognizable. It affects people of all ages – youth and children included. Many symptoms can be identified using published diagnostic guidelines.

Environmental sensitivities sufferers experience physical symptoms such as headaches and fatigue, when exposed to a wide range of chemical substances. Recent research is showing that there is a biological basis for the symptoms noted above. At this time, there is no known cure.

For those living with Environmental sensitivities, life is very difficult especially because awareness in the medical community is extremely limited. The few doctors who are knowledgeable about and treat Environmental sensitivities are stretched beyond capacity. Many patients are dismissed by their family doctors when a diagnosis is made. Others find it impossible to find a physician with the training to care for them. There are no education, treating or research centers in Quebec.

There is an urgent need for information to be made available to the public. People must have a greater understanding about the illness and the challenges faced by those who live with it. Help is also needed at the most basic levels of home and long-term care. Many people with this illness cannot care for themselves or their families. They cannot work and must rely on government support.

See the chart for a breakdown of the affected population in QUEBEC. These numbers exceed that of many other better-known chronic conditions.

It is costing the government both in direct health care costs and economic losses (as sufferers are forced to stop working). It is estimated the combined loss of productivity due to this illness in CANADA (affecting well over a million people) is more than 20 billion dollars annually, the direct medical cost itself over 2 billion dollars. The Quebec figures are proportionately staggering. The provincial government has an important role to play in improving the situation.

ASEQ-EHAQ strives to raise awareness within communities, corporations, governments, educational institutions, the medical community and the general public to prevent further cases of Environmental sensitivities. We will continue to work with all doctors, scientists, health and environmental groups and individuals across Canada to create ties with similar organizations throughout North America and overseas.

Environmental Health Association of Quebec

Contact: Michel Gaudet

Tel: 514.683.5701

office @ aseq-ehaq.ca

www.aseq-ehaq.ca

Related Articles:

• Environmental Illnesses: Petition received the support from 26 countries more than 200 Health experts and more than 240 NGOs
• MCS – Multiple Chemical Sensitivity: A Report from Denmark
• Spain: A cry for help, young woman in Danger
• An Italian law Proposal for Environmental Illnesses and Disability
• MCS in Japan: A Lecture at the House of Representatives of Japan

Today, May 12th, I have woken up locked up in the same place and I can still see that:

Society continues to poison me with its toxics, this cruel, unjust society that is so comfortable in its greediness, while it rejects me for not producing and not consuming as healthy bodies do, while the owners of the toxic industries laugh at me and get richer.

They abandon me and say that it is my fault that I live with this illness, as though it was a whim, as though I did not want to make an effort, as though it was something I made up to avoid going to work.

My body, my bed and my walls have become a prison with only my window and my thoughts as company, with no chance of parole in sight.

I am condemned to live in the shadows because I am what society wants to hide. I am part of the narrative that will never make it into the history books.

After years of working hard and paying taxes, I have no rights and I am excluded from the Welfare State. They consider me useless although what I really am is disabled.

My exile is imposed on me by administrations, politicians and doctors, the same ones who promised me they would be there to help me. They have betrayed me when I most needed them. Now they pretend I don’t exist. They act as though I was a bother and they make fun of me while they hide the fact that everyday there are more and more of us.

Although I can barely move, I have decided, once more, to be determined and brave. Visible despite being housebound. Weak and vulnerable but never a coward.

I have decided I will continue to live, to fight, despite my vulnerability. I will not be silenced although they want to shut me up.

This is what I have decided again this year. Once again, because nothing has changed.

I hope that you will do the same. Yes, you who are vulnerable, although you do not realize it. We need to continue to fight without giving up, to shake society’s comfortable thoughts and question how we live as a society. To question this “development” which is killing us slowly. Until those of us who are vulnerable are not defenseless anymore. Until there is justice, respect and tenderness for all.

Authors: No Fun and Liga SFC (CFS/ME League), Spain, May 12, 2011

* May 12th, International Day of Central Sensitivity Syndromes (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/ Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, Fibromyalgia and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity)

Related Articles:

• Environmental Illnesses: Petition received the support from 26 countries more than 200 Health experts and more than 240 NGOs
• No more discrimination for the ill
• WHO receives delegation of representatives for the environmentally ill
• MANIFESTO – We know they are lying to us

MCS stakeholders sign petition to the World Health Organization

On May 13, a petition from the WHO delegation of stakeholders from MCS and EMS patients, physicians, scientists, lawyers and journalists in Geneva will be received. The delegation will be welcomed by Dr. Maria Neira, Director General of Public Health and Environment, WHO confirms.

WHO confirmed hearing from MCS organizations

Dr. Neira will receive the relevant documents from the delegation, a bibliography regarding environmental diseases, a list of countries that already have a ICD-10 code for MCS and / or EMS, and some other relevant documents for the meeting. All documents being submitted support the science-based arguments, and finally create a mandatory basis for environmental health conditions worldwide, so that the medical care of patients can be assured.

MCS and EMS organizations sign the WHO petition

The petition, which seeks to ensure that the situation for people, who are chemically sensitive or electro-sensitive, was improved by the Spanish organization „Asquifyde”. The petition was signed by many organizations, researchers, and practitioners from around the world. The hope is that WHO will implement this petition, which would apply a consistent international code of disease (ICD) in all countries worldwide for those with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) and electromagnetic sensitivity (EMS). This ICD code is important because it will allow patients’ doctors to give an accurate diagnosis with expected benefits from the health insurance, which already exists for other disabilities and illnesses. The existence of MCS and EMS has already been demonstrated.

In all countries, binding ICD-10 code for MCS and EMS

Currently, Japan (T65.9) and Germany (T78.4) have the ICD-10 code for MCS. Other German-speaking countries like Switzerland, Luxembourg and Austria ,through their Ministry of Health, say that in their countries the ICD-10 code for MCS, T78.4, is valid and can be used as well.

Submission of evidence to the WHO

It is possible to contribute and submit other important documents regarding the scientific aspects of MCS and EMS, to the WHO. During the next few days a PDF may be sent via e-mail to: info@asquifyde.es which is the Spanish organization. All documents received by medical experts and lawyers for environmental law will be organized in terms of their relevance and then selected for submission to the WHO.

Confirmed participation in the WHO hearing

Until May 3rd, 2011 it possible for organizations, academics, lawyers, and doctors to register for consultation with WHO in Geneva. This requires a binding confirmation take place with Asquifyde. The organization will report the final number of participants on May 3rd to Dr. Neira, after which it is appropriate to reserve a space.

WHO press conference after hearing

According to the WHO, a press conference will take place after the hearing. It will be headed by Sonia Miguel Jara and journalists. To fund this important press conference following the WHO hearing, Asquifyde and other MCS and EMS organizations, are asking anyone who is concerned about the environmental concerns of those ill from environmental factors to contribute financial support.

Help the environmentally ill

Scientists estimate that about 15-30% of the general population in industrialized countries suffer with MCS. The number of EMS stakeholders increases by the progressive expansion of mobile networks also. These people are almost without exception, without the help and support, which contradicts the international disability convention and applicable laws. Ignoring and negation of environmental diseases in recent years has led to indescribable suffering and to considerable financial losses to the economy. It is hoped that the leaders at the WHO, will respect the suffering of those patients with MCS and EMS and take seriously the international petition and act according to their stated mission which is to provide assistance to those disabled internationally.

Author: Silvia K. Müller, CSN – Chemical Sensitivity Network, 2 May 2011

Translation: Christi Howarth for CSN

Related articles:

• No more discrimination for the ill
• International Conference: Environmental and chemical pollution cause health injuries and disabilities
• ALERT: Spanish Professor with chronic mercury intoxication goes on hunger strike
• The last few months of Angelika S. who was chemically sensitive
• An Italian Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Sufferer Shouts an “Inconvenient” Truth with his Death

But the tide is turning, according to attorney Jacques Simon. Simon represented Bill J. Rea, MD, in a stunning legal victory against the Texas Medical Board (TMB). The suit has helped shift bad board practices in Texas.

Jacques Simon has an outstanding success rate defending integrative medical doctors in these types of proceedings. He is one of four attorneys in the US who collaborate and specialize in this area. (The others are Alan Dumoff, Algis Augustine, and Richard Jaffe.)

Dr. Rea is a leading researcher and clinician in the field of environmental medicine and chemical sensitivity. For the past thirty years, he has treated illness caused by food and wide-ranging environmental factors such as air and water pollution. In 2005, the Texas Medical Board filed a number of charges against Dr. Rea, challenging his testing, diagnosis, and treatment — everything he does. They even claimed that Dr. Rea was injecting his patients with diesel fuel and harmful chemicals, a charge that was patently false.

After three long years in court, Simon was able to prove that the Board’s claims were unsubstantiated. Instead of revoking his license, the Board lamely told Dr. Rea to present a revised informed consent form to patients saying that his therapy is not “FDA approved”.

If you are a physician and under investigation, it is important to make no statement whatsoever to investigators or officials without the presence and approval of a lawyer. As Simon told us, “When an investigation starts, it is important for the physician not to make the mistake of thinking they are the authority in the field. Pick up the phone and call an attorney who specializes in these types of proceedings.” (Feel free to contact ANH-USA for a recommendation.)

Simon noted that the TMB has targeted integrative physicians in the past, but this has shifted in the last two or three years, and it appears they now investigate an equal number of traditional MDs. This is due in part to procedural actions taken by Dr. Rea through the course of his ordeal, which including filing charges against the board itself.

Texas has strong due process protections for doctors, but those rules are not always followed. ANH-USA is working to get a bill introduced in the Texas legislature that will provide physicians with redress if the board doesn’t follow its own rules. Jacques Simon notes that the more doctors fight back (and the more the boards are educated), the better the landscape will become in state medical board proceedings. Meanwhile, state laws and regulations are constantly changing, and it is important to remain vigilant.

ANH-USA has just released an 80-page report, “Know Your State’s Medical Board: An Integrative Medical Practitioner’s Guide to Understanding the Legal and Regulatory Environments in the 50 States.” Across the nation, state laws and regulations do not always adequately protect practitioners’ due process rights in medical board disciplinary proceedings, so we have created a guide and checklist to provide a general sense of the legal protections, or lack thereof, available in each state in the country. The report is available as a PDF document, and may be downloaded here (PDF).

Literature: ANH, Milestone Victory: Texas State Medical Board’s Attack on Leading Integrative Doctor Beaten Back, December 21, 2010

Copyright © 2010 Alliance for Natural Health USA (ANH-USA). Permission granted to forward, copy, or reprint with date and attribution to ANH-USA. Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

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WASHINGTON, Friday, December 03, 2010 — At present, there are no specific federal recommendations regarding deferral of individuals with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) or other diseases that have been associated with Murine Leukemia Virus-related virus (XMRV) infection. Nevertheless, in the interest of patient and donor safety, the American Red Cross will defer indefinitely any donor who reveals during the donor interview that they have been diagnosed with CFS.

XMRV infection has been associated in some studies with prostate cancer and chronic fatigue syndrome, but at the present time these disease associations have yet to be confirmed.

There is currently insufficient data to conclude that XMRV is transmitted through blood transfusion. However, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Task force is conducting research to determine the frequency of the virus in the donor population, whether it is transfusion-transmitted, and whether recipients become infected and develop the disease.

An AABB Interorganizational Task Force is charged with reviewing all available data, making recommendations for further action to assess the risk of XMRV transmission through blood transfusion, develop mitigation strategies as needed, and to provide information for blood donors, recipients and the public.

The AABB Taskforce released Association Bulletin #10-03 in June 2010, recommending that blood collecting organizations — through the use of donor education materials available at the donation site — actively discourage potential donors who have ever been diagnosed by a physician with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), also known as chronic fatigue and immune dysfunction syndrome (CFIDS) or myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), from donating blood or blood components. In addition, any donor with symptoms of CFS would be deferred if, on the day of donation, they respond negatively to the question, “Are you feeling well today?”

The Red Cross has implemented the AABB recommendations and has gone further to implement indefinite deferral for donors who reveal a history of a medical diagnosis of CFS.

Reference:

Red Cross National Headquaters, American Red Cross Statement on XMRV and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, December 03, 2010

Releated article:

CFS Finally Recognized As ‘Medical Impairment’ Under Guidelines